YouTube & The Big Screen – Let’s Get Personal

The demand for Smart TVs (also known as connected TVs) has exploded with nearly 57% of households in the UK reported to own one.  This is a rise in 6 years of 46%.

The Smart TV has become an essential hub for modern day life with an increasing number of people choosing it as their preferred device for accessing all kinds of content from cable to video, podcasts & gaming.  The old distinctions between digital video, streaming, and TV are disappearing fast With over 800 million videos and navigation in over 80 different languages, it’s no surprise to learn YouTube is the 2nd most visited site in the world.  A recent study carried out by Google & Talk Shoppe revealed the way in which we view and use the TV is changing – it’s becoming personal.

Primetime TV is no longer 5pm – 9pm.  Primetime is personal to each and every one of us.  Primetime is when we want it, how we want it and what we want to view.  We are no longer confined by network broadcast times. We have the power to chose what, when and how, making our primetime truly unique and personal.

For many people, the allure goes beyond the convenience of creating their own personal primetime.  We have seen, particularly in the last 12 months, the need for connectivity – with friends, family, the community and culture.  Being able to connect from the comfort of your living room is the motivation for a number of people to shift their YouTube viewing from phone or tablet to the TV. 

79% of people interviewed say they achieve deeper connections when they watch YouTube with others.

In the U.S., 120 million viewers streamed YouTube on TVs in December 2020, and over 25% of logged-in U.S. YouTube CTV viewers watched content almost exclusively (>90%) on their TV screens.

While the majority of YouTube videos are still watched on mobile devices, there is no denying there is a distinct shift which has the potential to change the way we approach our marketing on YouTube in the future.

This personalised connection people have with their TV can be taken a step further when it comes to advertising.  Nobody hates every ad that interrupts them, only bad ads that have been poorly targeted.  Understanding your audience for personalisation is key.

Samsung recently tested a personal approach when marketing their Galaxy Note10.  It led to a 557% boost in viewer consideration, 27% lift among non-Samsung owners, and nearly 900,000 Samsung carrier store visits, winning the YouTube Works Award for Media Innovation.

They identified three key audience segments: gamers, creators, and entrepreneurs.  Then they found each segment’s most-searched “how to” videos — for example, “game tips” for gamers — and created ads with Director Mix that had a similar look and feel to the content people were about to watch.

Based on what the viewer needed, each ad showed how the new device could help.

With Google’s continual creation of new ad formats and content development tools, it’s now even easier for brands to create innovate novel ways in which they can harness this personalised approach.

One of the recent developments is YouTube Director Mix.  This tool enables you to make customized video at scale, serving ads to suit your audience’s interests and intent. All you need is a base video, then in Director Mix swap the text, images, or sound to suit your audience.

Get Started With Director Mix

• Plan. Establish the variable elements for your campaign – audience segments, text, image, video, audio – before production begins.
• Base Video. Begin with a video that can be customized with one or multiple components.  For example, the drinks can below.
• Customize. Based on your variable elements, collect the assets needed to customize your video – images, copy, voice over, etc.
• Generate. Director Mix generates multiple versions of the base video, customized for the desired audience segments for easy review and approval.
• Upload. Director Mix enables you to easily upload the videos to your YouTube channel and prepare campaigns to run in Google Ads.

To access Director Mix, you will need to contact your Google Account Manager or Google Representative.