SITUATION

The majority of large advertisers in India were still operating on historical media planning principles. They favored more traditional ad spending (i.e. TV, Print, OOO) resisting adapting to new audience media behavior. The YouTube Ads Team needed to break the marketer bias & stereotype that advertising on YouTube was too niche and could only reach a fragmented audience.

BRIEF

Get advertisers to not “press skip” when it comes to ad spending on YouTube, by creating a better understanding of modern user content choices, the creator ecosystem, and the ability for brands to cultivate preference by being present where it matters.

OBJECTIVES

Act to positively rewire the mindset of India’s top marketers by inspiring and proving that YouTube is where they can reach and engage their audiences efficiently, and effectively.

We knew that YouTube is the place where people seek and find content that matters to them across devices, formats, and categories. It’s where culture is shaped and communities flourish.

YouTube matters to our audience. And to convince advertisers that it should matter to them too, by being the place where they can foster deeper and more successful connections with the audience, we landed on the idea:

“Be where it matters”.

An overarching concept that guided every step of your way in putting the program together. It formed the narrative for educating India’s top marketers that they can find mass appeal on the platform, explain what makes Gen-Z tick on the platform, and provide them with evidence from their peers that advertising on YouTube translates into marketing success.

Strategy was anchored on Listening sessions and data-gathering defined our strategic approach. We knew that it was imperative to engage our audience by truly helping them understand the strength of our platform.

For over six months, we took marketers on a journey to help them unpack what makes YouTube so special. A key piece of this puzzle was addressing the concern that they would advertise to an easily distracted audience with a low attention span. But the truth is that viewing patterns have shifted and attention isn’t divided, it’s multiplied: YouTube is multi-screens, multi-duration, and multi-formats. This disconnect between YouTube’s audience and India’s biggest advertisers inspired an 'aha' moment for us. What if we could create an event where for the first time, we could get audiences, creators, and marketers in the same room to learn from each other? Enter YouTube Brandcast.

YouTube Brandcast is a program that culminated with an event where we united the trifecta of audience, creators, and advertisers. At the event, we used strong data-led claims to illustrate YouTube's impact on brands, people, and culture. At the FanFest section superfans could engage in meet and greets, and discover our sponsor experience areas. At the YouTube Works Awards ceremony, marketers could see firsthand the impact the platform had on the awarded campaigns we selected from 337 entries across seven categories. On the stage we spotlighted top creators like Badshah (7M followers) and Kenny Sebastian (2M followers), emphasizing their role in driving trends. Even the PM of India, Shri Narendra Modi (boasting 22 M followers himself) shared his experience of creating global impact through YouTube. One thing became clear for India’s top marketers: if they want to be where it matters, they have to be on YouTube.

YouTube Brandcast 2023 had a significant impact on three key business pillars:

1. Advertiser mindset captured through advertiser pre/post perception scores

2. Share of wallet vs TV increase with an impact on revenue

3. Key advertisers touched

4. Marketplace style 'Product Booths' onsite enabled clients to instantly enlist for follow up discussions with YouTube sales experts (358 leads generated vs Target 200)

YouTube Brandcast led a +3p increase in share of wallet of YouTube vs TV spends, followed by by +15% revenue increase. The program reached out & influenced over 600+ key advertisers that represented 85% of must wins accounts.

And advertiser perception scores moved significantly:

+6p uplift in YouTube being Indispensable for their TG

+9p uplift in ‘it is exciting to advertise on YouTube’

+4p uplift in intent to increase spending on YouTube in the next 6 months