This article was first published on Think with Google Korea.
The video landscape thrives on constant change. New trends and subcultures emerge daily, making it crucial for marketers to keep a finger on the pulse. To understand how marketers in APAC can better navigate this dynamic environment, we sought insights from Kevin Allocca, YouTube’s global director of culture and trends, and the author of the book, “Videocracy.”
At YouTube, Allocca leads a global team dedicated to decoding trending video phenomena. They leverage these insights to inform product development and communication strategies, enabling brands to keep up with changes in the video world and incorporate key trends into their campaigns.
We dug deeper into these trends with Allocca, who shared his thoughts and answered three critical questions from video marketers.
To be honest, it’s become harder to find common ground among the most popular content on YouTube as the platform now encompasses diverse interests and use cases. Still, some topics are clearly more prominent — K-pop, for instance, is huge, as is anime and Bollywood, and people love watching video game content. Such content that invites conversation, particularly among fan communities, has outsized potential to be successful.
But we’re also seeing more unexpected trends. Conversational video formats are on the rise, especially as YouTube becomes a popular destination for podcasts. In Korea, for instance, we see the growing popularity of talk shows that are natively hosted on YouTube, particularly by celebrities. In fact, many top comedians in Korea are jumping on this trend, with this talk show featuring popular comedian Yoo Jae-seok ranking third on the list of Korea’s top trending videos in 2023.
Another interesting trend is the rise of virtual creators, who are tapping into new, increasingly available video production technology such as computer generated imagery and motion capture. And audiences around the world are responding with interest, with 52% of people saying that they watched a VTuber (virtual YouTuber or influencer) over the past 12 months.1 Notably, one of the top creators of 2023 in Japan was AmakamiKonomi, a virtual creator who recently established their own VTuber agency called MillionProduction.
I tend to not think of short-form as a “trend” in and of itself. Short-form video content has had wide appeal since the beginning of YouTube's history; what’s new is that we can now consume it within a feed, which makes it easier to not only browse, but also create dynamic and engaging content quickly from our mobile devices.
Take, for instance, Shintu Maurya. The creator, who was featured in India’s Top Shorts of 2023, uploads sketches and artwork inspired by trending music. The rise of such entertaining content is why the average daily views of YouTube Shorts have grown by over 120% year-on-year in India.2 Gen Z is especially keen on creating and watching short form videos, with 79% of Gen Z viewers in India saying they watch short-form video.3 That ease of watching and making has turned short-form video into a medium where videos often exist in a dialogue with other content. This is a world where you and I might have seen the same trend, but never seen the same videos.
I mention this because marketers tend to think about a piece of creative through a singular lens, when short-form content should be considered with the broader context it sits within. From filters, to hashtags, to audio, it can be helpful to think about short-form as a conversation that marketers can participate in rather than a format that people watch.
I also think there is much more room for experimentation than people realise. On platforms like YouTube, where you can get a sense of audience response in real time, you’ll quickly find out if something you created doesn’t work. This gives you an opportunity to experiment, which means you’ll have to be comfortable with rapidly evolving your creative approaches.
We recently studied what we call “breakout creators,” which are channels that see high volumes of subscriber growth over a certain period of time. After analysing thousands of channels, we found that, while Shorts is the predominant video format used among the fastest growing channels, the channels with the highest relative growth used multiple formats. They uploaded content in at least three of these formats: Shorts, long-form, livestreams, podcasts, and community posts.
And they kept their audience’s interests in mind. Breakout creators produced original content tailored for each format while ensuring they focused on genres their viewers showed interest in. They also experimented with adapting content across formats to engage audiences in different ways. For example, Shorts can often be used to introduce content to new audiences, long-form content provides opportunities to deepen that relationship, while livestreams can build communities.
Ultimately, I don't think there’s one single factor that is required for achieving success on YouTube. But I do believe it begins with two qualities: first, having something unique to say that will resonate with people and second, a creatively compelling way of expressing it. While this may seem obvious, I feel that people often overlook its importance and jump straight to audience development strategies and hacks.
From a marketing perspective, that means having a clear identity and purpose, and combining that with a creative approach that aligns with how your audience already consumes content on digital platforms.
