Pixability Consumer Electronics Study Pinpoints Critical Role of YouTube for Marketing

Five Brands Dominate the Competition, While Repurposed TV Commercials Fail to Perform

Boston, MA — Buyers of consumer electronics are using YouTube as a key part of their purchasing process. Today, Pixability released “Consumer Electronics and YouTube: How YouTube Is Changing Consumer Behavior and How The Best Brands Adapt,” a comprehensive study that delivers both critical market insights and prescriptive measures for brands. Consumer electronics content on YouTube accounts for 18.9 billion total views and attracted 483 million views per month in 2013, up from 100 million views per month in 2008.

The study analyzes the YouTube behavior of 25 major consumer electronics brands and over 100,000 independent YouTube content creators who have cumulatively uploaded more than 900,000 videos. Of those 25 major brands, only five excel in both YouTube subscriber numbers and audience engagement, while most brands still approach YouTube strategy with a TV mentality. The study also reveals significant differences between how consumers use Google and YouTube in their product selection process, which presents significant implications for media planning.

“People often go to YouTube first while researching which consumer electronics to buy. Text reviews can be helpful and photos even better, but video reviews are easily more informative,” said Marques Brownlee, one of the top independent YouTube content providers in the consumer electronics space, with more than 1.3 million subscribers to his YouTube channel MKBHD. “If a picture is worth 1,000 reviews, a 5-minute review speaks volumes to a potential buyer.”

Pixability’s study uses more data than any other previously conducted analysis of the digital video marketplace for the consumer electronics industry. Some of the report’s key findings include:

1. A television mentality proves highly ineffective on YouTube. High-profile branded videos featuring products, celebrities and elaborate storylines attract 123x the views of the average CE video, while traditional commercials — which still make up 37% of the YouTube content published by CE brands — capture only 10% of views and fail to generate customer interest and engagement.
2. YouTube search and Google search serve very different purposes in the buying cycle. Consumers don’t view YouTube as a medium for immediate transactions, but use the platform for research during their buying process. By the time potential consumers search for deals on Google, they have already formed a brand preference.
3. Brands and independent content producers serve symbiotic roles. In the weeks leading up to a product launch, brand videos receive high numbers of views while vlogger videos fail to gain traction. Post-release, vloggers and other independent content creators outperform brands in cumulative views.

“The data from the consumer electronics industry proves that YouTube has now reached the point where a one-size-fits-all video marketing strategy is not only ineffective, but a flawed way to engage consumers on a medium they covet,” said Rob Ciampa, CMO of Pixability. “The study required significant Pixability technology horsepower to collect the data and analyze the findings, and the implications for brand marketing and media planning are immediate.”

Pixability will present additional details of the consumer electronics study in a live webinar on Wednesday, July 16, 2014 at 12:30 p.m. ET. Registration details can be found at www.pixability.klikz.us/webinars.

Watch a highlight video of the key findings here. For a comprehensive look at all major findings and best practices contained in “Consumer Electronics and YouTube,” download the full report here.

Study Methodology
YouTube-certified data scientists used Pixability’s big data YouTube software to collect, validate and analyze consumer electronics-related information from YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media sources. Pixability’s software then authenticated and cleansed the candidate data sets of videos, channels and associated metadata to identify 902,615 videos on YouTube within seven key consumer electronics device categories: computer, phone and tablet, television and audio, camera, headphones and personal audio, wearable technology, and smart home technology. Pixability’s software then catalogued 113,780 relevant channels, including those of the 25 consumer electronics brands highlighted in the report, along with additional channels controlled by 100,000 YouTube consumer electronics vloggers and gadget publications. The data presented in the study represents ?full and exact counts of the metrics described above. No sampling, estimates, regressions? or projections were used. The complete methodology, including exact data harvested for each channel with Pixability’s YouTube software and the resulting brand rankings according to key YouTube performance criteria, is included in the full report.

For more information about the report, email Pixability at marketing@pixstage.wpengine.com or call 888-PIX-VIDEO (888-749-8433). 

About Pixability
Pixability, Inc. is a big data software company that helps major brands dramatically increase YouTube impact on their target audiences. Pixability’s YouTube technology mines billions of YouTube video views, relevant social communities, search patterns, and competitors’ moves. Major brands use the insights generated by Pixability’s software to hone strategies, optimize channels and content, and execute ad campaigns. Headquartered in Boston with offices in New York and Los Angeles, Pixability drives YouTube performance for brands and boosts campaign and media ROI. For more information, please visit www.pixability.klikz.us.

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Contact:
Alexandra English
Pixability, Inc.
617.952.4659
alexandra@pixstage.wpengine.com