Video bloggers — the Rising Stars and Future of Content Marketing
No person can claim to never have been on YouTube and watched a video. This video hosting and streaming site has become so popular that no content creator can even think of ignoring it. From businesses to musicians; all of them have used this site and uploaded videos to reach their audience in an entertaining and visually appealing form. The rise of YouTube’s popularity has been noteworthy. It is the second most popular website in the world.
Rise of YouTube
Along with the increase in the number of people using YouTube, there was an increase in the number of people who uploaded videos as well. These people made their channels on YouTube and began uploading self-made content. As their views increased, so did their subscriber count, and, eventually, they began earning through the advertisements placed on YouTube.
This attracted many more content creators with different ideas with regard to the subject of their content. Soon, hundreds of YouTube channels were spawned, each exploring various themes and usually settling on to a central one. They made their viewers stay by making creative and original content and they helped generate stable and increasing traffic on the site.
Age of Video Content Consumption
Among these content creators were some pretty creative people who made highly engaging and entertaining videos — from unboxing Lego games to playing new video games and explaining stuff, to creating funny videos like spoofs and much more. These videos were called video blogs or ‘vlogs’ and the people who recorded and uploaded them came to be known as ‘vloggers’. Vloggers struck a chord with the youth and the rise of such vlog channels has been phenomenal. Around 20 YouTube vloggers have more than 20 million subscribers now.
They are pulling in millions of views and millions of subscribers to their channels. These vloggers have a direct and loyal audience and they almost religiously take to what the vloggers say and do. These vloggers are making a lot of money already by selling their own merchandise and they have not been effectively identified as a great marketing opportunity yet by a lot of advertisers. Since it is clear that these vlogs have millions of people who watch the videos put up by them every day, they become one of the most effective means of advertising a product or a service directly to the target audience. It also becomes extremely easy to identify the channels who are attracting the desired type of audience. For example, a makeup brand can find channels who are doing makeup tutorials and they can approach these channels by offering to sponsor them and asking them to advertise their products by using them in the tutorials or through giveaways. They can also place their own advertisements before or in between the videos. They are thus assured of the desired viewership and targeted marketing, which can now be done more effectively than ever before.
Using Video Channels as a Marketing Tool
The benefits to both the channels and the advertisers are immense. The channel owners can make a living by making videos and, since they don’t have to do other things to earn, they can fully focus on making quality content to attract more viewers. The advertisers get the benefit of reaching the target audience through a more dedicated medium than traditional means, such as the newspapers and television.
There is a more personal approach and the terms can be agreeable to both the parties, without having to compromise too much. This medium of advertisement holds a lot of promise in the future, since the youngsters who watch these vloggers and channels regularly are going to be the customers tomorrow, although a lot of them already are. Young people (13–24 year-olds) watch 2.5 times more videos on Internet than on TV. A great use of videos to market products will ensure retention in the impressionable minds of youngsters and, in turn, convert them into actual, loyal customers.
Solutions for Seamless Video Advertising
Since this medium is still undergoing a lot of development, there have been problems. The advertisers want the products to be advertised in a certain way and there are conflicts as to whether the terms of the contract have been executed or not. This causes the parties to fall out and many a times, content creators miss out on earning their deserved income through their videos. 92% of advertisers spend more than 10 hours during one influencer marketing campaign. Many of these channels have agents who bring the advertisers in contact with the respective owners. Going through intermediaries makes advertising costlier. And if the advertisers have a dispute with one agent or channel, they may pull their advertisements and sponsorships from all such related channels. There is always a problem of big advertisers influencing the trend of advertising on this medium as well, which restricts smaller advertisers from placing their advertisements on the videos as well. Smaller influencers are also suffering from current market flaws. Advertisers usually neglect them preferring to place ads on large influencer channels. And that’s a mistake because smaller influencers have the most engaged and loyal audience.
AdHive — The “Got-to” Platform for Native Video Advertising
To overcome such problems and thereby make lives easier for both content creators and the advertisers, AdHive has come up with a technologically sound solution, which will ensure both transparency and fairness in the sponsoring of such channels and videos on YouTube and, eventually, other video sites. AdHive makes use of blockchain technology and AI (Artificial intelligence) to make the entire process easy to track and execute. The advertisers can list their requirements in terms of the kind of channel and the type of advertising that they want done in the video. Any channel can take up the request if they feel the terms are agreeable and, using blockchain technology, a smart contract is drafted. This contract is automatically concluded upon the execution of the terms mentioned in the contract. And to track whether the terms mentioned in the contract have been executed or not, AdHive makes use of AI. It will review the video and check for the elements that need to be there in the video, such as mentioning of the brand name for a stipulated number of times or displaying the product along with the brand name for thirty seconds or any such term.
If the terms have been fulfilled on behalf of the channel or the vlogger, the AI then initiates the remainder of the smart contract. So, if the advertiser has to pay a sum once the product has been displayed, the smart contract will automatically ensure that the amount is transferred to the channel owner without anyone having to initiate the process. Life will surely seem simpler now that AdHive has such a promising service to offer which will change the way advertising is being done on video channels.
Parting Words
Video channels and vlog channels have great potential and the opportunities they offer to advertisers are increasing with every increase in the number of channels. AdHive platform will assist in the best possible way for making advertisements on videos more effective and successful than it already is.
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