Google is stopping pixel tracking on YouTube, marketing budgets have declined, Facebook testing new scheduling option, Instagram offering more data control and Facebook changing how organic reach is calculated
Google has announced changes to third-party pixels on YouTube, which will be rolled out next year.
Quarter 3's Bellwether Report has shown that economic and political uncertainty has had an effect on marketing budgets.
Facebook seems to be testing a new scheduling option that could improve organic impressions, although it is also changing how it calculates these impressions.
Instagram is ensuring users have more data control by adding new features that allow more visibility over third-party permissions.
Get all the details with this week's news roundup.
Google removing pixel tracking from YouTube
Google will no longer allow third-party pixel tracking on YouTube from next year. The internet giant made the announcement in a blog,…
Guidelines for great creative from the world’s largest video sharing site
At a time when it’s never been more difficult to cut through the clutter and resonate with your target audience, it’s crucial that marketers master the skill of developing stand-out digital creative. A recent survey from Australia showed that it has become increasingly difficult for consumers to recall any distinctive TV advertising (good or bad), yet another indication that not only are consumers switching their viewing habits but are also zoning out when exposed to poor creative.
YouTube has recognized the difficulty brands face to create content that effectively captures their audience's attention and have developed a very helpful and comprehensive Playbook for Creative Advertising. The playbook is a detailed guide based on a collection of learnings from some of the most successful videos and campaigns on YouTube and is a fascinating read for brands, businesses and…
Facebook called "digital gangsters" by UK government, Google rolling out click share for Search campaigns, big brands pull out of YouTube advertising, Marketing skills gap increasing and Ikea announces new sustainable store opening with water-cleaning bath boats
A new parliamentary report has found that Facebook has broken regulations and has called on the UK government to do more to bring it and similar sights under regulatory control.
Google has started rolling out click share for Search campaigns, giving you more insights into the success of your text ads.
A number of big brands have reportedly pulled out of advertising deals with YouTube after concerns were raised that paedophiles are using the platform to create communities.
The marketing skills gap seems to be increasing, despite investment in training.
Ikea is advertising the launch of its new sustainable Greenwich store with life-size bath boats that are helping to clean up London's waterways.
Find out more about these stories…
Four ways to tell a story in 6 seconds
In an increasingly mobile-first environment, audiences’ attention is at a premium. Brands are constantly looking for new ways to achieve cut-through and platforms such as YouTube, Google and Twitter are designing new formats to align with consumers’ evolving viewing habits.
With mobile as the dominant medium now, user expectations towards advertising have changed. Whilst it will always be important to create great content to make an impact and keep people watching, it’s nevertheless important to acknowledge that content is consumed in different places and contexts, sometimes at home in front of a television and at other times on-the-go, via a mobile device.
As a result of these shifting consumption patterns, in 2016 YouTube introduced the 6-second Bumper ad format for brands looking to deliver messages quickly and efficiently to consumers who are likely to be watching one-off pieces of video content in shorter sessions,…
Chart of the day: 3 of the top 5 Youtube Adverts from January are over 2 minutes long
Earlier this week news came down the marketing grapevine that Youtube/Google was going to no longer support unskippable 30-second ads in a move that they describe as "providing a better ads experience for users online". This change is scheduled for 2018, so there is still plenty of time to use this type of Ads if you already have them in your upcoming campaign plans.
Come 2018, Youtube will still offer unskippable Ads but of the 6 seconds variety. Less annoying (and much less mobile data) for the user but will cause a rethink to many brand's video strategies.
I am very interested in how brands will adopt to the standard of skippable and 6 seconds unskippable ads and move away from the 2-3 minute mini-movies that are a trend of the last 12 months.
This change will also challenge creative agencies be…
Chart of the Day: Sainsbury's Stop Motion Animated "The Greatest Gift" races to 14 million views
Christmas is only days away - retail stores are competing for consumer attention with high profile multichannel marketing campaigns, all hoping that they can report a successful holiday period with increased sales in the new year. It seems that every year the competition to create the best Christmas advert - popularised by Coca-Cola in the the eighties with the Coca-Cola truck advert (still my favourite every year since) is getting fiercer. In the last few years the John Lewis advert has been the one that every other retail brand is trying to match - this year the retailer who is coming closest is Supermarket chain Sainsbury's with their Stop Motion Animation ad "The Greatest Gift" voiced by James Corden which tells the story of Dave, a hard-working and devoted Dad, who realises that the greatest gift he can…
Facebook does battle with YouTube to be the king of online video
YouTube has controlled online video pretty much since its inception. There have been some challengers, but they have pretty much given up the ghost and concentrated on their niche. The platform has made stars of online talent who got in there early and understood their audience. And some of those have become very wealthy off the back of YouTube's ubiquity. But just recently there's been a sea-change that is a genuine threat to YouTube's dominance and this is happening quickly and as you read this.
YouTube has always had its problems. You have no control over the data, the ad returns are poor (if you require them) and targeting is very difficult. However it is/was the place where people go to find out stuff, be entertained, look…
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December 27, 2014
Examples showing how screencasts can help different types of business
Screencast videos are already a big hit in the education industry. Tuning into a video demonstration gives your audience a step-by-step guide, showing them exactly what to do.
This is exactly how big providers such as Khan Academy and Treehouse got started.
But screencasting doesn’t just have to be about how-to videos, it’s also a powerful tool that can be used to create clever customer-focussed videos or provide feedback on client assignments.
This means that the technology has applications across a range of industries for businesses of all sizes.
What is a screencast video?
Essentially, screencasting is recording your computer screen and adding audio to it.
Screencast programs usually highlight your cursor to make it clear to your viewer where the focus of attention should be.
Screencast videos can be sold as a series of tutorial products or uploaded as a how-to…
YouTube overtakes Facebook to become the most visited social network
Not content with being the second largest search engine, earlier this year YouTube beat Facebook to become the most visited social media site in the US.
Yes, you read that right. Research from Compete PRO, which operates one of the largest consumer panels in the US, indicated that unique visitors to YouTube edged ahead of Facebook by over 1.3m visitors in June 2014. While this may come as a surprise to many readers, it’s been on the cards for some time as this graph from Compete illustrates:
You can see that YouTube and Facebook had been slogging it out over the previous few months but finally sometime between May and June this year YouTube got the better of them.
This news mostly slipped under the radar at the time, mainly due to the way the major research…
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November 7, 2014
How to measure the marketing effectiveness of video content
Your video is clocking up hundreds of views, which is great. But does that mean it’s successful?
Not necessarily.
A revved up view counter in YouTube may indicate that your video is popular, but it doesn’t tell the full story.
For example, it doesn’t tell you how many people only watched the first couple of seconds before dipping out, if they re-watched any sections or if they skipped entire parts.
Rather than watching views, you need to be measuring a much broader set of metrics.
If, like most people, you choose to host your video via YouTube, the metrics you need to consider lie deep within the analytics section of YouTube.
YouTube Analytics options
YouTube Analytics offers in-depth video data which is much more than just views.
One of the first places to start is the Traffic Source. Find out where your viewers have come from and how long they spend…
