Towson University Development Releases New Research on You Tube
A report submitted by Steven Burgess
ENGL 317: Writing for Business and Industry
Prof. Paul Miers
Towson University
Spring 2007
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ..…………………………..1
User-Generated Content ....…..……………………..2
Uploading for Marketers …….…….………………..3
Focus Group Findings ……………………………3
Recommendations/Findings ……………………………4
Daily Reach ……………………………5
Viewed Internet Video(Month) …………………………6
Weekly Internet Video .……………………………7
References .……………………………8
Executive Summary
In the past 5 years there has been significant change in online user behavior due to the increase in internet capabilities. YouTube has taken over online media by becoming the top rated site for online videos due to its user generated content. Businesses are struggling to find ways to keep the attention of college students through their ads.
Towson University Development is a new Towson marketing team that has researched On-demand media that relate to college students. Potential marketers have faced issues with targeting this demographic, and with this study we have made it easier for marketers to reach this group and to better attract and sell more of their products and services.
TUD has researched college student’s trends and online usage and how they perceive online advertisements. We have realized what types of ads they pay the most attention to and what is the most efficient way of reaching college students. The information we have gathered has been derived from the Towson Survey, Arbitron Edison Report and our focus group session.
The report includes:
User-Generated Content
Uploading and Marketers
Focus Report Highlights
Marketers should take advantage of our research and information and tweak their advertisements so they can reach this demographic more effectively. With the traffic on YouTube because of its user generated content opportunity for advertisements should be taken advantage of as soon as possible. We recommend that marketers do the following:
Form quick and straight to the point advertisements
Position ads according to types of videos
Make ads easy to understand and ones that stand out above competitors
User-Generated Content Drive
YouTube has been allowing users to create their own videos ever since they have been established. User-generated content is media content that is produced or primarily influenced by end-users. The user-generated content videos created are getting hit the most with spontaneous clicks from users around the globe.
Categories of Top Rated User-Generated Content Videos
Many types of user-generated content videos are being targeted by users everyday. These high quality top featured videos draw users back to watch that movie again or lead to another top video.
Top rated videos such as:
User-generated comedy - Comedy videos are found simply as one person showing their face doing the most awkward events or acts. These videos are found in the top featured videos on a daily basis.
People and Blogs – These user-generated blogs are made by people that are giving demonstrations, game highlights, sports highlights, and even self-explaining a particular event.
Film and Animation – Video recording of actual footage and remaking it into something user generated is popular in this category. Animation videos consist of any type of animated video or cartoons. These videos seem to be the most popular of all.
How to and DIY – Do-it-yourself videos of home improvement and cooking demonstrations seem to be generating traffic through the top featured videos. These videos capture the audience by unique demonstrations performed that usually have not been seen before.
These videos have no specific important purpose to the world, but receiving one-million hits a day from people around the globe means these videos are the videos people are targeting. Marketers are already putting advertisements in videos such as these and it becoming a highly effective strategy for the past year. With that many people viewing such videos, advertisements will most likely be seen by thousands of people a day.
One of the biggest features YouTube offers if the upload option to share videos to users all around the world. These videos being uploaded can form a widespread of linkage and connections between other websites, advertisements, and promotion.
What Uploading Can Do For Marketers
Uploading a video on YouTube can generate many goals to a marketer. Some of uploading tactics consists of:
Linkage to other websites – When a user uploads a video on YouTube the user is given an option of inputting website URLs for others to click. These links can be used as portals to advertisers webpage’s or company domains. When thousands of people view videos they will come across links attached and if they are intriguing enough they will click them.
Advertising through connections – Linking videos to other videos after being uploaded is a connection that draws users to see advertisements next to the video blog. When a video is uploaded, the user may also type the website address on the head title of the video for easy copy and paste access to other users.
Advertising in videos – At the end and in the middle of some videos contain five second advertisements to the YouTube users. This type of advertising seems to be the most effective way to market to the users on YouTube.
These strategies are clearly the way marketers should be advertising and choosing YouTube to advertise on. It has been working for most advertisers for a year now and the possibilities are increasing daily.
YouTube is the number one video sharing host website in the world and advertisers need to take advantage of what they can do with very simple advertising work.
Focus Group Highlights
A focus group session was conducted with Towson University students to find out how students attitudes and behaviors were with YouTube. With four open ended questions to students on how, where, and why they use the YouTube media, the results came into play quickly.
Focus Group Results
Quotes from how students use YouTube:
”The only time I watch online video is when somebody sends me one through email”
“YouTube has videos that interest me that are being uploaded all the time and its sort of an addiction mainly by coming back and watching them again and again”
Quotes from why students use YouTube:
“The convenience of viewing videos without making an account is always a pleasure”
“The videos are outrageous and addictive”
“YouTube is awesome because of its diversity. You can skip scenes from a movie and choose which one you want to watch!”
The focus group session indicated that these students do click links and advertisements on YouTube throughout the videos they watch only if they are interested in them.
Highlights of students using YouTube
Students seem to be more into user generated content videos.
Most students would prefer YouTube over any other video sharing website.
Students like YouTube because of the uploading features.
Recommendations/Findings
After our research has been done it has proven to be a necessity to increase potential advertisements toward college students. With the results from the Focus Group, Towson Survey, and Arbitron Report it may become a very promising future for advertisers. These ads should be a lot broader and have a quick and direct point to be the most effective, due to the type of audience YouTube attracts. Once advertisers meet the demand of the YouTube users, it should prove to be extremely lucrative for their companies.
References
-Google, You Tube & Dark Side Of Online Video. (2006, January 15). Retrieved May 21, 2007, from http://gigaom.com/2006/01/15/google-you-tube-dark-side-online-video
-Internet & Multimedia 2006: On-Demand Media Explodes. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2007, from http://www.edisonresearch.com/home/archives/2006/06/internet_multim_4.php