But if you’re not already positioning your company to own the season, not to worry. We’ve pulled together our 4 Social Video Strategies to Win the 2022 Holiday Season.

1. Start your engines earlier this year!

Most holiday gift purchases will be made in October and November. Due to economic uncertainty, many agree that shopping earlier avoids spiked gift pricing and helps to spread the financial burden across several months rather than a last-minute pinch in December. 

According to a survey presented by Samba TV & HarrisX, Gen Z plans to spend the most this holiday season and 69% use TikTok as the #1 resource for gift ideas. 

We looked at the historical TikTok data using the following hashtags: #christmastiktok, #christmas, #shopping, #shoppinghaul and #haul.

Tubular revealed that in 2021, there were 900k views for these hashtags in August and 4M in the month of September. However, in 2022 we’ve seen a huge spike! August 2022 reported 3M views and a whopping 10.6M in September. That’s a 2.6x larger viewing audience than the same time last year and it will just continue to increase as we get closer to the holidays.

If you haven’t started dishing out your holiday content, request a free demo with Tubular to find your perfect influencers and the niche content categories that are driving sales in your industry!

2. Cut the TV cord, your highest spending consumers are not watching cable! They’re on social.

It’s not news that Gen Z viewers are not watching linear TV. In fact, many of them have grown up in homes that never had cable. According to Samba TV’s Holiday Report less than half of US adults pay for cable and that number falls even further within Gen Z.

Gen Z has now matured into earners who have the funds to spend more on loved ones. These shoppers are spending more time on social than any other generation. In total, Tubular reports that this age group makes up 40% of total time spent watching videos in the Gaming category on YouTube. Another product category that makes up a large percentage of holiday sales is Technology. 33% of watchtime in the Tech & Science video category on YouTube is from Gen Z viewers.

But just because Gen Z isn’t watching linear TV, doesn’t mean they aren’t watching scheduled programs at all. In fact, this generation makes up 36% of the watchtime of all YouTube’s Television category. Examples of these videos might be dramatic clips from Real Housewives or series trailers of Emily in Paris season 3. 

Reach your audience where they are and nurture brand recognition with the fastest growing demographic of spenders by shifting your focus onto social.

3. Double down on your sale day strategies

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have always been some of the year’s biggest sales days. But with economic uncertainty tainting holiday gift giving, we expect to see these sales days grow bigger than ever before. It’s likely that consumers will be waiting out for these discount days to purchase high-ticket items like phones, laptops, and other electronic devices.

In fact, those that searched for Black Friday online are most likely to shop for technology online. We found that the top 10 products this audience is likely to shop for are all under the tech umbrella. Not far after that, however, are other high-ticket items like light hair removal, collectible toys, games, electrical oral care, and even drum sets.

Make sure your discount day sales news reaches your target consumer by leveraging white space in niche content categories where content is unsaturated and viewership is growing.

4. Identify high-impact influencers to livestream your favorite products

Trust is big for skeptical shoppers this year. They want to ensure they’re getting the bang for their buck and that the brands they’re buying from aren’t jacking up prices unnecessarily. There’s no better way to instill a sense of trust than with a candid live stream.

Finding the perfect influencer who aligns with your brand’s values and can drive major conversions. Apparel is one of the biggest product categories that will profit from holiday gift giving. Certainly, this industry thrives on Instagram and TikTok while other industries like gaming win on YouTube.

We looked at influencers whose audience is watching fashion content. What initially popped up was a list of A-List celebrity accolades, from Kim Kardashian to Billie Eilish. Needless to say these celebrities cost a pretty penny and partnering with them is not always the go-to strategy for end of year sales. 

When we narrowed our influencer search to smaller Fashion & Style influencers, we found a long list of creators with audiences that have extremely high affinities for apparel content. Although their Instagram and TikTok follower count may seem modest in comparison, oftentimes these influencers have unique connections with niche-communities that are likely to shop online. 

For more on influencer identification, check out our Influencer ID Guide to help you unlock creators that drive powerful ROI for your specific brand and/or category. 

Economic uncertainty makes this holiday season more stressful for consumers — but it’s also putting pressure on marketers and decision makers from the world’s leading brands to drive major ROI. 

We feel you. Mitigate risk by pinpointing success. Know what influencers will convert and what content viewers will resonate with. No more guesswork (ain’t nobody got time for that). Accurately predict the success of holiday marketing strategies down to the dollar.

If you haven’t already jumped on the bandwagon, request a free demo and unlock unprecedented insights with the Tubular platform.

The post 4 Social Video Strategies to Win the 2022 Holiday Season appeared first on Tubular Labs.

Sometimes you want a captivating infographic to walk you through the latest and greatest, but other you need a bullet point you can bring to your team meeting that supports your latest inspired idea.

Here are the key learnings from our latest update on the Beauty, Gaming, and Food & Beverage categories: 

The Food & Beverage video category

Foodie lovers have driven growth in this content category by 55% since last year. Here are the flagship statistics from our latest investigation: 

1. Men make up 58% of F&B viewers.
2. Views grew from 314B → 488B in the last 365 days (55%+).
3. Category white space opportunities: Food Hacks – Average views after 30 days +900k with only 881 videos in this category. 
4. Category white space opportunities: Frozen Drinks – Average views after 30 days +600k with only 521 videos in this category.
5. Oversaturated categories: Street Food & Muckbang have over 40,000 videos in this category.
6. Food & Bev viewers are >6.5x more likely to also watch content about Low-Carb & Gluten-Free diets, Fermentation, and Glycemic Index Diets.
7. Food & Bev viewers are >2.8x more likely to buy these product categories: Frozen Pizza, Tofu, and Chicken Thighs, Drumsticks & Wings.
8. Food & Bev viewers are  3.7x more likely to buy from the brand Hot One’s.
9. Food & Bev views are >2x more likely to buy from these brands: Tasty, Minute Maid, Kellogg’s, and KitchenAid.
10. Food & Bev viewers are >14.5x more likely to visit these websites: coke.com, instacart.com, cheetos.com, and foxyfolksy.com.

The Beauty video category

This video category touts highly engaged viewers who are very likely to drive conversions in adjacent categories. 

1. Though Beauty is traditionally a female-dominated category, male viewers make up 41%.

2. Views grew from 109B → 142B in the last 365 days (30.3%+).
3. Category white space opportunities: Hair Products – Average views after 30 days +277k with only 6,185 videos in this category. 
4. Category white space opportunities: Beauty Hacks – Average views after 30 days +241K with only 4,072 videos in this category.
5. Oversaturated categories: Hairstyles > 47k videos in this category, Nail Care >16k videos in this category. 
6. Beauty viewers are >8x more likely to also watch content about Anti-Aging, Tanning, Afro-textured Hair, and K.Beauty.
7. Beauty viewers are >3.8x more likely to buy these product categories: Setting Powder, Hair & Scalp Treatments, and Mindful Beauty Cosmetics.
8. Beauty viewers are 4.2x more likely to buy from the brand E.L.F Cosmetics 
9. Beauty views are >2.8x more likely to buy from these brands: Rimmel, CeraVe, and Redken.
10. Beauty viewers are >17.5x more likely to visit these websites: realtechniques.com, urbanoutfitters.com, bloomingdales.com, and beauty.magnet.com.

