The Oscars in Context: What Marketers Should Know About the Academy Award Content on YouTube
In mid-January, the 2020 awards show season will take off, recognizing the top achievements in film and music from the past year. Navigating the complexities of digital video strategy is by no means easy, especially as more and more viewing mediums are brought into the mix and audiences are engaging with these events across various social platforms.
To help brands distinguish what’s important on YouTube for these major cultural moments in particular, Zefr has completed proprietary analyses of all Academy Award and Grammy related content to uncover the specific moments brands can thoughtfully connect to their audiences. As the largest global video platform, YouTube has become an integral component for these visually-driven, cultural events and the hype surrounding them begins well before and after they have aired.
The Oscars in 2019 remained one of the most watched broadcasts of the year with ABC citing 29.6MM viewers tuning into the host-less show. The show has broad appeal and according to a study from CivicScience, Gen Z was cited as the most likely age range to watch the Oscars, while Gen Xers stated they were the most likely cohort not to watch. However, there are a variety of factors determining who tunes in and what motivates them to watch.
Aside from the obvious (diehard cinephiles and avid moviegoers), fashion lovers also tune in for the classic Hollywood glamour and memorable, straight-from-the-runway looks. A particular red carpet look has the ability to shape fashion conversations for the entire year (i.e. the pink theme of 2019, or perhaps more notably Bjork’s Swan Dress in 2001). 33% of audiences who were “very likely” to watch the Oscars are also interested in fashion, speaking to fashion’s ability to attract an additional, highly engaged set of viewers.
According to Zefr’s analysis, we saw a 171% YoY increase in Oscars viewership in YouTube in 2019. The alleged ‘romance’ between Lady GaGa and Bradley Cooper drove massive viewership with their memorable and intimate performance singlehandedly racking up billions of views. In addition, YouTube uploads and views jumped substantially (by around 6x) the day after the event with the most amount of viewership unfolding in real time.
Optimized based on historical viewership trends, Zefr’s Awards Season packages ensure brands are surrounding the most current and buzz-worthy content as it’s uploaded. These packages encompass everything from nominated filmographies, to red carpet coverage and talk shows to award winning film clips.
If you’d like to know more about how Zefr can help your brand figure out how to tap into these trends for 2020, please contact sales@zefr.com.
Originally published at https://medium.com on December 12, 2019.
