Business Video Views, Though Limited, Grow Quickly on Facebook and YouTube

October 10, 2018

YouTube and Facebook – the two most popular social media sites in the US – are commonly seen as more consumer-oriented than other, more business-oriented sites such as LinkedIn. But a new report from Tubular Labs [download page] indicates that Business is outgrowing all other genres on Facebook and YouTube in video view growth.

During the second quarter of the year, Tubular reports that Business video views on Facebook grew by 51.6% quarter-over-quarter, about 4 times the rate of the next-fastest genre, Family & Parenting (13.2%). (Facebook is a key source of information for new parents.)

Business video view growth wasn’t quite as stark on YouTube, but still clocked in at 23.4%. Family & Parenting again posted the next-fastest growth rate, of 15%.

The growth in Business video views comes at a time when viewers are demonstrating higher engagement rates with B2B video content, and in an environment where B2B marketers are showing enthusiasm about video’s potential.

Entertainment Content Dominates

Business videos may be enjoying the fastest growth in views, but that could be the result of their having the smallest base to begin with.

As it stands, the Business genre had the fewest amount of video views of the 15 tracked on both Facebook and YouTube. With 554 million total views in Q2, it was about one-third of the size of the next-smallest on Facebook (Family & Parenting: 1.5 billion). On YouTube, its 376 million views were about one-fifth the size of the next-smallest vertical (Family & Parenting, again, at 1.8 billion).

Instead, the largest genre on Facebook, by a long shot, is Entertainment, which generated a massive 374 billion video views in Q2, representing a 9.3% gain.

Entertainment is also the largest genre on YouTube, with 266 billion video views, a 12.5% increase over the prior quarter. Kids Entertainment is a relatively close second, at 188 billion.

Video Views Generally Higher on YouTube, But Not Always

Business videos generated almost 50% more views on Facebook than on YouTube during the second quarter. But Business was one of only a select few genres to experience more views on Facebook.

The others were Entertainment (see above) and Food & Drink, which had a slightly greater number on Facebook than YouTube.

By contrast, most genres saw far greater video views on YouTube. Some of the larger disparities were for:

  • Kids Entertainment: 188 billion views on YouTube; 2.4 billion on Facebook;
  • Gaming: 139 billion views on YouTube; 5.2 billion on Facebook;
  • Cars, Trucks and Racing: 32.1 billion views on YouTube; 8.3 billion on Facebook;
  • Beauty: 24.7 billion views on YouTube; 9.7 billion on Facebook;
  • Science & Tech: 31.9 billion views on YouTube; 8.5 billion on Facebook; and
  • Film & Movies: 47.4 billion views on YouTube; 15 billion on Facebook;

Social Video Ad Revenues to Jump

Separately, a new eMarketer forecast calls for social network video ad revenues to increase by almost 50% between this year ($7.8 billion) and 2020 ($11.7 billion). The forecast, which excludes YouTube, sees Facebook as the dominant social video ad platform, with a forecast $6.8 billion in video ad revenues this year.

Social video is clearly a growing space. Earlier this year, research from Nielsen found that among people who watch video content within social media sites and apps, fully 72% of smartphone users in the 18-34 age bracket do so on a daily basis.

About the Data: Tubular is the social video analytics company which tracks every video on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter (about 4 billion videos uploads by 12 million publishers, every day.)

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