The Gaming video category

One of the biggest video categories on social video drives major sales and feeds tons of adjacent categories.

1. The Gaming category is dominated by males 18-24.

2. Views grew from 634B → 687B in the last 365 days (+44B).
3. Categories white space opportunities: Music & Dance Games – Average views after 30 days +258k with only 1,058 videos in this category. 
4.  Categories white space opportunities: Animal Video Games – Average views after 30 days +6,561K with only 74 videos in this category.
5. Oversaturated categories: Adventure Video Games > 717k videos in this category, Action Video Games >775k videos in this category. 
6. Gaming viewers are >7.2x more likely to also watch content about Announcement Trailers and TVs.
7. Gaming viewers are >2.4x more likely to buy these product categories: Graphics cards, Comic Books & Graphic Novels, and Collectible Figures.
8. Food & Bev viewers are  >2.4x more likely to buy from the brand Razer.
9. Food & Bev views are >1.8x more likely to buy from these brands: Hot Ones, Oculus, and Pokémon
10. Food & Bev viewers are most likely to visit these websites: gamerdigest.com asiatoday.co.kr, teamliquid.com, onepunchmanga.net, and aerosoft.com.

Get more from Tubular’s Category Infographics (also available for the Travel, Sports, Music, Electronics, Fashion, and Automotive categories). Empowering yourself with one-off stats is great, but seeing the visual landscape is priceless.

The post 30 Stats: How do consumers feel about Gaming, Beauty, F&B? appeared first on Tubular Labs.

The creator economy is the economy. Influencers are becoming more integrated and aligned with brands, many of them holding stake in the companies they represent and acting as consultants for wider brand positioning. Partnerships are the pinnacle of today’s marketing strategies. With dollars on the table and brand perception at stake, it’s important that strategists utilize measurements that let that project ROI more accurately.

We’ve broken out our latest report, Watching is Better than Listening: How to build brand preference using social behavior into a four-part mini-series. In our fourth and final segment, we’re looking at the ways consumer & behavioral insights can help brands mitigate risk and form partnerships with proven ROI.

Keep reading to find out how to:

• See what niche categories are driving web traffic
• Hone in on specific creators to assess value and weigh options
• Benchmark effectiveness of partnerships before, during, and after campaigns

Allbirds footwear brand can optimize partnerships by targeting its driving categories

A direct-to-consumer brand like Allbirds relies on web traffic to make the vast majority of sales. Behavioral analytics that reveal related category interests can help this growing brand form strategic influencer partnerships and target the content types that are driving web traffic. This knowledge takes the risk out of decisions and content strategy and contributes to community building and brand loyalty.

Web browsing data gives you the ability to see what the visitors of your owned website are viewing on social video. This helps you increase funnel optimization and partnership effectiveness. 

Within these wider video categories are niche communities that offer a large addressable audience of consumers for a brand like Allbirds to reach their target. 

Allbirds’ web visitors are 21x more likely to watch videos about Rowing (within the Sports video category). This insight can help Allbrids sift through the endless creators on social video to find ones that are already engaging their target customer. 

Alternatively, if Allbirds’ goal is to broaden reach, the brand could go for a niche category with a smaller affinity like Spa content. Partnering with an influencer who speaks to this niche audience could help increase that affinity from 10x. Then, Allbirds would be able to track that growth by monitoring the interconnections between social video consumption and online shopping. 

Go deeper than niche categories to single out the perfect influencer

Fashion subscription brand, Rent the Runway, partnered with Clevver Style from Hearst with a try-on haul. This popular brand can rest assured that this partnership is an effective one as they are able to see that her audience is 18x more likely to visit the Rent the Runway website after watching her content. 

High web-visit affinities can mitigate risk for marketers because they already know that this influencer is a proven effective funnel driver for the site. However, these insights are also helpful for measuring campaign success. After a campaign or partnership has been executed, analysts can measure how those affinities increase or decrease. 

The 4-Part Social Video Playbook: In review

Over the past few weeks, we’ve provided four deep dives into our report, Watching is Better than Listening: How to build brand preference using social behavior, for busy marketers who need to bring new insights and ideas to their next meeting. 

While Social Listening is a popular insight strategy amongst today’s brands, it leaves many marketers with major blindspots. The bottom line is monitoring views & engagements doesn’t tell you what your audience actually prefers, shops for, and searches for online. 

Here’s the Tubular take on how going beyond views & engagements can help you get ahead:

1. Get ahead of competition by understanding the vast majority of silent social media users

Content & creators shouldn’t be evaluated based on their audience’s likes & comments because the vast majority of users don’t engage this way — but that doesn’t mean they’re not willing to purchase your products. Surface level measurements tell us very little about the consumer value of the audience and their relationship to your brand. Go deeper to get ahead.

2. Create content that resonates by understanding adjacent interests 

Social listening techniques don’t tell us what else your audience is interested in. Audience Also Watches tells you what audiences prefer to watch, helping you create content that is relevant & evergreen. Evergreen content is key because it continues to rack up views over many months and builds loyalty. 

3. Mitigate risk when investing in new social ventures

Venturing into new wave technologies, like NFTs and Virtual Realities, to reach Gen Z audiences can be tested without the risk. Before investing time and money into your own Roblox game, learn how to use behavioral insights to ensure the success of your new concept. 

4. Partner with creators based on ROI projections & addressable audience size

Creators are a massive force that direct the economy and dictate consumer trends and behaviors. Focus on behavioral insights to evaluate the consumer landscape within niche categories and creator audiences.

Ready to turn the lights on and cast out all branding blindspots? Check out the full-length report here: Watching is Better than Listening: How to build brand preference using social behavior.

The post [Part 4/4] Actions Speak Louder than Words: The Social Playbook for Behavioral Data appeared first on Tubular Labs.

The ever-shifting landscape of social video means marketers must embrace new technologies, test out content types, and stay ahead of trends. These unchartered territories can feel like risky investments for brands, agencies and media companies, especially during uncertain times when most are pinching pennies. Using social behavioral insights that tell you what else your audience watches and their adjacent interests can help mitigate some of the risk of creativity and innovation. 

