YouTube Insight

Guide Note: March 26, 2008: Google announced the launch of a new analytics tool for their video-sharing site YouTube. Called YouTube Insight, the service will allow any YouTube account holder to track when and where a clip is being watched. YouTube Insight also allows users to trace a video’s popularity over time and by U.S. state. The geographical data is presented as a map and a graph shows the rise and fall of a video's popularity over time. YouTube suggest that the new service will be very useful to marketers. For example, any ad company could pubish several video ads, track the most popular, then roll out the most successful version. The program's geographical tracking will allow marketers to discover whether a video ad is popular in a certain area of the U.S. The ad campaign could then be tailored to that area's taste.

Access Insight

1. Log in to your YouTube account
2. Click "Account" at the top right of the page
3. Under "Manage my Videos", click: "Videos, Favorites, Playlists"
4. To the right of each video in your list, click "About this Video"
5. The graphed and mapped information is displayed

Insight Facts:

1. The service is free
2. YouTube aim to broaden the sites usage, turning it into a site where marketers can test their messages
3. Tracks popularity by country
4. Updated once a day
5. Upcoming features: Discover how viewers find a video (through search, link or YouTube's share-with-a-friend feature
6. The detailed information available only to the uploader
7. Tracks the number of times users starts a video (not how many finish it)
8. Paid advertisers will get fuller information on how many viewers watch 25%, 50% or all of a video
9. Geographic information revealed through Internet Protocol addresses

YouTube Facts

1. Popular video-sharing site YouTube
2. First video uploaded at 8:27PM on Saturday April 23rd, 2005.
3. Owned by Google
4. 2006: Google bought YouTube for $1.76 billion
5. Marketers who buy ads on YouTube can already access statistics about their video's performance

YouTube Statement

• "...using these metrics, you can increase your videos' view counts and improve your popularity on the site. For instance, you might learn that your videos are most popular on Wednesdays, that you have a huge following in Spain, or that new videos that play off previous content become more popular more quickly."