Many brands decide to place their brand alongside content produced by YouTube creators, seeking to reach audiences through new media. Using this method of online promotion can be a good tool for a brand to build credibility for itself and its message, but it also carries certain risks. What tools for verifying creator content can companies use?
YouTube channels come to the brand's rescue
YouTube is built by millions of creators from around the world sharing their content on it. Its strength comes from online creators and channels that bring together mobilized and active masses of viewers. Among other reasons, every channel whose number of active viewers exceeds a few thousand is attractive from an advertising perspective, and there are more and more of them. According to the report “Influencer Market in Poland – 2022,” prepared by REACHaBLOGGER, as many as 41.2 percent of advertisers choose YouTube as the place to air their spot[1].
Advertising your products and services on YouTube channels can bring a brand major benefits. In this way, it receives a platform to communicate itself and its message to a group of recipients that until now was not the main target of its activity. It also gains authenticity in the eyes of viewers, guaranteed by the given creator, as they are authorities for large communities[2].
Risk to brand safety and suitability
Risk to brand safety and suitability
Placing a brand alongside content from large and smaller creators also carries certain risks. According to research by LB Relations and SW Research, influencers have the lowest public trust of all professions[3]. This is also the segment of marketing in which a given creator's position changes dynamically. An influencer, wanting to maintain audience interest and engagement, must constantly develop their content and go beyond established patterns. For a brand that wants to position ads for its services and products in videos by specific creators, it may be problematic to maintain consistency with the company's values and identity. However, there are tools on the market that make it possible to profile a campaign in such a way as to exclude the possibility of placing the brand alongside unwanted content.
Contextual ad alignment
The need for contextual ad alignment was recently demonstrated by materials concerning the situation in Ukraine. Fake news, tendentiously edited videos containing violence or vulgar language – no brand wants to run its ads alongside such content. Thanks to solutions provided by Channel Factory, contextual alignment and optimization of advertising campaign results on YouTube is possible and effective.
“Advertising alongside videos produced by online creators can be a relatively effective way to reach the audience that interests us. Every channel can be precisely analyzed not only in terms of its audience structure, but also the tone of the content presented,” says Szymon Szmigiel, Managing Director of Channel Factory in Poland. “When planning advertising campaigns on YouTube, we do not have to risk placing our brand alongside all videos by a given creator. Our technology platform makes it possible to exclude those that may be harmful, controversial, or inconsistent with our brand or company values. As a result, the brand will avoid situations that could bring more harm than good, communication will be consistent on many levels, and any mistakes by the YouTuber will not burden its image,” adds Szymon Szmigiel.
Prepared by: PN
Summary
Advertising on YouTube allows brands to reach engaged communities, but it involves the risk of appearing alongside controversial content. According to the report “Influencer Market in Poland – 2022,” as many as 41.2 percent of advertisers choose this channel, yet trust in creators is low. The Channel Factory platform enables contextual alignment and exclusion of harmful materials, which helps maintain image consistency.
