Media and Entertainment spotlight: Tuning in and reading up

The beat goes on with the fifth installment of our industry spotlight series. Since we're featuring the Media and Entertainment space in this post, you'll uncover the findings from research Nielsen and Google recently completed to measure the impact of TV and YouTube buys on TV tune-in and online behavior. We'll also give you some glamour to accompany those numbers, so read on to find out how Sports Illustrated used a YouTube campaign to successfully promote its 2009 swimsuit issue.

In a recent study, Google and Nielsen set out to answer the following questions:
1. Will a large-scale buy by a TV network on Google & YouTube increase TV tune-in? If so, by how much?
2. Will a large-scale buy by a TV network on Google & YouTube drive online behavior related to a TV show? If so, by how much?

The study: Consisted of two phases, with Nielsen first conducting research to measure the impact of large-scale campaign for a major network TV show season premiere. Nielsen then compared the exposed audience to a control group to determine ad effectiveness on both online and offline behaviors.

The campaign: A 2-week flight of a YouTube homepage masthead plus Google Content Network campaigns targeted to TV fans, entertainment buffs, and genre fans.

The results: The impact of the campaign on TV tune-in was strong, with the exposed audiences showing a tune-in increase of 134% lift for those that had seen the overall campaign, a 115% lift for those that had seen the YouTube homepage, and a 146% lift for those that had seen the Content Network campaign.

The impact on online behavior was even stronger, with greatly increased website and video visitation among the exposed audience. The results showed a 239% lift in visits to the network site, a 438% lift in visits for the show site, and a 456% lift in visits to the show video. Exposure to the campaign also increased the length of online viewership, measured in average minutes spent watching show videos: a 347% lift for those exposed to the overall campaign, a 968% lift for those exposed to the YouTube homepage, and a 172% lift for those exposed to the Content Network campaign.

In sum, the effect of exposure to the YouTube and Content Network campaigns drove a significant increase in TV tune-in and online behavior related to the TV show.

Exposure and engagement on YouTube can extend beyond the homepage, as Sports Illustrated discovered with their promotion of the 2009 swimsuit issue. Partnering with drink manufacturer SoBe, Sports Illustrated created a custom YouTube advertising program comprised of a number of elements, all centered on a co-branded YouTube Channel where users could watch over 40 videos highlighting the famous swimsuit models.

The Brand Channel videos generated over 8.5 million video views, 400,000 channel visits and 4,300 channel subscribers. The homepage roadblock received over 33 million impressions with a click-to-play rate of 3.4%, making the featured Sports Illustrated video the most viewed video on YouTube that day. For the full story of how the campaign became a swimming success and ideas on how to use YouTube for your next client campaign, download the case study.

Posted by Julia Burg, Industry Marketing Manager