America watched 16 million minutes of football makeup videos last year on YouTube.
No, really: 16 million minutes. Rent taught us that there are 525,600 minutes in a year, meaning that’s over 30 years. That’s a lot of makeup.
YouTube long ago became the top destination for video content on the Web, and that means every little niche. And with Super Bowl season nearing, the company has rolled out a few new tools to help advertisers take advantage of that passion.
“YouTube is the go-to destination for info about football,” explained Kate Stanford, director of YouTube B2B and platforms marketing. At an event at the YouTube Space in New York City on Wednesday morning, the company announced it was launching a real-time advertising capability to help brands amplify their messages and pick up on current events happening live, notably the Super Bowl. Hit the Web to watch a replay of a touchdown and you might just see Gatorade congratulating Tom Brady on the toss, for example. Or a digital version from an Electronic Arts game of the quarterback on top taunting his opponent: “It’s halftime. Go think of a way to stop me.”
“Super Bowl Sunday is now Super Bowl January through February.”
Ads can be injected in real time across YouTube and Google’s entire network, all of Google’s apps, and the Google Ad Display Network, the company said. Other real time events that might merit such coverage are awards shows; look for Comcast to do an ad series during an upcoming awards ceremony (the Oscars, perhaps?) tying its library of content to whichever film or actor was just announced winner.
Google also took the opportunity to unveil YouTube AdBlitz 2016: “The home of Super Bowl ads online.” There were 1,600 years worth of Super Bowl ads watched in 2015 alone, explained Tara Walpert Levy, managing director of agency sales for Google. That’s a 127 percent increase in watch time (those makeup videos grew 216 percent over 2014, for what it’s worth). And much of it is mobile.
“As you’d expect, the trend in YouTube view time toward mobile has only increased,” she explained.
Eighty-four percent of millennials use their smartphones during the game, Levy said, and mobile viewership of ads is up 226 percent year over year.
YouTube also roused its talent network for the game; the site’s stars have created a video series around the Super Bowl. MyLifeAsEva, ScottDW, Hannah Hart, fouseyTUBE, Ten Second Songs, Kingsley, and more have filmed videos that will go live on YouTube as of February 2.
“Think of it as how to win gameday without getting off the couch,” Levy said.
The company unveiled a wealth of other stats surrounding football video. Here’s one that might surprise you: There were 230 million minutes of football comedy watched in 2015 — bad lip reading, for example. And there is nearly 2,000 years worth of football content on YouTube.
Sure, it’s 18 days before the big game, but Super Bowl ads and content are wildly popular year-round.
“Super Bowl Sunday is now Super Bowl January through February,” Stanford said.