We’ve cut our latest report, Watching is Better than Listening: How to build brand preference using social behavior, into a mini-series for on-the-go marketers. For Part 3, we’re looking at how behavioral insights can be used to guide brands in their content strategies, specifically into new investments like NFTs, web3, and virtual realities by: 

• Understanding consumer interests by identifying who and what they watch
• Unlocking ecommerce insights by seeing what they shop for
• Venturing into uncharted territories to meet Gen Z audiences where they hang out

Below, you’ll understand how two global coffee brands have aligned their most innovative social strategies with their audience’s behavioral insights.

Viewing preferences guide Lavazza’s virtual world venture into Roblox

We’ve noticed that global coffee brand, Lavazza, has entered into virtual reality with Roblox. While many may think this is an unlikely duo, we took a third-party deep dive into Tubular data to explore this.

Tubular’s Audience Also Watches tool indicates that coffee fans are 4.7x more likely to watch videos about soccer compared to other audiences. Our insights also tell us that coffee fans are 4.4x more likely to watch videos about Roblox which means this virtual world is the perfect platform to meet their target audience. Tubular’s Consumer Insights indicates that 8% of all Lavazza shoppers on Amazon are watching soccer on YouTube.

Great! A Roblox soccer game— but how will they differentiate and brand themselves against the multitude of similar soccer games on the platform?

Audience Also Watches reveals an interesting clue– coffee viewers are interested in eco-conscious content as they are 8.3x more likely to also watch videos about deforestation. 

As of September 5th 2022, Lavazza has its own Roblox Arena soccer game where users can compete, explore forested areas, and learn about deforestation. The premise behind the soccer game is that every 20 seconds, the size of a soccer pitch is deforested globally.

Starbucks’ reward membership becomes a Web3 community

Only one week after Lavazza’s launch into virtual realities, Starbucks opened the floodgates to its new Web3 hosted experience. Starbucks is the first major enterprise to launch a virtual experience for its pre-existing membership program. 

The Starbucks Odyssey is intended to be a place where rewards members can meet each other, play games, earn rewards, and even buy one-of-a-kind NFTs.

Both coffee brands are opening new ways to interact with their consumers, and yet — their strategies are each uniquely aligned with their own consumer preferences!

Let’s take a look at Starbucks’ social behavioral insights to find out why:

Science & tech is a massive category that nearly everyone on social media is exposed to which makes it a great starting point for any brand looking to activate. Science & tech viewers make up almost 60% of all Starbucks shopping on Amazon. Moreover, this coffee brand has even more niche audience alignments in the tech space. 

The brand told the press, “Starbucks has a history of taking leading-edge technology, innovating, and making it accessible and approachable for mainstream audiences”. So, does Starbucks have a loyal consumer audience that obsesses over new wave technologies? According to Tubular Intelligence, over 25% of Starbucks’ YouTube audience also watched content from tech creator, Marques Brownlee. That accounts for nearly half a million people in August alone. 

It doesn’t stop at Brownlee! Viewers of the popular tech channel, the Verge, are 5.3x more likely to shop for Starbucks on Amazon, and Wired viewers are 3.1x more likely. 

Below you can see how much Starbucks’ audience overlaps some of the tech & Web3 hosts:

Creating a place where Starbucks rewards members can meet each other, interact, and engage with new technology is in perfect alignment with their consumer base.

Letting insights like these guide a content strategy mitigates investment risk, allows for inspiring creativity and ensures ROI.

Mitigate risk by optimizing your aim on your target audience

Two globally renowned coffee brands with die-hard fans are venturing into new wave tech spaces in entirely unique ways. Knowing who your audience really is through behavioral insights can be far more informative than what a brand could learn from monitoring comments & engagements.

Ready to turn the lights on and cast out all branding blindspots? Check out the full-length report here:  Watching is Better than Listening: How to build brand preference using social behavior. 

Don’t miss Part 1 and 2 of this mini-series, and keep your eyes peeled for the final segment of Actions Speak Louder than Words: The Social Playbook for Behavioral Data dropping soon! 

The post [Part 3/4] Actions Speak Louder than Words: The Social Playbook for Behavioral Data appeared first on Tubular Labs.

Social video moves fast, making it difficult for marketers and agencies to catch trends before they go viral. Relying on comments & engagements for retroactive intel makes it difficult to stay ahead of the curve. 

Good creators are so monetizable because they authentically position themselves at the center of cultural conversations. Whether they’re driving K-Pop beauty trends, writing TikTok musical scores, or creating viral dances, they align with emerging trends and give audiences something to engage with. By being the sole driving force behind a massive trend, these creators reap long-term viewership that compounds interest.

In our latest report, Watching is Better than Listening: How to build brand preference using social behavior, we explore 5 core ways to go beyond engagements with deep audience and behavior insights.

In this mini-series, we’ve cut the report into snackable segments. For Part 2, we’re talking about how brands like yours can own the moment.

• Anticipate behavioral trends and topics
• Create evergreen content that keeps viewers coming back
• Invest in social video that continues to compound ROI over time

From social listener → to social luminary

Racking in tons of views is great, but winning Watch Time indicates a truly loyal and active audience. Let’s dissect a well-known example, Tubular data indicates MrBeast is the #1 creator for watch time with 2.3B monthly minutes across platforms.

Perhaps one of MrBeast’s greatest strengths is his ability to align his content with the cultural moment that viewers can get excited about. This creates a disturbance in the normal social algorithm and floods his channels with views & engagements. 

Soon after racking up 133M views in the first-week of his Netflix SquidGame spin-off, MrBeast launched another community-building challenge: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He strategically planned his content calendar to build excitement for of his 5 ingredient chocolate bar, Feastable. This video earned 76M views in the first 30 days making it the 2nd most popular YouTube video ever. Tubular data shows these viewers:

• were 80x more likely to visit a Feastables promotion page 
• 58x more likely to visit the primary domain after watching

Now, MrBeast takes his online community to the real world with the launch of his very own restaurant, Beast Burger. A reported 10,000 people showed up to the opening day of this YouTuber’s in-person restaurant. Brands can learn so much from creators like MrBeast who excel at creating cultural moments and opening new opportunities to engage with audiences.

Evergreen is #goals

The first month after posting is make-or-break for most content. But… the true testament for loyalty, trust, and entertainment is sustained growth in views over time. 

For marketers, this is a huge opportunity. You partner with creators and spend a pretty penny on a campaign. If it goes viral for a moment, it’s great! But good content creators know how to put out evergreen content that compounds ROI, boosts brand awareness, and enhances loyalty.

Take a gander at MrBeast’s SquidGame video growth over time:

After the sharp spike up to 46M views in the first 2 days, we see that viewership continues to rise at a steady pace. After 7 months, the video still averages 500k views per day! 

Unfortunately, techniques that monitor likes & engagements won’t measure the evergreen success. After 7 months, the video now gets about 7k engagements per day which shies in comparison to the number of views. 
Simply put, the cultural conversation might have shifted to other topics (which accounts for a decrease in engagement), but the entertainment value and brand loyalty remain.

