Filipino marketers were lucky to receive their Brandcast Delivered experience — YouTube’s annual event for brands — which pivoted into an online affair this year, the video platform announced that more than 40 million unique viewers in the Philippines are watching on YouTube every month over the past year. Watch time across content genres and the number of channels with more than 100k subscribers continues to grow, bringing opportunities to creators and businesses in the country.
On a press briefing held via Google Meet Thursday evening in Manila, YouTube shared that more than 50% of the 40 million unique local viewers are aged 18-34 years old. There was a growth of over 50% in watch time, where Filipinos used the platform to fuel their passion points and expand their knowledge to cope with the extended periods of the quarantine. It is worth noting that watch time logged for gardening contents grew by more than 4x, while that for art videos doubled. Time spent watching strategy game videos and fitness content grew by more than thrice respectively. Meanwhile, watch time for knowledge videos saw more than a 90% increase.
YouTube now has over 1,750 channels that have 100k+ subscribers — most of which are so called “home creators.” Their profile continues to diversify as more creators coming from various backgrounds go to YouTube to share their inspiring stories like Dwight Tamayo, a NextUp Finalist and a poultry farmer from Masbate, uses YouTube to share his knowledge about his expertise to help his co-farmers and those interested in poultry farming; EduCreator Team Lyqa, who just reached the 1M-subscriber mark, demonstrates the capability of YouTube for learning; and Mimiyuuuh, the most recent YouTube Philippines’ Emerging Creator of the Year, who has been bringing joy to millions of Filipino viewers.
“YouTube continues to bring opportunities for creators and local businesses in the Philippines,” according to Bernadette Nacario, Google Philippines Country Director. “As watch time and audiences on YouTube grow, creators can expand their reach and diversify their content storytelling. Over the last few years, we’ve also launched a number of products such as YouTube Video Builder to help MSMEs, which form the majority of our economy, leverage the power of YouTube as part of their digital strategy. Any small business can use YouTube as long as they have a clear objective, a creative idea, and a target audience to engage.”
Marketers use YouTube to tell great brand stories. With most target audiences consuming content online, brands are crafting authentic, emotional, and insightful videos that offer deep and personal experiences for their consumers.
The most effective brand ads are those that move the emotions of the viewers, making them laugh, cry, or feel inspired. An example is the Ads Leaderboard winner for the month of May 2020 — Lactum’s Mother’s Day campaign: Alagang Ramdam ng Bawat Pilipino (A Care that is Felt by Every Filipino). The video narrates a compelling and relevant story about a mother’s love and highlights the heroic roles that moms, who are also COVID-19 frontliners, are taking on in these challenging times. The ad was successful as it struck a chord with the viewers’ hearts, especially since the Philippines is a family-oriented market.
“On YouTube, we are seeing advertisers that are starting to make ads that anticipate and embrace this new reality. As many businesses continue to think about how to navigate these uncertain times, creatives are experimenting with different storytelling styles,” according to Ben Jones, Global Creative Director for Google’s Unskippable Labs. “From reimagining existing assets, reinvigorating animation to miracles of editing that take our breath away, we are seeing ads that are both effective and distinctive despite the constraints.”
Jones added that in order to harness the creative effectiveness of YouTube and deliver a personalized experience, marketers should:
- Tap into a growing digital population
- Reach out to every category of the consumer now that brands can leverage a single platform to reach audiences based on their interests and passions
- Explore different content formats as multiple categories grow in popularity
- Stay engaged as consumers keep looking for a steady stream of fresh content