They’ve taught us to tie a tie and showed us cats being silly, but what is it about online videos that intrigue the everyday person, and what can they teach us about elevating brands and bringing legacy media to a new audience?
I love Hot Ones: that YouTube show where celebrities are grilled as they eat progressively spicier chicken wings.
Maybe I like it because I want to see these celebrities in pain. Or maybe because I think I have what it takes to eat a chicken wing doused in hot chilli sauce that scores 2 million on the Scoville scale.
Whichever it is, I just prefer it over traditional TV. If anything, I use my telly to watch Hot Ones on a bigger screen.
Video sharing platform YouTube has been a trailblazer for the medium. The site has more than 500 hours of content uploaded every minute, with viewers watching more than 1 billion hours of it a day.
Since its launch in 2005, there is no denying people have also used YouTube for sensible reasons: to see educational videos on how to tie a tie or how to make a delicious tiramisu, along with short or feature-length films – I highly recommend nothing, except everything by Wesley Wang. And of course, if you have a favourite content creator, they are most likely making videos on the platform.
With a seemingly limitless selection of silly and serious content to choose from, it’s no surprise that many people across New Zealand and the world are ditching linear TV, retiring their remote controls and sitting down to enjoy digital video platforms.
Variety and stories
Arwen O’Connor and Mitchell Hawkes, documentary makers and Ruckus Media co-founders, say the appeal of online videos is storytelling – and the fact that viewers aren’t restricted by a network or subscription service’s programming list.
Feel like watching a funny video about a cat being surprised in a kitchen? Thousands are yours at the click of a button. Or perhaps you’re in the mood for tragedy. It’s easy to find something to sob along to.
“Audiences now have more variety, accessibility, and personalisation than ever before. This rapid influx of choice has scattered attention, leaving traditional TV channels struggling to retain their audience base over time,” says Geoff Holmes, Co-Founder and Creative Director at creative production agency Fanaticals.
“Additionally, entry-level production costs are now virtually zero, allowing young creators to produce audience-specific content from their bedrooms, competing for the same attention that TV once dominated.”
Compare that with TV audiences, who are restricted by programme scheduling.
“YouTube is more customisable, it adapts to your lifestyle and availability, and it’s ready with unending entertainment as soon as you want it,” says Jacob Dawson, co-founder of video production company ODV.
“We’re a fast-moving, dopamine-addicted generation… love it or hate it, YouTube understands that.”
Dawson points to chat shows from the UK and US, which clip up the best snippets from guest interviews and make them available in snackable segments – perfect for today’s tiny attention spans.
“Shows like Graham Norton and Jimmy Fallon have also learned to adapt their models of distribution. Everything is multi-purposed and lives on every channel. There’s a lot of brands that could learn from that too.”
YouTube might be the best known, but it’s not the only platform to house user-generated short-form video.
Audiences got a taste of micro content in 2013 with Vine, a platform that focused on six-second clips. Some of the biggest social media influencers in the world started off on Vine. YouTuber and professional wrestler Logan Paul, for example – he now has north of 23 million subscribers to his channel and, according to Forbes, was the highest paid creator on YouTube in 2017, 2018 and 2021.
The death of Vine was followed by the rise of TikTok: now at the helm and clocking in more than 1 billion users. The app is now being used more than Google as a search engine, among Gen Zers at least.
It’s no surprise why. TikTok has it all: tutorials, dances, vlogs and news content – but especially a genius algorithm that curates users’ feeds uncannily well.
While seconds-long content is hugely popular, Dawson says video length or whether consumers now have shorter attention spans isn’t the most important factor – quality content will always win out.
“Video length doesn’t really matter as long as the content is interesting and contains multiple hooks to retain attention. Short-form works well for ads and long-form works well for episodic, story-based content,” he says.
Holmes says video is a medium for crafting narratives, while the platform is just a way to help boost the story and resonate with your audience.
Snappy edits
Snipping longer content into smaller bites isn’t just for chat shows. An 89-second clip from the 45-minute doco Patrick Gower: On Vaping, made by Ruckus, is the most popular video on Newshub’s TikTok. At latest count, the journalist taking three puffs on a vape had clocked up 12.7 million views.
