Influencers Have Taken Over Online Video

(This article was originally published in CUSTOMER magazine)

We all know that influencers have taken the online world by storm. But, did you also know that influencers are making a big impact on consumer buying decisions? And are you aware that, in some cases, sponsored influencer content has drawn far more viewers than the content it aimed to promote?

That’s all true. Allison Stern, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Tubular, in a recent blog and presentation at the influenceTHIS Conference provides the details.

One especially noteworthy data point Stern offers up is from a study by Good Relations PR. The study indicates that 57 percent of consumers have made a purchase solely based on the recommendation of an online influencer.

Stern also says that video is a favorite medium for influencers. In fact, influencers dominate online video, she adds, noting that they represent 87 percent of monthly views on YouTube (News - Alert).

In April alone, 8 million influencers drove 759 billion video views, she says. In the same time frame, she adds, media and entertainment organizations drove only 180 billion video views, and brands drove just 24 billion video views.

She provides a great example of just how powerful influencers have become in online video. In an effort to promote the Power Rangers movie, Lionsgate contracted the online influencers known as Dude Perfect to stage and post a related video. That sponsored video – called Dude Perfect Vs. Power Rangers – pitted the Dude Perfect crew against the stars of the movie in various competitive events.

This sponsored influencer video generated twice the number of views that the official movie trailer did a week before the film’s opening. The Dude Perfect video drove 1.6 billion views and 27.6 million engagements, while the Lionsgate trailer drove just 352 million views and 5.6 million engagements.

This helps illustrate Stern’s contention that, to be successful in video, brands need to know the rising influencers in their verticals, the content trends related to their offerings, and who their fans are and what they are watching.

It’s no longer enough to just produce an ad with an influencer or send out free product to influencers in the hopes getting a positive mention, she writes. Instead, she says, it’s about how to create truly meaningful and unique content for your audience and your influencers’ audiences.

“In the influencer economy, it’s not just about mass reach (although top influencers can achieve this), it’s really about engagement,” Stern says. “Influencers have an ER30 of 2.1x (Tubular’s metric that benchmarks engagement rate across all online video). Media and entertainment publishers have an average of 1.3x, and brands 1.2x.”