Audience development engagement is high with video, as The Economist and Condé Nast can attest; Facebook will soon punish engagement requests
Using video for audience development is more commonplace for major publishers today and this is leading to big audience gains. Today we’re visiting stories on two major publishers and how video has helped their audience development and marketing options. There’s also some important news from Facebook.
We begin today with Condé Nast and its increase in video presence. MediaPost reports, “After a record year in its digital sector, Conde Nast announced two new digital video ventures on Tuesday: Conde Nast Prime and 1 Billion Views.”
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“Conde Nast Prime showcases both returning and new series, organizing many of the most popular videos by category. The platform makes it easier for the company’s top brands to align with advertisers and marketers that want to partner with the highest performing videos.”
The article continues with some statistics from the company’s YouTube channel. “The company reported its best month on YouTube in November, with 189 million video views. During the same month, the company reached 594 million total global views on Facebook and reports 227 million views on its proprietary websites, breaking previous records.”
Our next story focuses on The Economist and its success with YouTube. Digiday reports, “The Economist Films division gets most of its views on Facebook, but like other publishers, it’s turning its attention to YouTube, where audiences tend to be more loyal and engaged than on Facebook.”
“In November, the average viewer watched 75 percent of each film posted, up 44 percent from June. Discovery has also grown: Since June, there’s been a 190 percent increase in views from YouTube’s homepage, according to the publisher.”
The article continues with a look at the company’s shift from Facebook to YouTube. “Facebook accounted for 83 percent of The Economist’s 20 million video views in November, according to Tubular Labs, and while it’s useful in introducing new audiences to the publisher, Facebook has been under scrutiny for its measurement mishaps and seemingly short three-second views. As more advertisers demand to know the true value of a view, YouTube will be more of a focus in the new year. The publisher is also in conversation with platform distributors like Amazon, Facebook, Samsung and Netflix.”
Our final story of the day continues with Facebook and looks at some recent news of importance for audience development managers and digital marketers. MediaPost reports, “Ask for a “like” or “share” on Facebook and the company said it will downgrade, rather than increase, the post’s reach.”
“The plan requires rolling out a tactic that the two refer to as “Page-level demotion.” The timing will give publishers several weeks to adapt. This is one way Facebook aims to increase efforts to reduce engagement bait.”
The article goes on with a possible reason as to why Facebook is making this decision. “The news seems similar to the Google’s recent move to reduce the amount of fake news that serves up in Google News. The company said it will now delist publications that mask their country of origin or purposely mislead readers. It will rely on artificial intelligence to make the determination.”
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