Week in Digital: the YouTube era and content futures
By Teamspirit on Sunday, 17 May 2015
At a recent event in New York City, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki revealed that YouTube now has a greater reach with 18-49 year-olds than any TV network. The age of digital video has been here for a while, but hearing a statistic like that really brings that reality home.
The rate of increase for YouTube as a content platform is staggering. The number of visitors to the world-renowned video site has risen by 40% since 2014, and time spent there is up 50%.
What this means for content creators is that ignoring YouTube as a platform is no longer an option. It's common to use other video players for content, but the convenience, accessibility, quality and reach of the YouTube platform is impossible to beat. Vimeo is still an appealing option, but no videos quite get traffic the way ones on YouTube can.
For financial services, it may result in two things. The first is the adoption of YouTube as the go-to host for streaming video, which means building out channels for FS companies, which is of great benefit to both the company itself and those who benefit or seek to benefit from its products and services.
The second result is that it will create an entirely new video space for financial services video content. Live broadcasts, recorded seminars, service walkthroughs - the potential to educate customers and clients and intermediaries alike is invaluable. By taking to the platform in droves, financial services could create a new content hub for itself on the biggest video platform on the internet. The "new visitor" percentage may rise in 2015, due to financial services.
