MEDIA
ANALYSIS
How to buy effectively
on YouTube A
s most marketers in the toys and games industry will be aware, children’s viewing to all TV saw an overall decline of -22% last year. In fact, in the most-demanded months of the year, children’s viewing slumped by -33% and -39% Year-on-Year respectively in October and November, even though kids were spending more time at home during the second national lockdown. In line with these declines across the kids’ commercial channels, we saw fewer toys and games advertisers investing heavily We in TV, with a reported -26% drop in estimate that toys & games equivalent TVRs (TV rating points) across TV. digital spend However, with this decline in TV within the advertising spend, we estimate toys & games an increase in the proportion of industry advertising spend being attributed accounts for to digital media. Here at Generation a quarter of Media, we estimate that digital spend within the toys and games all advertising industry now accounts for a quarter budgets of all advertising budgets. In last month’s issue, we wrote about how advertisers within this industry can use our proprietary tools such as The Media Aggregator to confidently understand how to split their advertising budgets between TV and digital to build a cost-effective and sensible investment plan for their brands. But the next question is: how do you spend your budgets effectively outside of spot TV? Over the course of the next few months, we’ll be writing a series on the toys and games digital landscape and how to navigate it, from YouTube, to social, to website optimisations and retargeting. This month we look at the no-brainer of how to reach kids digitally - through YouTube. Giraffe Insight’s latest Kids And The Screen research shows no surprises that Subscription VOD (video on demand) services command the largest share of viewing occasions for children aged two to 12, with its closest second runner being YouTube.
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This can largely be attributed to YouTube subscriber data showcasing that ‘Made for Kids’ content channels hold a prominent position in the global YouTube landscape. Google introduced new privacy practices just a little over a year ago that mean children’s content creators have to label themselves as such, which initially affected how easily their content could be discovered. But for advertisers, this did not change things too drastically, as premium content is still available via the traditional auction mechanic in the way you should have already been buying it - contextually. And in order to buy contextually, you need the perfect mixture of real-time technology, as well as detailed insights to deliver the most optimum campaign. Precision DMP is children-specific YouTube technology from Generation Media, built on the foundations of insight. This technology tool is based on over 3bn data points collected from numerous YouTube campaigns that have run over the past few years, as well as layering this with all of the content research and data captured by Giraffe Insights’ Kids And The Screen research. The DMP tool works in real time, to optimise towards increasing VTRs (View Through Rates) and ultimately resulting in serving more ads towards viewers who are more likely to watch the ad in full, based on the contextual targeting that has delivered high VTRs throughout the campaign. There are additional routes to how YouTube can be bought contextually in order to reach children, and TV broadcasters themselves have accelerated their strategies over the years. Partners such as Super Awesome, Warner Media, Disney and Viacom all offer channel-based solutions to target their premium content that is naturally declining across live viewing.Non-skippable pre-roll is an additional layer to consider when pulling together your YouTube plans, to effectively create a presence across the ever-popular platform. If you would like advice or guidance on how Generation Media can help to strategise your media investments on YouTube, please contact us.
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Generation Media is the UK and Ireland’s largest independent media buyer of toys and games advertising. Visit generationmedia.co.uk or call 0207 307 7900 or email contact@generationmedia.co.uk to learn more.
Kate Moncur, associate director of Generation Media, shares advice on how to strategise your media investments
