O.k., let’s rewind to the Summer of 2014 when Facebook video emerged from the dark shadows of content creation. As users, we loved it! The video would play without clicking anything. But for brands, confusion set it in. For the last 10 years, YouTube has been the go-to place for video. Major brands quickly adapted to Facebook's new video platform, and have found success. And, personal users have become fans of uploading videos to Facebook as well.
So it make sense that over time it appears Facebook will take over YouTube. Here’s why:
- Facebook's daily video views are up four-fold from just one year ago (2014). In April this year, Facebook reported 4 billion daily video views! That matches YouTube.
- It's no secret that most of us would share video from other sites like YouTube to Facebook. In February, however, "70% of Facebook's videos were uploaded directly to Facebook.”
- Facebook has tweaked its News Feed algorithm to favor video. If you have a page with 1 million followers, your photos will reach 14% of those followers, your text-only posts will reach 4%, and your videos will reach 35%. Note though, if you publish a bad video it won't reach your audience. The News Feed algorithm cracks down on bad content and rewards good content.
- Video is working for publishers and advertisers. BuzzFeed had 500 million video views on Facebook in April. Mic had 33 million in two months from eight videos. Major advertisers also published videos directly on Facebook while also uploading to YouTube. The greatest example of this was the Super Bowl.
- YouTube was the household name for any video starting out as a "How To." Since then, brands have fallen in love with videos that are around 30 seconds or less. Brands like the Food Network offer 15-second videos to get their point across and upload them directly to Facebook.
While those stats are persuading that doesn't mean you should delete your YouTube Channel. It’s a good idea to be active in both platforms. YouTube isn't going anywhere, and it is still the largest video search engine on the Internet. However, YouTube’s response to Facebook’s video will dictate what is next. Stay tuned...
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