How YouTube is Shaping our Ongoing Narrative

Now don’t get me wrong. I love a good internet cat video or a blooper of some guy hitting his rear end on the roots of a tree because he misjudged the length of his rope swing as much as anyone – but YouTube has changed. It’s no longer the domain of just the funny, weird or popular. With billions of viewers and presence across our collective culture, it now offers a reach that no local TV network can.

The recent Washington Post story about how YouTube is shaping the 2016 presidential election really hit it on the head. According to the story, three political ads in January ranked among YouTube’s 10 most-watched as for the first time ever. And in the early caucus and primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, YouTube sold out its open pool of reserved ad time – something the streaming video giant had never done before. It just goes to show you how much candidates want to reach voters’ mobile devices because we spend so much time on them.

Even as Facebook, Snapchat, Periscope and a host of other competitors push their video content, YouTube still remains the dominant player. In fact, according to YouTube’s own statistics, its users comprise almost one-third of all people on the Internet and YouTube’s audience remains widespread reaching more 18-49 year-olds than any cable network in the U.S. More than half of YouTube views come from mobile devices and the average viewing session on these devices is more than 40 minutes.

While the popular sentiment is that YouTube is young person’s domain, the Washington Post story claims that Google surveys have found that more than half of baby boomers and seniors are watching online videos too. In fact, AARP was one of the first brands to grab up premium ad time on YouTube when the site unveiled a new advertising program.

So what does this mean for us? What does this mean for franchising? I believe what franchising needs to do is really analyze and understand who is watching what at the hyper-granular level because that is the exact point where the storytelling process can start. You can always find those consumer or development-focused people and target them, but it’s a totally different value proposition if you can go after them in their actual mindset with a message that resonates.

Nick Powills, CFE, founded No Limit Agency in 2008 and serves as Chief Brand Strategist for the Chicago-based firm. No Limit is a full-service communications agency that establishes and elevates brands by bridging Public Relations, Social Media, Marketing, Advertising, Digital, and a lot of creativity, to best strategize well-rounded and successful campaigns for 50+ global franchise brands. By presenting visionary ideas and building real relationships, No Limit is able to create effective media branding strategies to help companies grow. Nick currently leads a staff of writers, media strategists, designers, social media experts and digital producers in an office think-tank where brands are humanized for strong, compelling media stories. Prior to starting No Limit at the age of 27, Nick spent four years working at a franchise PR agency where he mastered the art of building rapport with media outlets and creating newsworthy pitches for earned media placements. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Drake University in Iowa.

How YouTube is Shaping our Ongoing Narrative

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Nick Powills

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