New York — In a move likely to appeal to the growing number of companies looking to add video their Web sites, the popular video-sharing site YouTube Inc. last week rolled out a tool that contributes more details about who is watching their video clips and when, offering advertisers additional insights they can use to target their pitches.
“The free program, known as ‘YouTube Insight’, also could help bands schedule their concerts and help anyone time the release of a new video.”…
YouTube Insight is intended to give content creators, content partners and advertisers more information on the performance of their videos, beyond how many views it gets, comments, favorites, and other basic data currently displayed, according to Tracy Chan, a YouTube product manager.
“Google already offers analytics for ads, Google Reader, and other services.” But, the metrics have only been available to partners and advertisers. Only total views and users’ ratings were available to those providing the 80 million-plus videos circulating on the site.
Marketers previously buying ads on YouTube already get a flock of metrics about the progress and audience for their ads. The new program breaks down viewership by day and shows the states or countries where most viewers are.
YouTube Insight provides data on viewers and location and how viewing patterns change over time. Data is displayed in a map and on a timeline, which are interactive; changing the settings on one impacts the other.
“Advertisers can study their metrics and successes to tailor their marketing, both on and off the site, and reach the right viewers. As a result, Insight turns YouTube into one of the world’s largest focus groups,” the YouTube representative wrote.
This could help the most successful content publishers, whose videos attract million of viewers to determine programming strategies, very much like advertisers do.
“Everyday contributors will benefit from the new program,” a YouTube representative said in an email. “Until now, they only got limited information, such as how many times their video was viewed or commented on.”
“With this information, you can concentrate on creating compelling new content that appeals to your target audiences and post these videos on days you know these viewers are on the site,” YouTube officials said in a blog entry announcing the program.
Upcoming features may indicate how viewers find a video, through a search, an outside link or YouTube’s share-with-a-friend feature, Chan said.