The future is YouTube.
11/29/2022
Forget TikTok and Instagram.
The future of marketing is YouTube.
The writing is on not just on the walls, but also on the floors and the ceilings.
YouTube has demonstrated time and time again that, more than any other media platform, it understands what creators and content consumers are looking for. And in the process, it’s hammering the final nail in the coffins of the social media platforms of the mid-2010s. What does that mean for colleges and universities trying to connect with an ever diversifying audience? Let’s explore.
Making the case for investing in content and ambassadors on YouTube.
YouTube is already the king of content for the youngest audiences that colleges and universities are trying to reach. The site has been perfecting its offer since it was acquired by Google in 2006, and has been paying creators since 2007.
Gen Z grew up completely in the YouTube era, and Gen Alpha is doing the same right now. This is a website with 2 billion monthly active users — that’s about one fourth of the global population. And nearly 50% of those users are between 13 and 24, which means they’re college age, or soon will be.
YouTubers are some of the biggest celebrities in the pop culture zeitgeist. So your prospective students not only know who they are, many want to be just like them.
Think PewDiePie.
Think Mr. Beast.
Think Dude Perfect. These guys have a Nerf partnership. And they’re planning on building a new headquarters and vacation destination worth over $100 million.
YouTube ads generated nearly $29 billion in revenue in 2021. The numbers are so great that even smaller creators (those with fewer than 100,000 subscribers) have an incentive to be on YouTube, with ad reads from retail companies and mobile games. The big YouTubers who aren’t that famous in the mainstream still make huge money thanks to the native ad revenue split that creators on YouTube enjoy. On TikTok, you need 100,000 followers to even qualify for the platform’s creator fund or profit-sharing program.
