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For some companies, finding balance between data and creativity can be difficult. But for YouTube, research, data and analytics are a driving force for many of its creative decisions.
“Sitting within Google, which loves data, is helpful because we start all marketing plans with insights and strategies. All marketing tactics come from there,” said Kaley Mullin, consumer insights manager at YouTube.
Mullin was joined by Wes Harris, YouTube’s head of marketing, and Sarah Unger, SVP, cultural insights and strategy for Civic Entertainment Group, during the 2019 Promax Conference at the JW Marriott at LA Live. Their panel discussion, “Launching Original Content When It’s Not On TV,” gave entertainment marketing professionals insight on all that goes into driving the success for hit shows like Cobra Kai and Impulse.
RELATED: How YouTube Used Community to Drive ‘Cobra Kai’s’ Success
It all starts with the platform’s established, user-generated content and the audience that follows it.
“There aren’t very many platforms where people go specifically to watch video content,” Harris said. “YouTube is that place, but you have this ability to engage, interact and talk with like-minded individuals watching that content.”
Most of which happens in the comments section, which Harris noted as an advantage for the streamer. With other linear and broadcast networks, conversations around a show typically happen on social media. But for YouTube, it’s happening right on their interface, creating an experience on its own.
“We’re sort of this modern-day version of sitting around a couch and watching content with other people,” Harris said.
And when paired with the platform’s audience profiling tools, YouTube better understands the people on its platform—what they’re watching, who they’re fans of, and what they’re buying. But more importantly, this knowledge allows them to create a brand that leverages audiences affinities, says Mullin.
“From a marketing perspective, it’s one of the most exciting parts of being on a digital-only platform,” Harris added. “We have this constant feedback loop of quantitative and qualitative things that we use to develop the creative and audience targeting.”
That knowledge allows them to develop ancillary content before, after and around each original series.
“We learn with every video how to better position and sell the series,” Harris said. “By the time we release the trailer, we have a really good understanding of who the audience is for this show….the ability pair content with its rightful audience is really critical right now.”
It also allows them to develop new, innovative ways to incorporate influencers into their campaigns. Harris and Mullin used last year’s marketing campaign for Impulse, as an example.
To drum up excitement ahead of the show’s release, YouTube connected with influencers across different categories to create two videos each—one branded and one unbranded. In the latter, a character from the show transports into the background of each video.
Impluse’ character appears in above video at 1:30 mark. Video courtesy of YouTube influencer Gabbie Hanna.
The campaign not only generated buzz in the platform’s comment sections—people from around the world picked up on the unbranded campaign before the platform claimed it as a marketing tactic. Harris attributes this as a main reason for the show’s success, which led it to be renewed for a second season.
But despite the platform’s success, YouTube hasn’t necessarily cracked the code. The platform continues to find balance between data and insight, a challenge that will always be at hand when launching new shows.
“You can’t be a slave to the data and only follow what it’s telling you to do,” Harris said. “You have to add that layer of intuition….we’ve being trying to find balance between the two and perfect it, because that’s where the best work comes from.”