Adults Say They Turn to YouTube For Branded Video Content

June 30, 2016

This article is included in these additional categories:

Digital | Media & Entertainment | TV Audiences & Consumption | Video | Youth & Gen X

YouTubecomScore-YouTube-Preferred-Destination-by-Content-Type-Jun2016It’s hardly surprising that YouTube would be the preferred destination for consumers looking to watch videos uploaded by people. Perhaps more interestingly for marketers, it’s also adults’ preferred choice for watching videos uploaded by brands, according to a study commissioned by Google and released by comScore and YouTube.

[How much do online video ads influence consumers’ purchases? Find out here.]

Based on a survey of 2,940 adults, the results indicate that 74% of adults (including 79% of 18-34-year-olds) prefer YouTube for videos uploaded by people, compared to just 24% citing the next-highest competitor (unnamed in the results).

Likewise, for videos uploaded by brands, 69% of adults said they prefer YouTube, compared to 30% for the next-highest, unnamed, competitor.

Brands are certainly using the platform, though their activity may be slightly down. A new report from Simply Measured [download page] indicates that 99% of the Interbrand 100 companies have a YouTube account, second only to Twitter (100%) among the seven leading social networks. Some 85% posted on YouTube during the month of May; with a 7% drop year-over-year in activity, that 85% figure remains below activity on Twitter (99%) and Facebook (91%), but is on par with Instagram (86%).

A recent study from Social Media Examiner suggests that marketers will be redoubling their efforts on YouTube in the coming year. Among the more than 5,000 marketers surveyed for the report, 63% said they will increase their efforts on YouTube. That was the second-highest rate of planned increases of the 14 social platforms studied. Although YouTube has to contend with video on Facebook and Snapchat among other platforms, it’s likely to remain a strong contender for marketers, who are more likely to be increasing their efforts on video content more than any other content type.

Meanwhile, while YouTube is most commonly preferred for videos uploaded by people and by brands, it’s also a destination for other content viewing, per the comScore research. Among Millennials (18-34), for example, roughly 1 in 7 (14%) say they prefer YouTube for movies, and a similar proportion claim to prefer it for previous seasons of TV shows (13%) and current seasons of TV shows (12%).

In fact, asked to select their single preferred platform for any form of video content, the research indicates that the largest share of Millennials chose YouTube (35%) first, at almost double the rate of traditional TV (19%). The report does note, however, that traditional TV still is ahead of YouTube in terms of time spent, which makes sense considering these figures.

Finally, the study offers some interesting insights as to who YouTube’s most engaged users are. Millennials? Of course. But there are other groups that also figure prominently. One such group is parents: of the “highly-engaged, highly-loyal” YouTube users that are dubbed “Die Hards,” 43% have kids.

About the Data: The YouTube and comScore study results are based on a survey of 2,940 US adults (18+) who like to watch video content in a typical week. Video content was defined as TV shows, movies, music videos, views uploaded by people and/or videos uploaded by brands.

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