Advertising on YouTube vs. TV in Numbers

The world is not what it used to be. In 2009, open TV dominated consumer time with 119 minutes a day; in 2016, with internet penetration of nearly half the population, internet users spend 136 minutes a day on the internet, 46 minutes more than in open TV and only 2 minutes less than on cable television.

Incubeta

Think about it, there’s even another phenomenon happening, the last time you were on TV, regardless of the content (Netflix, pay TV or open), you were totally focused on TV… or did you have any other devices in your hands? Like a tablet, your smartphone or laptop. If we get it right, then you are part of the multiscreen users. 30% of the users who are watching TV connect to the internet, this mostly happens in sector B+ upwards that own smartphones with 100% browsers compatible with web technology.

The world is not the same charles

The world is moving to mobile and guess what content is most consumed? Video.

According to Google data, mobile searches have already surpassed desktop, 78% content is video, and YouTube is a platform favoured by young people because it is democratic: we choose what content to watch, when and where to watch it (device). In case you ever wondered why big and traditional brands have trouble connecting with millennials, here’s a little food for thought: because they treat YouTube like it’s TV.

Okay, so do we have to leave TV for YouTube? No, everything works best when we combine strategies. Obviously everything should obey your marketing strategy and the goal you have, whether promotional, launching, or always on. But when we combine the two we have 20-30% more incremental reach and retention, and retention means impact. In Honing’s case study they had up to 23% more purchase possibilities when users were incrementally impacted with YouTube campaign.

YouTube Advantages

IPhone Youtube
  • Defined audience: we have the ability to reach the audience that we want with much greater precision than only statistically inferred information. It is true information that accountants provide to YouTube such as age, sex, likes, affiliations, etc. We know that the announcement of a new sports SUV is effectively reaching men 25-34 years old who are fans of sports cars and luxury because they subscribed to these channels. While we don’t know who’s behind the TV or if you’re seeing it at all, on YouTube to see something you have to click on it.
  • Beyond the scope: reach is good, but it doesn’t necessarily mean return on investment, thanks to digital metrics and the constant obsession with being able to measure everything today we can employ YouTube campaigns that mean sales on my website, or filling out a form, we can reach and impact those who are more likely to generate a conversion, if to this we add that we know that we can choose who watches the video and YouTube analytics allows us to see how much of our videos they saw, what response they generated and more, we went from a speech to a conversation with our prospective buyers, we go from scope to action.
  • User choice: finally the user can choose not to see our ad, yes, this is an advantage and HUGE; not only because with most YouTube ad formats we pay for view, that is, only when the user DID see our ad, which allows us to pay only for those users who are effectively interested in my products and services

Advantages of TV

Smart T.V.
  • Reach: Although YouTube penetrates 50% of the population, TV still has the advantage with 96%, so today it is still the most powerful medium. If your goal is to reach as many people as possible, no matter how often you get to the action, combining YouTube and TV (don’t forget the point above) remains the key to success.
  • It’s the reference: although you’re increasingly losing ground to other services like Netflix or Game of Thrones, shows like “The Big Bang Theory”“The voice” or “Master Chef”, they remain the reference in popularity and cause stir throughout the population, connecting with many audiences and giving what to talk about for weeks. Obviously your brand appears in, during or sponsoring these shows, can have a huge positive impact on a huge number of people.
  • Synonym of success: let’s face it. The fact that it’s still much more expensive to appear on TV than on YouTube doesn’t necessarily mean anything. My aunt can advertise her recipe videos on YouTube, but I can only remember strong brands and solid franchises appearing on television, especially in metropolitan areas. This reflects on many levels a solid brand with great capacity and of course this always gives confidence in the user, and having confidence in a brand helps us remember it better and prefer it when making the purchase.

The Winner is…

Okay, the title is a little misleading, it would be too pretentious and judicious of us to try to enact a definitive winner, Which one’s the best? Well, it depends on your goals, does it depend on branding or engagement?, reach vs action, we already saw that it is better to combine them, obviously this requires budget and also depends a lot on who your messages are directed for.

Naturally young people prefer different messages on digital platforms while people over the age of 44 tend to prefer to have breakfast, dinner or spend quality time with their family in front of a TV chatting about the events they saw, receiving messages from people they trust. Well, you already have some numbers, you can draw your conclusions depending on what you want to achieve.

We invite you to tell us what you prefer and why, or if you have experience advertising in one or both media and how did it go?.

Source of statistics:

  1. Internet Day 2016 INEGI Statistics
  2. Think with google TV vs YouTube
  3. Honing Study Case

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