Ready to turn the lights on and cast out all branding blindspots? Check out the full-length report here:  Watching is Better than Listening: How to build brand preference using social behavior. 
If you missed Part 1, don’t worry— it’s right here.  Be on the lookout for the next segment of Actions Speak Louder than Words: The Social Playbook for Behavioral Data Part 3 dropping soon!

The post [Part 2/4] Actions Speak Louder than Words: The Social Playbook for Behavioral Data appeared first on Tubular Labs.

Social networks are moving faster by the day and video content continues to fuel that growth. To remain competitive, marketers need to see beyond the present and anticipate what’s next. 

In our latest report,Watching is Better than Listening: How to build brand preference using social behavior, we explore 5 core ways to go beyond engagements with deep audience and behavior insights.

In this mini-series, we’ve cut the report into snackable segments. Here’s your first bite:

Focus on Actions

Behaviors > Engagements

The age old saying that actions speak louder than words holds true when marketers are understanding their brand loyalty. Take the superstar and social icon, Taylor Swift for example. This year, she has generated around 150M views and 1.7M engagements per month on YouTube. By looking at this metric alone, the pop-country queen herself would have little value to brands. If you were evaluating her brand perception and loyalty using a listening tool alone, only 0.011% of her audience would be accounted for.

This is an example of the “Participation Inequality” phenomenon researched by Will Hill of AT&T Laboratories. It states there is a 90-9-1 standard of online engagement. About 90% of users are scrollers, 9% comment from time to time, and 1% comment frequently.. If marketers are making business decisions based on the sentiments of 1% of frequent commenters, they’re doing so based on a biased understanding of their audience. 

Check out this example with one of TikTok’s top creators, DuoLingo, to see how measuring behaviors rather than engagements proves to be much more effective.

DuoLingo, one of the most viewed brands on TikTok, gets comments from roughly 18% of viewers, indicating an 82% blindspot in audience understanding!

It’s time for marketers to get curious about the massive audiences who are watching — but not commenting. 

With Tubular, you can see insights into your full audience and answer: 

• What content does my audience like to watch?
• What else do they also watch?
• What do they shop for?
• What other websites do they visit?

With Tubular’s insights, we see that DuoLingo’s viewers prefer:

• Rock music > Hip hop music
• Japan travel > Mexico travel
• Nintendo Switches > Xbox Ones

From monitoring social engagements alone, it would be impossible to reach these insights. 

Consumer Insights like these are vital for marketers to understand audience behaviors and target their addressable audience. 

Addressable audiences for marketers

Not only does Tubular let you determine a general consensus for what audiences are shopping, but it also lets you see the number of buyers within specific audiences, and their likelihood to shop for your product.

Check out @FoodyFetish for example, social media’s #1 Food & Beverage Consumer.

Consumer Insights shows how viewers are shopping online in relation to their audience, their partners’ audiences, and their competition’s audiences. These behavioral insights link viewership to shopping behaviors which help determine which creators will actually impact ROI — regardless of audience size and comment ratios. 

Brands determining who to partner with based on comments alone face a much higher risk factor than those who are making data-driven decisions. A creator’s value shouldn’t be determined by their engagement ratios or positive comments, but rather their ability to drive off-platform actions.

With these numbers, marketers can estimate the ROI of a partnership or campaign more accurately than ever before. Imagine KitchenAid wants to launch a campaign with this creator because they can clearly and easily see that FoodFetish has an addressable audience of 24M in their product category, Home & Kitchen. Assuming everyone in this audience makes a $5 purchase, they could estimate an ROI of $120M.

The post [Part 1/4] Actions Speak Louder than Words: The Social Playbook for Behavioral Data appeared first on Tubular Labs.

That’s why Tubular offers world-class training & onboarding specialists to guide you through your first 30, 60, and 90 days with us and ensure you’re getting the most out of your insights.

We’ve asked our Head of Customer Success, Jessi Dexheimer, to explain what the first three months look like.

“The first call is really exciting because that’s when customers really understand the power of Tubular and everything they can do and see on the platform!” 

—Jessi Dexheimer
Head of Customer Success

30 Days

Welcome to the social video universe — now, you can see everything. 

Kick-off Call 

On your kick-off call, your team will meet your dedicated Customer Success Manager who will be your go-to contact for all things Tubular. Together, we’ll discuss your OKRs, why you’re using Tubular, plus your short and long-term goals. What do you want to accomplish in the next 6 months? How about the next year?

In this introductory call, we’ll also schedule future calls. You have live access to your personal CSM for two hours a month. What works best for you? Two 1 hour calls or four 30-minute calls? Your Customer Success Manager’s mission is to assimilate into your current workflow as seamlessly as possible.

Then, it’s time to schedule your official training call with our team of experts!

“Customer training and enablement is critical to the customer journey and life cycle to deepen their engagement and understanding of the tools and features available in the Tubular platform. Once an “aha moment” happens users and customers are more likely to continue depending on the power of Tubular.”

— Courtney Parham

Customer Training & Enablement Manager

Training Call 

Your company’s unique goals will be the foundation of our partnership together. 

Whether it’s content strategy, influencer identification, or sponsorship negotiation, we’ll walk you through exactly how to use the platform to support these goals. Our training team will also show you how to get competitive intel on this call so you can walk away with tactics to start gaining market share.

This is your time to ask questions, get comfortable with cutting-edge features, and build your dashboard. There are great options for you to customize your experience in this call including bespoke searches and saved lists so you can keep tabs on content types, competitors, and more. These saved lists help you observe change over time and make using Tubular quick and easy. Our training experts come to the call with many carefully thought-out suggestions of what you should put on your customized dashboard and will also help you set up your own saved lists and searches!

You’ll leave your training call more excited to explore the platform than ever. Finally! A solution lets you see into walled gardens and check in on your competitors. 

Don’t worry, if you forget a crucial question, Tubular provides a 24/7 always-on learning lab filled with a glossary of training videos. Plus, a live chat feature so you can talk with a real person (yes, a living breathing human) for support. We guarantee a 24-hour response, but the average answer time is typically under one hour.

60 Days

At 60 days, your team is navigating the Tubular platform like its second nature and the best part is— you’re starting to see the immediate pay-offs of making data-backed decisions. 

Your CSM will continue to support you in using the platform to reach your KPIs while also allowing you the space to explore and find your own insights. Our methodology is to empower you and your team to find your own meaningful insights. We hand you the keys so you can get behind the steering wheel and put the pedal to the metal. When it comes to social video — time is everything. Platforms are constantly evolving algorithms and new creators explode overnight. If you’re not ahead of the curve, you’re behind.

Beyond training, your CSM helps you prepare for the big events in your calendar. They actively harvest data to support you during Upfronts, Newfronts, show premiers, product launches, and more — so you can show up with confidence.

