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What’s your strategy for the #2 news source: YouTube?

What’s your strategy for the #2 news source: YouTube?

Each year, Magid’s local media team challenges itself to define clear perspectives on the broadcast industry that will guide our thinking and approach throughout the year. This is a comprehensive process: an internal and external review of the industry, ideation sessions with the consultants and analysts across our company, and research to understand how all of this thinking sits with consumers.

Our process this year has been particularly insightful, as we have expanded our approach to look not only at the consumers our clients want to reach, but the advertisers buying their inventory, and the employees who do the work each day. This complete view of the landscape has been a powerful tool in defining the very real challenges broadcasters face in 2019, as well as the opportunities that can make for growing businesses in the future.

We’ve been sharing highlights of our findings from this process in a series of posts that look at the path forward for your brands and content, including the key to aligning station staffs, and how to create emotional connections between the consumer and your brand. This week we’re turning our focus to a source that has a prominent place in the video landscape, yet many find unexpected for news – YouTube.

More video is consumed on YouTube than any other platform, yet it traditionally has not been prioritized in newsrooms. That needs to change – more than half of consumers get local news or weather information from YouTube at least once a week.

The numbers are substantial, but many station brands don’t have a focused approach or strategy for the platform. And this could be a key missed opportunity – 58% of OTT users and 62% of Millennials make up those that responded they turn to YouTube at least weekly for local news consumption.

How does this consumption fit in with all the other platforms?
More Millennials are using YouTube as a source for local news/weather than OTT and station mobile apps. Only social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter combined) and TV newscasts are used more than YouTube by this group – and the gap is narrow. This means that YouTube is the #2 digital source for local news and information – so how should stations approach a YouTube strategy?

Bundle a YouTube strategy alongside OTT efforts
Unlike Facebook and its unreliability with the algorithm, YouTube is built for video and it’s not going anywhere. Bundling a YouTube strategy alongside OTT efforts will help stations with search, discoverability and audience growth.

Search and discoverability are key to the YouTube experience, and it’s what connected TV devices are missing. More OTT users are using YouTube as a source than their connected TV streaming device. As we mentioned, 58% of OTT users use YouTube as a source at least weekly – while 45% say they stream local news to their TV.

YouTube also presents an opportunity to reach consumers outside of your viewership who are looking for news and weather information. It’s a solution that enables you to go where the viewers are, and meet consumers where they’re at on a platform they prefer. Building a YouTube strategy, on top of your newscast, app and OTT efforts, can help you maintain and even broaden your audience.

What challenges are you facing today?

We’re ready to deliver insights and move your organization forward.