America’s favorite shopping frenzy kicks off this Friday, and brands are taking steps to make sure consumers line up in front of their stores. More than ever, consumers turn to social video to learn about new products and shape their purchase decisions, and brands are responding with aggressive video ad campaigns.
We powered our technology to analyze this year’s Black Friday trends on YouTube. Here’s what we uncovered:
1. Black Friday videos are more popular than ever on YouTube, and in 2015, engagements with Black Friday video content doubled year-over-year. Based on these trends, we expect Black Friday-related video views and engagements to reach an all-time high this holiday season.
2. When aggregating data from 2008 – 2015, views of Black Friday videos peak around the 27th and 28th, largely made up of prank or fight video views. Immediately following Black Friday, however, unboxing videos dominate.
3. While you might think consumer electronics videos would attract the majority of attention during the lead up to Black Friday, in fact, Black Friday-related Gaming videos attract the most all-time views on YouTube.
4. As of Nov. 23, of all Black Friday content published in Nov. 2016, Walmart claims four out of the top five videos (measured by total views). Last year, we saw Walmart lead retailers in advertising spend on YouTube — this year, the brand is again investing heavily in its Black Friday push on YouTube. Creator Jeffreestar managed to take second place in the top 5 videos, proving creators are still a force to be reckoned with around Black Friday and the greater holiday shopping season.
Contact us today to see what insights our technology can uncover in your industry’s YouTube landscape.