Ruckus’ Hawkes and O’Connor say if the quality is there, longer-form video is relatively easy to edit into shorter clips.
“That’s what we think about when creating videos. That it can be cut up and it’s still quality. Quality content will always win,” adds Hawkes.
TikTok’s algorithm makes it easier for short-form videos like the Paddy Gower clip to go viral among a demographic the traditional media landscape struggles to reach. The idea is younger audiences who no longer tune into linear TV will be tempted to download the Three Now app and watch the full documentary.
“TV still has its place for certain demographics, but the smartphone changed everything and set consumer preferences on an unalterable course,” says Esther Dawson, Marketing Director at ODV.
“From an advertiser perspective, it’s so much cheaper and easier to reach your target audience and get deep data on view time, rewatches, and engagement rates. From a consumer perspective, YouTube is a far more customisable place – you tell the algorithm what you want to watch and it builds a super watchable homepage for you.”
As the landscape moves digital, legacy media is taking notes.
“It’s no secret that viewers are progressively moving away from TV and towards content housed on YouTube,” adds Jacob Dawson.
“Video is more powerful than any other medium because it requires the least amount of effort to engage with. You don’t have to read anything because there’s audio, and you don’t need to imagine anything because there’s visuals. Video has the power to emote, especially when it centres on a human – that’s why story-led advertising is such a powerful way of capturing brand love and attention.”
Over in the States, traditional TV comedy is thriving on YouTube – The Late Late Show with James Corden has 28.4 million subscribers, while The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon boasts 31.6 million.
James Corden’s famous Carpool Karaoke episode with Adele has topped 264 million YouTube views. That’s the size of Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world.
Even Saturday Night Live – the grandaddy of America TV’s late night comedy sketch scene, having been around since 1975 – has safely stepped into the digital space on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, garnering millions of views.
SNL hired comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy, who specialise in creating sketch videos for YouTube and TikTok, to help the show make the transition.
Old-school TV formats aren’t being ditched altogether though: many successful new digital video shows are a hybrid of legacy and new approaches. Chicken Shop Date with Amelia Dimoldenberg, for example, is a traditional interview show made easily clippable for digital. It has more than 2.3 million subscribers and books guests ranging from Cher and Ed Sheeran to popular internet stars like Chunkz and Yung Filly.
Snackable takeaways
As more and more people tune out of linear broadcasts and into the digital world, what worked for shows and brands on TV will still work on the likes of YouTube and TikTok – with a tweak or two. ODV’s Dawson has a couple of golden rules.
“One, convey a single message in your video. When you try and say everything, people hear nothing. But if you say one thing, people will hear everything,” he says.
“And two, make sure your customer is the hero of the story, not your brand. This is a subtle but incredibly important shift and we reckon it’s the biggest difference between how Apple and Samsung advertise their products. Apple almost always leads with their hero, the customer.”
ODV says its most successful videos run for 90 seconds or less and immediately hook the audience. Telling a good story is vital and not shying away from comedic elements so there’s something to watch on repeat.
Holmes at Fanaticals says a successful video comes down to what you want to achieve.
“While there are countless ways to achieve this, starting with a clear objective is the first crucial step. A clear objective allows creatives to develop fit-for-purpose concepts that deliver the message effectively,” he says.
“Problems arise when marketers try to squeeze too many objectives into a brief or budget, leading to a diluted message, compromised quality and a campaign that doesn’t create the desired impact.”
Brands that don’t integrate digital video into their strategy will be left behind, warns Holmes.
And the first steps don’t need to involve creating masses of new content. There are plenty of sponsorship, advertising and marketing opportunities in the world of video. This could range from sponsoring a popular YouTube video series, to simply putting your ad up on Instagram Reels where the algorithm could get you a sizeable organic viewership number.
Video might feel new, but we’ve been playing around with it for decades. It’s just a case of switching the channel to digital.
This was first published in the 2024 June-July NZ Marketing Magazine issue. Subscribe here.