90 Days

By 90 days, you are a pro and we will begin to evaluate your KPIs with more scrutiny.  You’ll have a quarterly business review (QBR) with your Customer Success Manager.

What can you expect from your Quarterly Business Review? We’ll start with a general review of your campaign, marketing, and influencer initiatives. Your CSM will revisit your initial goals with Tubular and benchmark the progress you’ve seen in just a few short months. Expect to see growth and in-depth analysis worth celebrating. Then, you’ll have an opportunity to discuss your next set of goals – 6 months to 1 year! 

Here’s an example of how we helped our friends at Indeed set clear goals and align their Tubular partnership to meet those goals:

In addition to your scheduled CSM meetings, QBRs, and 24/7 chat support, you’ll also have access to the resources and trends we are uncovering at Tubular. We are constantly providing updated in-depth reports on video categories like gaming, beauty, travel, and more. Our category infographics provide an overview of industries in an easy-to-chew snackable format. We often host panels with thought-leaders like Moonbug and Benefit so you can see how other top users are applying Tubular data to their businesses.

All of these valuable resources are broadcasted on our social channels and are rolled into one monthly newsletter. Keep your eyes peeled for our monthly roundups so you can keep up with all the latest social video trends and marketing insights.

Interested in accelerated growth? Request a demo now to see inside the most cutting-edge insights platform for free. 

The post The First 90 Days: Getting Started with Tubular appeared first on Tubular Labs.

Additionally, choosing the wrong measurement solution can be detrimental and send you down a path of diminishing ROI.

Yes — you need to identify the best social measurement solution to keep your competitive edge.

Tubular’s Head of Platform Partnerships, Victor Silva has provided his expert opinion on the best questions marketers & media companies can ask measurement solutions to ensure they’re seeing the full picture.

Before you pay for insights, make sure you ask these 5 questions to determine if you’re making the best choice for your business:

1. Are you measuring video performance across all of the top social platforms? 

A partial view of video performance doesn’t help you truly understand the overall social ecosystem and sets you up for an unbalanced media strategy. 

All platforms maintain their own individualized measurement systems of what constitutes a view, engagement, or impression. For instance, the way Instagram counts a view is not the same as TikTok. That’s why using a measurement solution with cross-platform capabilities is so necessary. Standardized cross-platform metrics help brands weigh important partnership decisions and publishers build a balanced content strategy.

You should be able to see:

• Which creators could bring variety to your current content plan
• How different content types perform on different social platforms
• What competitors are doing to engage and partner cross-platforms

Insight: The right measurement solution will provide a balanced standard of quantitative insights across all social platforms.

2. Am I able to see the performance of my competitors and their videos?

Viewing your performance in a vacuum without the context of your competitive market can lead to missed opportunities and repeated mistakes.

Competitive intel requires much more than scrolling through each social page of your top competitors to see what content they are producing. At the speed that business is moving, the time and dollars spent on big research projects can leave you behind. True competitive intel is meaningful if you can get actionable insights at the click of a button.

You should be able to answer:

• Who are your largest competitors partnering with to boost content?
• What content, subjects, and formats are they leaning into and which are they abandoning?
• Which brand sponsors are drawn to the content types you want to create?

For example, imagine uncovering a unique trend emerging within your top content category. Social insights show you a subcategory that has high demand and low saturation. Before you dive in head first, it’s important to understand where your competitors stand in this subcategory. If they’ve already begun to create this type of content and partnered with a specific influencer to lead that creation, finding a unique but equal creator to help lead your own subcategory creation is key.

Insight: Keeping tabs on your market and its biggest players is how you maintain and grow your market share. Arm yourself with data that gives you the upper hand.

3. Can you show me what else my viewers and my competitor’s viewers are watching?

Your audience is a collection of multidimensional people with different interests, viewing preferences, shopping behaviors, and browsing activities. Understanding their interests is pivotal to creating a more integrated and growth-centric media strategy.

If you understand that your target audience is likely to watch a specific influencer or channel, you can partner with those creators and acquire some of their core audience. As a publisher, if you understand what else your audience is likely to watch, you can begin to lean into adjacent categories. This will help you maintain loyalty and also increase reach.

In the following infographic, you can see that fashion viewers are likely to watch specific content about maternity clothes and saris as well as content from other categories like French cuisine and self-driving cars. These viewing trends can then be linked to ecommerce behaviors within specific product categories & brands.

Insight: Unlocking insights that show you the whole picture of who your audience is will help optimize your strategy and grow a massive, high-converting audience.

4. Can you tell me the quality of different audiences?

A massive audience doesn’t always equate to high conversions, channel loyalty, or brand recognition which is what you’re actually after. Today, you need insights that tell you the quality and power of audiences.

Not all audiences are created equal. Whatever your marketing and content goals are, whether it be upper-funnel brand awareness or lower-funnel sales conversion, you’ll want to ensure that you’re targeting the right audiences at the right time. Accessing in-depth insights, like average watch time and likelihood to shop, help you understand the quality of viewership rather than the number of viewers.

In the following graphics, you’ll find 2 beauty influencer score cards that reveal unique views, frequency, purchase affinity, and engagement. Then, in a side-by-side comparison, you can understand the product categories their audience is likely to shop for. Different audiences will be more aligned with your unique growth goals.

Insight: Micro-influencers are more powerful than ever. Millions of viewers don’t indicate real impact. Measuring the quality of audiences is the key to a winning content strategy. 

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5. Can you show me what my audience is shopping for?

Social video’s strength as an ecommerce driver is growing exponentially versus more traditional channels. Aligning your content & partnership strategies with shopping behaviors is absolutely essential to maintaining positive ROI.

Using Consumer Insights metrics like Shopping Affinity for products & brands, market share for your category, and audience shopping percentages you can see tangible data that proves the smaller but more powerful Influencer B has a larger addressable audience more likely to take action and press purchase. 

In this example, you can see that creator Larry Wheels has a huge following but not such a huge influence on his audience’s shopping behaviors. The Kneesovertoesguy has a smaller audience but a strong shopping affinity. Layne Norton, PhD offers a happy medium of both metrics. Based on your company’s unique goals, you can use charts like these to make more aligned partnership decisions.

Insight: Social video is a powerful ecommerce tool that allows deeper, more authentic relationships between brands and consumers. Ecommerce based insights ensure you’re showing up when and where you need to.

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Only pay for measurement solutions that will empower your success

When it comes to selecting the right measurement solution that will skyrocket your marketing & content strategy, you want to ask all the right questions and know exactly what you’re going to get. Our very own Head of Platform Partnerships, Victor Silva, provided his top questions that will guide your journey to find the best-suited measurement solution for you and your business.

