Speed of Social Video Sharing Nearly Doubles in Past Year
New figures from Unruly show that more and more of an online video's shares occur in the first three days of its launch.
According to new research into the life cycle of a viral video by Unruly, the number of shares the average brand video attracts online in its first three days of launch has almost doubled in 12 months.
Unruly’s Social Diffusion Curve, which measures the speed of social dissemination for the top 4,000 videos across the social Web, was first launched in April 2013 and found that 25 percent of the average online branded video’s shares occur in the first three days of its launch. Now, a year later, that number has almost doubled to 42 percent, making the first few days even more crucial for marketers hoping to make their ads the talk of the Web. The average number of shares on the day following launch, when the most shares usually happen, has also almost doubled from 10 percent to 18 percent over the last 12 months, while shares in the first week have also risen from 37 percent to 65 percent.
To help marketers cope with the speed of social and maximize the viral peak, Unruly has launched a new skippable pre-roll format in Unruly Activate, the marketing technology company’s video distribution platform that engages 1.17 billion viewers across the Open Web.
According to the latest comScore Video Metrix data, about three-quarters of video views take place outside of YouTube and its player. That’s why Unruly offers marketers an in-stream format that delivers cost-efficient, mass reach across the Open Web in the crucial kick-off phase following a campaign’s launch. The format also marks Unruly’s entry into the programmatic ecosystem. Integrations with more than 60 data management platforms offer online and offline behavioral targeting and the unit features prominent sharing and branding to lift social and brand metrics.
Scott Button, founder and group chief executive of Unruly, said, “Using paid distribution and real-time programmatic targeting across the Open Web, brands can maximize the sharing peak and slow the rate of viral decay in order to deliver maximum earned media and viewer advocacy on their video campaigns. Unlike standard pre-roll formats, in-stream skippables keep the users in control, as users decide whether or not they want to view the ad. Advertisers only pay when viewers have finished watching the video or at 30 seconds.”
Button added, “As brands place more emphasis on their digital video strategy, they are seeking a range of formats to engage audiences across multiple devices. Our highly targeted in-stream skippables format complements the engaging in-page click-to-play format and is proving popular with advertisers looking to score big at the World Cup. With so many shares now happening in the first three days, in-stream skippables can drive massive awareness and help kick-start a viral cascade in a short space of time.”
To find out more about Unruly Activate and Unruly’s new skippable in-stream format, click here.
What Is Unruly?
Founded in 2006, Unruly is a marketing technology company. Its global platform for social video marketing offers top brands and their agencies the ability to get their videos watched, tracked, and shared across the Open Web. Unruly’s programmatic video platform currently reaches and engages the large part of the global Internet population watching and sharing videos outside of YouTube.
Unruly’s end-to-end solution also cracks the code on social video sharing. Digital marketers can accurately and algorithmically predict earned media with Unruly ShareRank. According to comScore, digital marketers can then engage 1.17 billion people across the Open Web with Unruly Activate, one of the world’s biggest and most sophisticated social video distribution platforms. And digital marketers can measure their return on investment (ROI) with Unruly Analytics, a cloud-based dashboard that provides real-time competitive benchmarks across 6 billion customizable data points.
This product set is powered by the Unruly Viral Video Chart, a unique data set covering 430 billion video views and tracking 24 million shares per day. Engaging audiences across the full range of mobile, tablet, and second-screen devices, Unruly Activate has delivered, tracked, and audited 4.27 billion video views across more than 3,600 social video campaigns for more than 650 brands, including Volkswagen, Dove, Coca-Cola, T-Mobile, Microsoft, Warner Bros, and adidas.
