YouTube Sponsored Videos Soar by 40% in Q3 2020

As consumers continue their shift to digital commerce, brands have increased ad spend on social media platforms.

According to the research data analyzed and published by Finaria, there was a 40% uptick of sponsored videos on YouTube during Q3 2020. Similarly, sponsored viewership rose to an all-time high of more than 1.3 billion. That translated to 110 million sponsored views every week, 15 million every day or 600,000 every hour.

Top Industry Spenders on Youtube in Q3 2020

The top 5 brands during the quarter were Reese’s, Nord VPN, Honey, Bang Energy and Express VPN. They used a cumulative 138 influencers and 874 videos, accumulating 300 million views and more than 50 million shares, likes and comments. All in all, they earned $50 million in aggregate Influencer Media Value (IMV).

The most valuable sponsored content during the quarter was MrBeast’s Honey sponsorship. In total, it racked over 32 million views and more than 250,000 new users. Its media value was over $5.5 million.

According to NeoReach, the tech industry was the highest spender in Q3 2020, accounting for 46% of the total IMV from the top five industries. Gaming came in second with 22.1%, food and drink third with 16.9%, fashion fourth with 7.5% and beauty fifth with 7.1%. In comparison to Q2 2020, the top three industries doubled their YouTube reach in Q3.

The tech industry had a reach of 6 billion viewers on YouTube and during the quarter, its leading brands spent a collective $68 million on influencer marketing.

NordVPN was the highest tech spender, using $11.97 million to sponsor 87 videos. These reached a total of 2.2 billion viewers, bringing in 70.31 million views and eliciting 5.7 million engagements. Honey was the second-highest spender in the tech industry, with total IMV amounting to $9.83 million. From this input, it racked up 60.31 million views. Express VPN took the third spot with $9.46 million IMV and 68.65 million views.

There were a total of 952 unique influencers working on YouTube campaigns for the tech industry during the quarter. The top three were MrBeast, Dude Perfect and PewDiePie. Together, the three had a combined 198.4 million subscribers at the time. Interestingly, their reach only accounted for a 3.3% share of the tech industry’s reach for the three-month period.

YouTube Influencer Marketing Spend Set to Reach $6.6 Billion in 2020

Due to the pandemic, there was a downturn in influencer marketing early in 2020 with agencies and brands suspending sponsorship deals and campaigns. However, as the year progressed, the industry seemed to adapt, and brands upped their spending.

According to a Takumi report, during the 12-month period leading up to August 2020, 73% of surveyed marketers increased the allocation of resources to influencer marketing.

Among the segments targeted by increased funds were retail and legal, both of which saw a 79% increase. Manufacturing followed closely behind the two, with a 75% increase.

Also, 58% of marketers actively considered working with YouTube influencers, while 55% chose Instagram, 35% chose TikTok, Twitch got 20% and 10% for Triller.

Based on data from Statista, YouTube influencer marketing spend reached $5.5 billion in 2019. In view of the fact that it totalled $1.4 billion in Q1 2020, it is projected to reach $6.6 billion by the end of the year.

On Instagram, the figure is estimated to rise to $8.080 billion in 2020, up from $5.67 billion in 2018 and $7.0 billion in 2019. Instagram continues to enjoy a dominant position, casting a shadow on its elder brother, Facebook. For the top 50 brand profiles on Instagram, the audience reach was 34.7% higher than for the ones on Facebook. However, despite this seeming advantage, 61.9% of all Q3 brand posts were published on Facebook.