Earlier in the year we wrote a blog predicting 2015 to be the year of the video, and it seems we hit the nail on the head. Facebook, a platform that understands the changing tides in consumer behavior, has embarked on YouTube’s territory by introducing advertising for Facebook videos.
Consumers today are searching for information that is not only easy to find, but also to consume, so Facebook’s new venture into video advertising is making waves in the digital marketing realm.
There’s been a lot of debate as to what Facebook’s new advertising component means for YouTube. With Facebook and YouTube both providing marketing managers the ability to target their advertisements on a local level this brings up the question: which video platform will walk away as the winner in the Ad Battle, and more importantly, what does this mean for your local campaigns?
Before we dive deeper into this subject, let’s take a look at some key statistics from CNBC:
Facebook 1.44 billion monthly active users
YouTube: 1 Billion monthly active users
Facebook video views rose by 230 billion
YouTube video rose by 50 billion
An Ad counts as “viewed” on Facebook: after 3 seconds
An Ad counts as “viewed” on YouTube: after 30 seconds
From the abundant amount of active users to the growth of video views, we can see the potential for Facebook’s advertising to surpass the video giant. Furthermore, Facebook's ability to target psycho demographics and other demographics have metrically proven to be successful, and out target YouTube’s. When asked why Mark Stevens, MSCO CEO, would put clients of his on Facebook ads versus YouTube he responded with the following:
“Really quite simple, they actually work”
However, both video services have their strengths and weaknesses. YouTube’s placement of advertisements before the video plays (pre-roll ads) is a huge benefit for marketers. Not only does Facebook not offer pre-roll ads to advertisers but they also charge advertisers for a video view if just three seconds of the ad are shown, which is significantly less than YouTube’s requirement.
There is no denying that both Facebook and YouTube have great advertising capabilities for video. And with the way this Ad Battle is heating up there is only one clear winner that comes to mind - YOU. Marketing Managers looking to promote a product or service with online video now have two great alternatives to choose from - both battling to provide you with the best targeting capabilities to their billions of monthly active users.
For marketers looking to target locally, incorporating video advertising to the marketing mix is a great way to appeal to your consumers in an engaging enviorment. As we've stated before, the path to purchase is fragmented, so your brand needs to be visable on each touchpoint, including local video advertising campaigns.
If you are a multi-location brand hoping to target a local audience with video advertising contact us today for a free consultation!
Topics: Local Advertising
Andrea is the Social Media and Content Writer Specialist at Brandify.
