View This: Facebook Video Vs. YouTube
Facebook is rapidly increasing its digital reach. Video has been one of the biggest pushes for the social media giant in an attempt to compete with Google. Facebook’s content is filled with video, which makes us wonder: is Facebook video at threat to YouTube?
Facebook Video vs. YouTube:
Facebook’s video platform is growing, but to say that they are a threat to YouTube maybe a bit of a stretch. The projected market for video-based ads is expected to near $20 billion by 2017, and even with Facebook’s recent rise in the video market, there’s going to be plenty of ad dollars to go around. What this will add is some healthy competition between the two advertising platforms, and that’s great for marketers.
The Data
There’s more to this puzzle than just projected ad spends. So, let’s look at some data:
- Mobile video views rose by 95% annually to account for 41% for all online video views in Q1 2015.
- The share of mobile devices in online video views is forecast to reach 50% by the end of 2015.
- In terms of hours watched: YouTube is up 50% year over year.
- YouTube is forecast to record 3 trillion video views during 2015;Facebook, 2 trillion.
- Google (lead by YouTube) saw 168.4 million unique viewers, Facebook ranked second with 88.9 million unique viewers on desktop alone.
What does it all mean?
You don’t even have to be that great at analyzing stats to tell that those numbers are astronomical. Just like when radio snatched ad dollars from print and then television from radio, we’re seeing the same trend happen on the digital landscape. People like to be told story through video, and advertisers love video because it’s the best way to tell their story. It makes sense that we are seeing this trend and we should expect it to stick.
I know what most small business owners think when they hear this; that video ads are expensive to make, too time consuming and without the right budget, may seem a little tacky. 10 years ago, we probably would have agreed with that. However, technology changed and the ability to record video at the same quality as a pro is readily available (one may even have the capability on their smartphone). Business owners also have the power to upload their own videos, access the ad platform and set their own budgets. So, the days of saying a commercial is to expensive are just about over.
So, what are you waiting for? It’s about time your digital marketing strategy included video.
