“The new primetime is personal” has been the idea emphasized in YouTube‘s inaugural Brandcast event in the Philippines where the video-sharing website shared the newest insights, growth of the platform, and opportunities for brands, businesses and media partners.
The said idea locally pertains to Filipino YouTube viewers today who are customizing their viewing experiences and watching more videos that are tailor-fit to their personal interests, passions, and current needs. The behaviour has resulted to the disappearance of “primetime hours” viewing habits.
According to Vishal Sarin, Director of YouTube Content Partnerships for Southeast Asia, YouTube identifies the Philippines as a vital market. In the country alone, there has been an exponential growth of both the audience and content creators. The platform has been an enabler for brands that are going digital to engage more of their end-user targets.
“We are committed to the Philippines, we plan to further grow the YouTube ecosystem by forging more local partnerships and developing creators outside of Metro Manila,” said Sarin. He also noted that in the whole of Southeast Asia, the Philippines has the second largest population which makes sense for them to invest more into the local ecosystem.
Between 2016 and 2019, the local scenes witnessed a massive surge of creator channels that were reaching more than 100,000 subscribers. Currently, roughly 750 local channels have reached the said number of subscribers while more than a million subscribers are following over 20 media channels.
With this growth rate, YouTube considers Smart Communications as a key partner in the local market with the latter having launched a Free YouTube Every Day program by Q4 last year. The promo provided users up to an hour of free video streaming on platforms, aside from YouTube, like iflix, NBA League Pass, and iWantTV. This resulted to Smart’s mobile data usage growing roughly twice on their year-on-year while mobile data service revenues grew to 62%.
“We strive to empower every Filipino through digital innovations that uplift their lives,” said Oscar Reyes, PLDT and Smart’s Senior VP and Head of Consumer Market Development. “Partnering with YouTube enabled us to grow our business and at the same time connect more Pinoys to relevant and useful videos everyday,” Reyes shared further.
Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific highlighted how their digital media strategy successfully increased their number of booked flights up to three times by making use of the YouTube platform during their month-long anniversary campaign. According to Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific Vice President for Marketing and Distribution, YouTube has played an important role in the company’s omnichannel strategy.
“In the recent Super Seat Fest 3.3 Sale campaign, we reached over 20 million Filipinos and Cebu Pacific became the most searched brand during the campaign period. Most of all, consumers who booked flights during the 3.3 campaign grew thrice compared to our last major seat sale,” mentioned Iyog.
Karina is not your ordinary supermom. She juggles her time bonding with her three amazing kids while being in the loop on the latest happenings in the tech and lifestyle scene. Follow me on Instagram (@digitalfilipina) regularly visit www.digitalfilipina.com for daily dose of updates not just for moms but for everyone!