10 Reasons Why YouTube Is Your Super Bowl Secret Weapon

AdParlor Blog Post: 10 Reasons Why YouTube Is Your Super Bowl Secret Weapon

Ribs? Check. Chip-dip variety? Duh. This isn’t your first Super Bowl—you have a strategy, and maybe not just for the perfect game day buffet. You’ve got your social campaign ready to go for the big game. What’s your secret weapon? YouTube. Here’s how it’ll help your brand bring home a win.

1 It Gets You Where the Action Is

The game’s most memorable moments create the perfect opportunity to get in front of viewers or drive them to your YouTube channel when they want to relive the moment later on. Whether it’s the epic tackle, the hilarious commercial, or Katy Perry’s infamous #leftshark, YouTube allows you to be right where the action is.

2 YouTube Allows You to Plan Ahead

When the game ends, viewers think “Hmm, I must have missed that play,” or, “What song did Coldplay sing at halftime?” Chances are, their next step is to hop onto YouTube to watch that winning touchdown or the halftime performer’s latest music video. This is the ideal place to advertise.

3 It Saves You Money

Viewers are expecting to see brands go all out during the Big Game with highly memorable ads—not surprising when you consider that a 30-second spot costs $5 million this year. Conserve your advertising budget and enjoy significant exposure on YouTube for just a fraction of the cost—usually between just $.10 and $.30 per view.

4 It Lets You Know People Actually Care

We’re all guilty of this one: you tune-in to your favorite show, but the minute it cuts to a commercial break, bam, you’re gone. Whether it’s to find something in your fridge that’s only a little expired, or just scrolling through email, you’ve checked out. And, if you are like nearly 50% of DVR users, you completely fast-forward when you get back on the sofa. Not great news if you’re an advertiser that just spent millions of dollars on a commercial spot. When you place your ad on YouTube, you can accurately measure the level of interest in your ad.

5 YouTube Has Better Targeting

It’s an understatement that a lot of people watch the Super Bowl. Last year’s game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks set a new record, with an in-game average of 114.4 million viewers. But YouTube allows for impressive targeting capabilities that TV can’t match, so you can be sure you’re paying for the views that really matter to your brand.

6 YouTube Is Remarkable, but Also Re-Marketable

You want your ad to be more than just a fleeting thought between award announcements; it should start a conversation between your brand and your audience. With YouTube’s targeting capabilities, you can set up a video remarketing campaign, which gives you the opportunity to pull these viewers back later in order to close a sale. At the very least, it will help keep your brand top-of-mind with your already-interested audience. You can’t do that on TV, folks.

7 It’s Searchable

YouTube, just like any other search engine, allows you to leverage keyword-sensitive video descriptions, titles and more. If your ad is perfectly suited to the game, add high-traffic keywords like “Super Bowl” or “halftime show”. These are the same ones big brands will be incorporating into their descriptions, so you’ll have a good chance of showing up next to content aired during the broadcast.

8 It Doesn’t Have a Time Limit

Attention spans are short—only eight seconds long, on average, according to a report released last year. This is problematic considering that the vast majority of TV ads are 30 seconds. However, not a single one of 2015’s most-viewed YouTube videos is shorter than a minute. A full 80% are over three minutes long. This might seem counterintuitive, but it’s actually your audience telling you precisely what they want to see: viewers who choose to watch a video or ad will give a brand much more than 30 seconds of their time.

9 YouTube Encourages Your Audience to Engage

For the 2015 Super Bowl, P&G brand Always released its renewed #LikeAGirl campaign, bringing awareness to the drop in self-confidence young women experience during their pre-teen years. The video has been viewed nearly 3 million times on the Always YouTube channel, with nearly a thousand comments. If your content echoes the passions of your audience, you can be sure they will like, comment or share your message with their personal and professional networks. That kind of exposure is more effective than any ad spend.

10 It Lives Longer

A TV spot is usually just a blip in the lengthy four-hour average of the game broadcast. And as you know, there’s really no way of knowing whether that audience is truly engaged with your commercial. So once it’s over, it’s really over. If you strategically place your ad on YouTube following the tips above, you can reap the benefits of your ad for months—or maybe even years—after the game’s over as it picks up more shares and organic traction. Who’s #winning Super Bowl 50? You are.

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