YouTube better platform for brands' videos: Study

Video sharing site YouTube seems to provide a better platform to the brands in the online video realm than rival sites in terms of enhancing "recall value", a new study has found.

Research from video content advertising firm Visible Measures found that brands enjoy a so-called "ripple" effect when they share a new video on YouTube that drives views of the brands' older videos -- something that does not happen when they share a new video on Facebook, Wall Street Journal reported.

As a result, videos on YouTube are watched by more people over an extended period of time, the study said.

Visible Measures found that 45 percent of a brand's total views on YouTube are of new content and the remaining 55 percent are on previously uploaded videos to the brand's YouTube channel.

In contrast, when brands upload a new video to Facebook, 95 percent of the brand's total views are of the new content rather than existing content.

"YouTube is really search-oriented and Facebook is really discovery oriented," Visible Measures CEO Brian Shin was quoted as saying.

"Because YouTube has that search capability, it makes it easier to have a large portfolio of content that can have a longer shelf life. You can always find stuff on YouTube," Shin added.

After a user watches a video from a brand, YouTube can recommend videos from the same marketer or related videos for the user to watch next.

In addition, users are also likely to click on the YouTube page of a brand if they have enjoyed that brand's video, Shin said.

"On Facebook, meanwhile, it's more difficult for users to search for a brand's older video content and users are less likely to go to a brand's Facebook page after watching a video," Shin said.

In its report, Visible Measures analysed 808 video ads comprising 1.6 billion views from 548 campaigns uploaded in the first half of the year from brands such as Pepsi, Samsung and Dove.