Eighteen year olds to thirty-somethings may be watching YouTube in droves, but they are not the only ones. As such, advertisers may want to expand the demographics they target on the video-sharing platform.
New
research from Strike Social shows advertisers might have false notions about the ideal users to target on YouTube. For example, Strike Social data indicates baby boomers have higher view rates (VRs) than millennials across all devices, yet advertisers push more of their spend to younger audiences. Gex X-ers (early 1960s to roughly 1981) are also being targeted more with advertisers spending 137 percent more on this group (despite lower view rates) than baby boomers (with higher view rates) according to Strike Social. Check out this graph:
"We commonly see that advertisers choose to allocate their spend based on preconceived notions of different groups rather than listening to the data," said Jason Nesbitt, VP of Media & Agency Operations at Strike Social. "This data proves that following those stereotypes often has the opposite effect on campaign engagement rates. Baby boomers make up nearly a quarter of YouTube visitors. By ignoring this group, advertisers are missing out on a significant audience that is both highly engaged and highly valuable."
Across channels, advertisers should challenge the biases they may carry to their spending and targeting decisions.