Here are Silva’s final thoughts:

“More and more companies are claiming to measure social video, but many do it as an add-on to some other service like creative management, social listening, or legacy media measurement. To truly understand social video at scale you need a dedicated solution that specializes in social video, spans the top platforms, and provides the comprehensive insights that you and your clients value. In order to find that best-in-class measurement partner that can go the distance and become a long-term driver of your success you need to ask the right questions and cut through the noise.”

-Victor Silva, Head of Platform Partnerships

From ecommerce tools, to detailed content categorization, influencer insights, and competitive market analysis — you want the world of social video at your fingertips.

To get all that and more in one easy-to-use platform, click here for a free demo.

The post 5 Make-or-Break Questions You Should Ask Your Measurement Provider appeared first on Tubular Labs.

Here are some highlights from the recent report, H2 2022 Social Video Trends:

• How micro-communities on social platforms offer higher converting audiences
• How to use social video insights to foolproof your NFT & VR investments
• How you can supercharge growth with short-formats

Micro-communities matter 

Marketers must be agile and innovative when it comes to capturing the hearts of Gen Z & Millennial audiences. In particular, they are wary of advertisers, skeptical of inauthenticity, and unwilling to be delineated from their viewing preferences. One way for brands to overcome these hurdles is to engage in micro-communities.

These niche worlds of loyal and engaged audiences are led by micro-creators where there’s a deeper sense of connection, increased loyalty to leading creators, and heightened trust.  Ad-skeptical audiences have their guards down which presents the opportunity for marketers to nurture authentic relationships.

Micro-communities help brands and advertisers cut through the clutter and speak to audiences their competitors aren’t already targeting.

In our H2 2022 Social Video Trends Report, we look at this niche Roblox community: 

Leah Ashe is a broad-reach Roblox creator with 1M unique monthly viewers in June 2022. Tubular Intelligence reported her massive audience is 993X more likely to also watch niche creator, ItsLimey, who focuses on a fashion game within the Roblox world. ItsLimey’s audience is filled with fashion-loving gamers who are 27X more likely to purchase punk boots than other audiences.

Understanding how to access niche communities and understand their specified consumer behavior is key to identifying partnerships that will drive conversions. Leather boots creators like Dr. Martens can gain market share by targeting this high-converting audience!

NFTs & virtual realities are relevant— today

NFTs and the metaverse are piquing audiences’ interests which means they should be a new focus for marketers & media publishers as well. 

While this new frontier might seem like a risk, social video offers insights & guidance to mitigate some of those risks and increase your chances of success.

How do marketers gain an understanding of this space and get started?

Marketers & publishers should employ the same engagement and feedback tactics used by the inventive artists already growing in popularity with NFTs. That said, it can be difficult for large-scale publishers and enterprise brands to maintain the same level of engagement that creators do— that’s where comprehensive audience & content insights come in.

Social video insights tell us what NFT communities are interested in. Visitors of the popular NFT site, OpenSea.io, are likely to watch content on podcasts, arts, and new wave technologies like self-driving cars and futuristic video games. With this information, brands & creators decide what their next NFT project could look like.

When Budweiser launched its very first NFT collection, the brand aligned its concept with its consumers’ entertainment preferences. Their NFT collection features 22 emerging musicians. No surprise, their consumers’ viewing behaviors indicate the Budweiser crowd has a high affinity for country music, singing & talent shows, as well as remixes & mashups.

Leaning into music was a great way for this legendary beer producer to introduce their audience to NFTs in a way that feels familiar to them.

Short-form content is the key to growth 

Short-form video is all about growth. Platforms have prioritized this content in algorithms to reach new followers and show up on discovery pages. Shared music tracks and trends also allow users to find new creators in alignment with their preferences.

That said, long-form content still plays an important role on social video as it racks up more minutes watched and nourishes deeper connections with audiences through in-depth content.

Finding that balance between growth and strengthening audience loyalty is key for those who want to lead on social.

Ecommerce continues to climb with social video

How can marketers set up a content & partnership strategy that will maximize the latest capabilities and ecommerce integrations? 

For Millennial & Gen Z audiences, social video is the driving motivator of their consumer journey.

Platforms are enhancing ecommerce capabilities, making it easier than ever to connect brands, shoppers, and creators. #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt has gathered 6.4B views YTD and won’t be stopping anytime soon.

Top content ranges from unboxing videos to best Amazon finds, and ASMR-style product videos. Creators who cater to specific communities like #CarThingsForYou inspire automotive fans with gadgets for their vehicles. This hashtag is accompanied by others like #AmazonFinds and #TikTokShop

There’s a strong connection between what people buy and what they watch on social video. Tubular’s Consumer Insights found that Travel enthusiasts who watch content about cruises, spas, luggage, and castles are likely to shop for cameras, travel books, bear protection, and road bikes. These experience seekers exhibit a high affinity for brands like Logitech, GoPro, or Osprey.

Marketers & media companies can benefit from understanding what content types and creators are actually driving conversions for specific brands and product categories. As for this H2 2022 trend, we predict that ecommerce & social video will continue to intertwine so that more and more shopping is done in social apps and video formats.

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Click here to download the full-length report covering the most significant trends of H2 your company should be leveraging.

Learn more about how you can lean into digital streaming opportunities and position your company as a global leader here.

The post H2 2022: Social Video Trends to Optimize Your Media Strategy appeared first on Tubular Labs.

Let’s find out how each platform is covering the trial to engage with the masses of obsessed audiences.

YouTube

On YouTube, most major broadcasters are live streaming the trial along with recaps such as “15 Most Shocking Moments”, etc. Live streams are often accompanied by live chats where people can share their opinions. In fact, there are so many people engaging and writing that it’s hard to keep up with the feed. Law&Crime Network posted a trial-related poll in their live chat that asks “Do you think the LAPD dropped the ball the night of May 21, 2016?” which has over 600,000 votes.

In general, YouTube is where audiences are going to view top moments and full live streams rather than reactions. Trial-related content with the most views is videos over 20 minutes in length. All in all, trial content on YouTube has earned over 993M views.

Instagram & Twitter

On Instagram and Twitter, we’re seeing several celebrities making their opinions known. Ireland Baldwin, daughter of Alec Baldwin, has notably taken Depp’s side on her Instagram stories. The model said “the thing is, I know women who are exactly like this. They are manipulative and cold and they use their very womanhood to play the victim and turn the world against the man because we live in a society where it’s cool to say men are all the worst and blah blah f–kity blah”. 

Along with celebrities, millions of others react to the trial’s jaw-dropping moments and share their opinions. Comparatively, Twitter seems to be the most polarized platform as the hashtag #justiceforjohnny is the most viewed hashtag while more neutral like hashtags #deppvsheard are trending on other platforms.

TikTok

TikTok is driving major audience engagement on the platform. The hashtag #johnnydepptrial has over 226M views, and content is coming from all angles —  from creators to enterprise brands.

