Ever since Google bought YouTube in 2006, the company has tried to improve upon the streaming video site’s winning formula. And so far, Google’s handling of YouTube has been successful, increasing the number of viewers using this site every day, and turning YouTube into a global cultural phenomenon.
Now Google is taking things a step further by providing a new analytics tool for video posters, which will allow them to find out a great deal about who their viewers are, and where they come from. While some privacy advocates are sure to be outraged, overall the new YouTube analytics tool provides only broad demographic information, and not specific information about any particular user. For example, the analytics tool provides no means to access a viewer’s IP address — only their general location in the world.
By using the new analytics tool, video uploaders will now be able to see how often their videos are being watched, and in which geographic regions they are most popular. Other information will be available as well, including the relative popularity of a video in comparison to others in the same genre.
The analytics tool will certainly be welcome my more serious YouTubers, and companies that use the video site to enhance their marketing efforts. They will be able to find extensive demographic information about their videos, who is watching, and where they’re located. This can help professional filmmakers, for example, to customize their videos, to appeal to a specific region or target demographic.
Of course these kind of strategies and tactics had been used in the advertising industry for a long time. But using analytics tools in order to customize your video message is a new phenomenon online. YouTube is even suggesting specific uses for the new analytics tool. As an example, they recommend that video makers who use the tool and discover they have a large viewership in Spain, should consider posting a Spanish-language version of their videos.
The analytics data being provided by YouTube is not nearly as extensive as Google Analytics, which is a specific service Google provides to webmasters, but it does provide video makers with the opportunity to learn more about their viewers, and take advantage of this information in future video uploads.
Some critics charge that the average YouTube uploader is a high school-aged boy or girl, just looking for a fun way to express themselves, and would therefore have no use for advertising-like demographics information. But the truth is, everyone is using YouTube these days, and even many companies take advantage of the popularity of YouTube to promote their products and services with online videos. For these users, the new viewer analytics tool could prove invaluable.
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