Thanks to Tubular’s latest Sponsored Video Marketing Report, we know views on sponsored video content on YouTube and Facebook in Q1 2017 grew year-over-year by a whopping 242% and 7390%, respectively. Here’s what we found when we analyzed posts on YouTube and Facebook from January 1 to March 31, 2017, in terms of top genres for sponsored content, which sponsors were on top of their game within these genres, and which media partners helped these sponsors’ campaigns find success. The second most-popular genre of sponsored content in Q1 2017 turned out to be music and dance, with 161 million total views. Despite gaming, music and dance, and entertainment all generating the most views on sponsored content in the first three months of this year, a different genre entirely came out squarely on top in terms of engagement, and that was animals and pets. The live stream (which was also sponsored at one point or another by Toys R Us and Babies R Us) generated a total of 232 million views since its launch in February, with Tajiri’s birth pulling in 1.2 million live viewers alone. Ellen DeGeneres was the top media partner, having pulled in 90 million views herself across various sponsored videos. As for the top sponsors who partnered with creators in Q1 2017, the top three spots go to Disney’s Moana (73 million total views), New York Life Insurance Company (45 million views), and Walmart (37 million views). As for the sports genre on Facebook, that sponsored topic saw 1.1 billion total views from January to March of this year, beating out the third-place genre of food and drink by 244 million views. Bleacher Report was the best-performing partner at 90 million total views, with Red Bull — a brand already well-known in the digital video world — coming in second with 59 million views on its sponsored content. Sponsored content on Facebook followed in YouTube’s footsteps in that the top genres for views weren’t necessarily the top genres in terms of view performance.
Thanks to Tubular’s latest Sponsored Video Marketing Report, we know views on sponsored video content on YouTube and Facebook in Q1 2017 grew year-over-year by a whopping 242% and 7390%, respectively. Obviously, something about sponsored video works. Whether that’s because audiences are already familiar with their favorite companies and want to see more content from them, or maybe the pairing of influencers and complementary brands just works fantastically well in some cases, the fact is online video viewers are hungry for sponsored content.
But what genres of content get the most attention from these viewers? What topics are sponsors most interested in investing in? As it turns out, two genres per platform (YouTube and Facebook) dominated the rest, with others competing for views before slowly trickling off into the less-viewed content by viewers in Q1 2017. Here’s what we found when we analyzed posts on YouTube and Facebook from January 1 to March 31, 2017, in terms of top genres for sponsored content, which sponsors were on top of their game within these genres, and which media partners helped these sponsors’ campaigns find success.
Gaming and Music/Dance Rule YouTube, but Sponsored Animal Content Performed Best
YouTube has always been a top destination for video fans who want to watch gaming content. Back in 2014, Minecraft became the second most-searched term on Google’s online video site with a total of (at the time) 44.3 million searches. YouTube also launched its complementary YouTube Gaming site and app in August of 2015, reportedly to compete with Amazon-owned game streaming site Twitch.
It should be no surprise, then, that the top genre of sponsored content in Q1 2017 on YouTube was gaming. Content which focused on game guides, playthroughs, how-tos, and possibly even some rage quitting and button mashing generated 198 million total views over the course of the first three months of this year alone. Several YouTube creators were choice partners for sponsors, too, including well-known channels such as VanossGaming (which pulled in 18 million views in Q1 on sponsored content), H2ODelirious (9 million), and Achievement Hunter (8 million). The top three sponsors whose content generated the most views this quarter were Ubisoft (36 million total views), COUGAR (8 million), and EA’s United States branch (7 million).
The second most-popular genre of sponsored content in Q1 2017 turned out to be music and dance, with 161 million total views. Singha Light, Young & Hungry, and SEEK Thailand were top sponsors of music and dance content, pulling in an impressive total of 46 million total views. The next-highest genre — entertainment — came in third with 95 million views and partners such as To Catch a Cheater, Rooster Teeth, and Domics earning a total of 44 million views on their sponsored content in Q1.
Despite gaming, music and dance, and entertainment all generating the most views on sponsored content in the first three months of this year, a different genre entirely came out squarely on top in terms of engagement, and that was animals and pets. Sponsored content featuring furry critters and fascinating creatures had a 30-day average view count (V30) of 1.2 million. The next-highest V30-boasting genre? Film and movies, with a significantly less count of 273k.
According to Tubular’s DealMaker product, the #1 sponsor behind sponsored content on YouTube in terms of views hailed from pet nutrition brand Mazuri with 86.8…
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