But it doesn’t stop there… a TikTok creator, @devotedly.yours, took matters into her own hands and submitted Milani’s information to Depp’s lawyers. She posted documentation of her entire experience entering the Fairfax county courthouse and tracking down the actor’s legal team to hand-deliver the evidence. The power of TikTok never ceases to amaze us. 

We’ve also seen many TikTokers creating their own response videos and cover of the trial as if they were news reporters. Many have live-streamed their reactions — so viewers don’t even need to watch the actual trial to know what’s going on. They can just watch their favorite creator live streaming! One video went viral when a TikTok creator noticed a moment where Depp subtly passed a doodle on a yellow sticky note to his lawyer and then the two of them laughed. It looked like a courtroom sketch of Mrs. Heard and the video has now gotten 5M views in only 12 hours. ‘Another TikTok creator @lawyerlimor creates videos titled “Trial Part 63” where she gives her legal opinion on the latest and greatest from the trial. Some of her video’s views climb well into the millions.

From muffins to a man vaping and driving during his testimony, this case has all the fixings for a social video frenzy. High-profile celebrity cases always create a riveting cultural moment, but this is the first we’re seeing unfold with the power of social video in full swing. Will this trial get crazier? Probably… and we can’t wait to see it all on social video.

If your company is interested in learning about Tubular can help you refine your media positioning, contact us here

The post The High Profile Lawsuit that’s Shaping Culture appeared first on Tubular Labs.

Abercrombie & Fitch has undergone a metamorphosis over the last two decades. At Tubular Labs, we find it remarkable that this company has made a comeback from being criticized as an exclusive, preppy youth retailer with highly sexualized branding to an all-inclusive, forward-thinking brand.

So, how does a retailer transition from a forgotten Y2K-canceled scandal to a modern millennial body-positive brand? Of course, through social video. And, most notably — TikTok.

The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch

While the previous 20 years have been a roller coaster ride for Abercrombie & Fitch, this retailer’s lengthy history of reinventions is not new. Abercrombie & Fitch has been in business since the 1800s. Teddy Roosevelt and Ernest Hemingway were among its customers, and it was recognized as the “Greatest Sporting Goods Store in the World.”

Several financial snafus in the late 1970s and early 1980s resulted in the takeover by The Limited, which eventually selected Michael Jeffries as CEO in 1992. Jeffries would become well-known for his raunchy style and primary credo — sex sells. For 22 years as CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, he effectively transformed the struggling outdoor brand into a sex-centered elite enterprise. At the height of the brand’s popularity, teenagers swarmed to the store, where male models stood outside under club lights and trademark aroma infused the air. A&F was a captivating experience in and of itself, with its insignia emblazoned across all clothes as a mark of exclusive status. In 1999 LFO pop trio sang “I like girls who wear Abercrombie & Fitch, I’d take her if I had one wish”. The brand was inextricably linked to the popular culture of the day.

Its cultural significance, however, did not continue long. A class action complaint was filed against Abercrombie & Fitch in 2003, alleging that the company participated in discriminatory hiring practices. In the end, they settled a $40 million dollar payout to discriminated-against applicants.

And in 2006, Jeffries came out in an interview and revealed what everyone had been thinking.

“[Sex] is almost everything. That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that,”

Michael Jeffries

Jeffries departed the company in 2014 after years of revenue decreases. In 2015, they phased out in-store male models, halted hiring based on “the A&F style,” and expanded women’s apparel sizes. However, the path to restoring this shattered brand reputation would be difficult and would need far more than simply standardizing brand activities. 

In fact, Netflix’s documentary White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch is set to premiere in April 2022 and will cover many of the discriminatory business practices that occurred not only within the company but also throughout the fashion industry in the Y2K time period.

Abercrombie released a statement on their social media channels in response to the documentary. Let’s take a look at how they’ve used social video platforms to re-establish their brand identity and rebound from controversy:

“In the spirit of transparency, we want to directly acknowledge the news of an upcoming documentary that will feature Abercrombie & Fitch and focus on an era that took place under previous leadership. While the problematic elements of that era have already been subject to wide and valid criticism over the years, we want to be clear that they are actions, behaviors and decisions that would not be permitted or tolerated at the company now.

As we’ve evolved, we’ve felt the love from this community. We are grateful for the support you have given us as we’ve taken intentional steps to be inclusive and welcoming to everyone.

Thank you for giving us the chance to show you who Abercrombie is today, and for being a part of who we will be tomorrow. We know the work is never done and remain committed to continually creating a company of which we can all be proud.”

The Rebrand

In 2017, Franz Horowitz took over as Abercrombie’s CEO. Since then, the retailer has taken big steps to rebrand itself with inclusivity and celebrating diverse shapes, sizes, and colors. Horowitz shared with NBC News that they have modernized the brand and begun to target ‘young millennials’, people who are 20-30. In 2019 the company saw remarkable growth, signaling to the world — Abercrombie is back! 

The retailer relaunched its signature scent, Fierce, with a brand new angle in their year-long 2021 campaign #FaceYourFierce. While this scent that hung in the stores of Abercrombie throughout the 2000’s will live on in the olfactory memories of millennials across America, the new angle is something completely new. Abercrombie partnered with influential people they termed the ‘Fierce Family’ which featured transgender model Leyna Bloom, and Paralympic gold medalist, Scout Basset to name a few. Rather than feature ‘cool kid’ models, they selected unique and remarkable individuals to support the relaunch of their scent! 

The TikTok Takeover

This brand’s triumphant return was astronomically boosted by strategically hopping on the TikTok bandwagon. TikTok has a way of igniting viral trends the way no other platform can do by encouraging creativity and collaboration amongst users. While this platform has been a crucial component in Abercrombie’s rebranding, the brand’s account only has roughly 20,000 followers on the app and about 50 videos at the time of writing — so how are they going viral? 

Rather than producing their own videos, the company depends heavily on collaborations with inclusive, fashion-focused TikTokers to do the heavy work in terms of social footprint and name recognition. By partnering with a few notable curvy fashionistas and diverse faces, the company ignited a content trend that would explode across the platform. When a brand strategically partners with the right creators who have access to niche audiences, they inspire smaller creators around them to join in on the trend as well. 

Today, we see unpaid TikTok users creating their own try on haul videos promoting Abercrombie’s new, inclusive brand! 

Tubular data shows that videos with #Abercrombiehaul have gotten over 400k views on YouTube in the past year, albeit the main social driver is TikTok. This hashtag has over 51M views on TikTok with the top video garnering over 228k likes. Creator @madelinelah says “I haven’t shopped here since I was literally 14, but they’ve made a comeback.” 

