The Economist shifts its video strategy to YouTube

Lucinda Southern of Digiday writes about how The Economist is focusing its video strategy on YouTube, where audiences are more loyal.

Southern writes, “Recently, the publisher hired two staffers to focus solely on driving more engagement on Facebook and YouTube. They’re adapting short videos to both platforms, with attention-grabbing questions on the opening scene, such as, ‘Is this the world’s most powerful man?’ for this video about China president Xi Jinping. The Economist has also started using YouTube’s end cards, which link to an additional piece of Economist content at the end of the video.

“The effort is starting to pay off on YouTube. Since June, the subscriber count has grown nearly 140 percent, to about 400,000. In November, the average viewer watched 75 percent of each film posted, up 44 percent from June. Discovery has also grown: Since June, there’s been a 190 percent increase in views from YouTube’s homepage, according to the publisher. (It hasn’t supplied a total number of views.)

“Facebook accounted for 83 percent of The Economist’s 20 million video views in November, according to Tubular Labs, and while it’s useful in introducing new audiences to the publisher, Facebook has been under scrutiny for its measurement mishaps and seemingly short three-second views.”

Read more here.