A Theoretical Clash of the Titans: YouTube & Facebook Video

The Seasoned Champ & the Newcomer

People of all ages, gather around for the main event!  The Internet has been ablaze as of late with discussions of the rapid rise of Facebook Video and what this means for YouTube, as well as the future of online video.  In one corner, we have YouTube, the insanely successful video-sharing juggernaut.  In the other, we have Facebook Video, somewhat new to the video sphere but hardly a slouch.  Let’s weigh them in!

We all know YouTube, but here are some of the facts (some of which were released by YouTube themselves):

• YouTube has more than one billion users
• YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google (its parent company)
• Every day people watch hundreds of millions of hours on YouTube and generate billions of views
• The numbers of hours people are watching on YouTube each month is up 50% year over year
• Half of YouTube views are on mobile devices; mobile revenue on YouTube is up over 100% y/y
• More than a million advertisers are using Google ad platforms, the majority of which are small businesses
• Because YouTube is owned by Google, a video hosted on the site is much more likely to show up in search results
• 94% of marketers use YouTube to distribute video
• In a recent survey, YouTube was said to be more popular than live TV

Like YouTube, we all know Facebook, but over the past few years, the social media giant has been getting into the video content game in a big way.  Here are some of the facts (some of which were released by Facebook themselves):

• The largest and most widely-used social media platform
• 936 million daily active users on average for March 2015; 1.44 billion monthly active users as of March 31, 2015
• 798 million mobile daily active users on average for March 2015
• A great means of managing customer relationships
• Previously not a destination for video content, Facebook now has an average of four billion daily video views (while it averaged at around three billion at the end of 2014)
• 75% of these video views occur on mobile devices

What to Make of the Hype

So, those are a lot of facts and numbers, but the real question is, how do they or will they play into your video marketing goals?  Well, at the moment, it’s difficult to lock down an exact answer.

Facebook has been focusing more and more on video on their site and service, becoming a big contender “overnight.”  And with their big push on mobile, they have begun to lock down two of the biggest trends in online marketing.  The thing is, most of the video on Facebook is user-generated and the site has yet to monetize, leaving many to wonder when they will begin to cash in on that major opportunity.

YouTube certainly isn’t going anywhere, and it’s usefulness in both content generation and SEO is undeniable.  But when looking towards the future of online video marketing, be sure to keep Facebook and their social media/mobile-based video platform in the back of your mind at all times.

Skillman Video Group LLC is a Boston video production company. Call us anytime at 1-800-784-0140.