Abercrombie did not simply pay a slew of influencers and hope for the best. Instead, they actively engaged with users and paid close attention to the comments and engagements on creator’s postings. Being an inclusive company requires listening to the needs and concerns of people of all shapes and sizes and producing clothes that fit everyone.

When asked about their rebrand and engagement with the TikTok app, A&F told Vogue:

“We watch the reviews and hauls of our products. We take notes of how people describe the quality and fit. There’s an authenticity innate to TikTok and its entire community that has allowed us to humanize Abercrombie.”

In this way, TikTokers have co-created the brand that Abercrombie is today. Rather than companies learning how to leverage and create for audiences, it’s important that they learn to create with audiences.

For instance, their 90’s Straight Leg and Curve Love jeans have created quite the buzz online and sell out – often. One comment today’s reviewers continuously make is that there’s no “waist gap” which means the jeans fit over curvy hips nicely while also hugging the waist. Often, curvy bodies have a hard time finding a pair of pants that can accommodate both! This feature that makes the jeans so popular is actually one that stemmed from actively listening to and engaging with social video audiences.

In addition to their participation on the app, A&F also teamed up with creators @denisemercedes and @mariacastellanos_ri who started the movement #StyleNotSize. This movement’s mission is to show how fashion can look excellent on all body types. The two influencers create side-by-side try on hauls where you can see clothing items on one slender and tall body and one curvy and shorter body. In the end, they both look incredible in everything they wear and their content helps to highlight inclusive brands. These creators were a perfect partner to Abercrombie’s rebrand so they invited them to create their own collection, Abercrombie X Style Not Size. The collection featured jeans, dresses, tops and more.

Insights to Actions

If you’d asked a marketer in 2013 if an Abercrombie & Fitch comeback would be possible — they likely would have said not a chance. But with the right leadership, branding initiatives, and social video strategy, we’ve seen one of the biggest Y2K scandals turn into a company that inspires inclusivity and provides quality made apparel. Let’s wrap up how this company navigated the wild west of TikTok to fuel its transformation:

If your company is interested in learning about Tubular can help you refine your content strategy, contact us here.

The post How a Brand Used TikTok to Rebound from Controversy appeared first on Tubular Labs.

How It Started

In early 2017, Architectural Digest magazine underwent a major rebrand when they introduced the large, iconic AD on the front of their magazines— but the reboot extended to digital video, too. Pre Open Door series, AD was dabbling in digital video with design tips, interviews, trends, travel destinations, table setting tips, and holiday decor.

Celebrity home tour videos were consistently attracting the most views, but they were few and far between. On average, these videos were shorter than 2 minutes and consisted of slideshow photography repurposed from the AD magazine into video form. 

Photographer and videographer, Trevor Tondro, broke into video tours in a series of shorter videos around 2 minutes long, kicking it off with a video titled “Inside the Beastie Boy’s Malibu Home.” From there, AD created more “Inside Celebrity Homes” videos.  The early footprints of the series combined photography slideshows as well as scenic videos void of any spoken word, like Tim Mcgraw and Faith Hill’s tour that features the country music couple gallivanting around their luxury island home. Dozens of these episodes continued to roll out through the majority of 2017, mostly under that 2-minute mark and garnering, at most, about 1.2M views.

Until October of 2017 — when the official Open Door series launched.

The first-ever episode featured Robert Downey Jr’s Hamptons home and was just shy of 5 minutes long. As for views? The video trumped any other than had come before it with a whopping 26M views. The added length gave Downey and his wife time to discuss the nuances of the house, how they found special pieces and handled remodels. 

The longer the videos got, the higher the engagement and viewership climbed. Brooke Shields’ episode of Open Door, perhaps the shortest, was only 1:23 seconds ringing in only a ~250k YT views. Terry Crews’ “Man Cave” episode came out only 4 days before and got 8.9M views. We think this gap is more contingent on video length, which adds quality for the viewers who have a passion for education rather than entertainment. Plus, who doesn’t want an extended view into the luxe decor and design of an amazing home? The same example can be applied when in the same year, Tommy Hilfiger’s 1:53 minute tour only attracted 270k views, and his 9:00+ minute Open Door got 14M views. 

How It’s Going

Today, AD’s Open Door series has filmed over 90 episodes. Keleigh Nealon, the mastermind Content Director at various Condé Nast arms has eloquently led the legacy of AD magazine into the digital age. 

Over the past 3 years, the series has garnered over 625M Unique Views on YouTube which is 82% of their total views.

Moving Into Digital Expands Younger Audiences

Traditionally, the legacy of Architectural Digest makes people think about older, wealthy readers who can afford novelty furniture pieces and outrageously expensive art. Global Editor Director, Amy Astley made a forced effort to expand to younger audiences by putting a large emphasis on digital platforms. 

We see how that effort has paid off in the way their audience is shopping online. Tubular data on consumer shopping behaviors shows that AD audiences are almost 8x more likely to shop for Graduate textbooks online compared to other audiences. Notably, the vast majority of graduate students are millennials 25-33 yrs old which indicates their virtual expansion has helped usher younger generations into the AD audience. 

The other top-ranking product categories include crafts like paintbrushes, ink, brush cleaners, etc. They’ve attracted a huge audience of DIY enthusiasts who might be creating their own renditions of expensive pieces and fixing up thrift furniture to cut costs. 

In looking at the AD audience’s consumer behaviors, we can understand why they prefer lengthy videos that provide the nuances of design and reveal the lengthy processes of renovation. These viewers put a high value on education over entertainment.

Like many publishers, transitioning to digital formats, Architectural Digest has done an excellent job opening new revenue streams through virtual interactions.

Editor and Chief, Amy Astley, discussed the shift with Digiday, remarking that digital video “doesn’t have an end game like they must all buy a magazine. We’re making sure that ecommerce is integrated between print and the web and digital.” AD leverages affiliate marketing by linking art and furniture featured in their Open Door videos. What viewer doesn’t want to snuggle under the same Dior blanket Cara Delevingne has in her house? 

What’s Next

While Architectural Digest has dominated long-form YouTube content for the last few years, we see a huge opportunity for the publisher to welcome Gen-Z into their audience through shorter form content on apps like Instagram and TikTok. Targeting younger celebrities to join the Open Door series could be elevated by posting trailers to Reels, Tiktok, or #Shorts. Plus, with new built-in ecommerce innovations boosting social platform shopping, AD could target eager young audiences based on their ecommerce activity.

Using Tubular, publishers can view what content types are working for other creators within their key categories and identify undersaturated whitespace opportunities. Home Improvement & Design categories are thriving through short-form content! 

Are you excited to see how Architectural Digest spearheads the short-form content world? We certainly are. 

If your company is interested in learning about Tubular can help you refine your content strategy, contact us here.

The post How Architectural Digest Adapted its Timeless Brand for the Digital Age appeared first on Tubular Labs.