YouTube sees spike in consumption of branded travel videos

YouTube has seen a year-over-year spike in consumption of branded travel videos, with views of travel content up 118% according to a new whitepaper. The whitepaper highlights other unique characteristics of the way that travel videos are consumed, and by using case studies of popular travel content, offers a loose framework for other travel brands looking to leverage video. The following is a breakdown of one of the most detailed looks at the state of travel video on YouTube. Top searches The report usefully breaks out the top travel-related queries on the platform, which is especially revealing when compared to the top travel queries on search.

Video is especially vital at the top of the purchase funnel, with over 70% of searchers looking for videos related to a particular destination. Video is well-suited for the research and inspiration phase, as it offers local color and insight on a place that can inform further searches.

General travel queries, local attractions, travel products and brands perform extremely poorly on search within YouTube. This doesn't mean that the value of the platform is diminished; however, it does mean that brands must focus content creation efforts on distributing to self-managed platforms.

Destinations, on the other hand, must not pass up this vital opportunity to gain mindshare as potential visitors are browsing YouTube travel videos. This opportunity must never be overlooked - and of course, is not just limited to YouTube but applies across video platforms.

Combined with the knowledge of everyday search terms, travel brands and other destination marketers can create a specific video approach that meets specific funnels and marketing objectives.

What's being watched?

Travel video is not all one type - there are various styles, including amateur and professionally produced. The appetite for user generated content is still significant, but has most definitely shifted towards more professionally produced content.

Ads are unexpectedly the top content type viewed on YouTube - and the power of peer travel blogs remains, with 27% of travel videos watched coming from personal travel footage.

For brands that want to take advantage of amateur and independent travel videographers, that particular share of attention is valuable.

In fact, when considering actual channel subscriptions, travel bloggers come out overwhelmingly on top - capturing 48% of travel channel subscriptions. Official travel brands come in at less than half that, with 19% of subscriptions. Official travel networks and publications are performing the poorest with subscribers - only 7% of subscriptions go to them.

While ads were the top content type consumed, those brands are not converting views into subscriptions. This shows that advertising is an emotional experience that doesn't necessarily foster the type of personality-based loyalty that travel vloggers enjoy on YouTube.

Travel vloggers should leverage this subscriber attention, and keep publishing better, more professional content in order to be ideally positioned to take advantage of the reach.

Drilling further down into the primary categories of travel videos, tourist destinations and attractions are logging the most views.  As brands finally wise up to video, growth is happening across all of the branded segments, with OTAs, accommodations and airlines all enjoying triple digit growth in views year-over-year.

However, the most growth is coming from cruises and charter, a segment that is enjoying a boom. Carnival's VP of Marketing Stephanie Evans-Greene sees this as a result of ongoing efforts in video, as the brand has been on YouTube since 2008.

YouTube's own breakdown of the ages of subscribers also informs both targeting for today's traveler and considering how tomorrow's traveler will be phased into brand awareness as they age into the travel-heavy years. Vloggers again are proving resilience, as far as the format (which has existed since the beginning of YouTube). The age split is almost identical between current travelers and the smaller segment of tomorrow's travelers. Vlog content will always have a place in travel, as it offers a more authentic, direct connection than slick brand-produced content. However, in the overall picture, younger travelers are less likely to be subscribers of all travel channel types - something that official brand channels and other travel publishers will need to grapple with as this group ages.

Travel enthusiasts' growing appetite

When compared to the average YouTube viewer, travel enthusiasts are much more likely to consumer other travel-related content on YouTube. This is an important statistic for travel content creators, as it demonstrates that the vertical is most definitely lifestyle-oriented.

This means that those who are interested in travel are also more inclined to be interested in categories that are a bit part of travel: restaurants, food/drink, and finance all play heavily into the travel enthusiasts' playlists.

Download the YouTube whitepaper here and read on for a short interview with Stephanie Davis, Industry Director, Travel at Google.

Our research has shown that travelers are spending more time watching online videos than ever before, with views of travel-related content up 118% year over year. While all categories of travel videos are growing, the ‘Cruises & Charters’ category has seen the biggest lift, with views up more than 250% year over year.

Consumers are also engaging with all types of travel videos through the consideration and purchase cycle; however, more than two thirds of travel related views are for brand or professionally released videos, such as those from travel providers like Turkish Airlines, Disney Parks & Resorts and Expedia.

While brand and professionally released videos are popular in the travel category, consumers are also watching amateur reviews, videos made by travel providers, commercials/ads from travel brands, and videos from friends and family. Videos don’t need to be professionally produced to gain views. Many small businesses shoot and produce videos themselves in-house, using tools as simple as a handheld camera and the video editing features in YouTube.

Many advertisers also get lost in the “we have to have a viral video” mindset. This isn’t always the right tactic for your brand. To start, we always encourage brands to think about their end goal - is it conversions? Brand awareness? Web traffic? Then they can design their campaigns accordingly.

We see that the most successful brands are the ones that focus on engagement, not just video views. Video views are important, but also look at the other metrics you can use through YouTube analytics, such as whether people are subscribing or staying on your channel to watch more videos.

There are many ways that travel brands measure success on YouTube.  Views are just one measure of success, and metrics such as cost-per-view, subscribers earned, additional videos viewed, videos shared, brand lift or lift in brand queries in Google Search, or clicks to a website or brand channel are all additional ways to evaluate a campaign.

Engagement Ads also provide the ability for marketers to showcase their video content across the web and to measure the results on a cost-per-engagement basis. With Engagement Ads, advertisers only pay when a consumer chooses to engage with a video that they see on the Google Display Network.  This provides brands with an effective method to promote their content across the web in a scalable, efficient fashion.

With Google Analytics, brands can measure the traffic to their site coming from the YouTube channel and from their advertising campaigns. In addition, Google’s Brand Lift measures the effectiveness of display and video campaigns on metrics such as brand awareness, ad recall and brand interest. For ROI-focused brands, Brand Lift measures the increase in organic searches related to your brand on Google.com as a result of a video ad exposure, and this can be a strong sign of purchase intent.

We’re really excited to see how travel brands are innovating on YouTube this year.  Choice Hotels has just partnered with YouTube stars Rhett & Link for their Vacay Gone Cray Cray contest, in which they’re asking travelers to submit their stories for a chance to win a vacation do-over. Users can vote on submissions and we’re seeing an incredible range of stories emerge directly from travelers.

And earlier this year, Visit California did something that’s never been done before, featuring 24 videos in 24 hours in the YouTube Masthead across the U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada. The campaign, which was part of their The Dream 365 Project to promote travel to the state, drove a 7% lift in travel consideration and 17% lift likelihood to travel. NB: Video viewing image courtesy Shutterstock.