With online video on the rise, companies are seeing a lot more “cord cutters,” as consumers opt out of cable services in favor of streaming options such as Netflix and Hulu. Think With Google recently posted a report that takes a closer look at online video options and just how effective they’re becoming with audiences.
The first part of the report explained how consumers may be watching less television, but overall video consumption remains as high as ever. It noted that by 2025, half of viewers under the age of 32 won’t have any sort of subscription to a pay-TV service, and will view video online instead. In fact, six out of ten people currently prefer to watch their content through online video platforms instead of live television.
As far as where they’re going online for content, YouTube remains a big destination. During an average month, approximately eight out of ten viewers between the ages of 18-49 tune in to YouTube. That same age group spent more time on YouTube last year, leading to a 74 percent viewership increase over 2014, while (at the same time) conventional television dropped four percent.
Think With Google also broke down viewership across different screens, indicating that YouTube wasn’t just watched on computer monitors–in fact, mobile viewing has been on the rise as of late. It has managed to reach more 18-49-year-olds than any broadcast or cable television network.
Millennials also make up a big part of this viewing audience, with two-thirds of those with YouTube accounts watching premium online video across various devices, including smartphones and tablets. But mobile doesn’t deserve all the attention, since viewership has spiked across the board, and more people are watching YouTube on their televisions than ever. The number has doubled year-over-year, based on data gathered by the company in Q4 2015.
Conventional television continues to drop as online video finds more of an audience, with YouTube is at the center of much of it. As such, Google continues to work with the preferences of an online viewing audience, even going as far as introducing a new six-second bumper ad system for brands to work with.
Zach Lupei, product manager for video ads over at Google, explained how these new ads will be effective and keep viewers tuned in. “Bumper ads are ideal for driving incremental reach and frequency, especially on mobile, where ‘snackable videos’ perform well. Given the succinct nature of the format, we’ve seen Bumper ads work best when combined with a TrueView or Google Preferred campaign. In early tests, Bumpers drove strong lift in upper funnel metrics like recall, awareness and consideration. We also see that Bumpers work well to drive incremental reach and frequency when paired with a TrueView campaign.
“We like to think of Bumper ads as little haikus of video ads–and we’re excited to see what the creative community will do with them,” he explained.
A sample was also provided, featuring performance artist Ed Sheeran’s latest single, “Lay It All On Me.”
