Analytics Data Monetization: YouTube Edition

With so much analytics data being stored, companies are quickly realizing that they are sitting upon a potential money goldmine. Sure, they use the data within the business itself to make large decisions, plan ahead, improve in certain areas, and essentially grow the company, but others can use it too, and will pay for their analytics. Businesses recognize the importance of valuation of intangible properties such as the data, but not too many of them realize how significant their data is, and how imperative it can be to the success of its digital transformation process.

According to sloanreview.mit.edu, “companies can take three approaches to monetizing their data: (1) improving internal business processes and decisions, (2) wrapping information around core products and services, and (3) selling information offerings to new and existing markets.” Each of these approaches are diverse in their what they are capable of and the commitments they require, however all of them represent an important chance for a company to set itself apart in their market field.

In order for company leaders to monetize their data assets, it is important that they develop tactical monetization strategies. Additionally, they need to keep the strategies as important assets and consistently focus on not only how to stay on top of, but also improve. A monetization strategy can be defined as: “a plan to achieve one or more business goals through tactics or actions that have a quantified benefit” (retailcustomerexperience.com).

YouTuber’s Monetization

As someone who spends a large amount of time on the website YouTube watching videos or listening to music, I have always been fascinated about how the YouTube channels are making money, and how the advertisements, brand deals, or partnerships come into play. Recently an issue of advertisement monetization has sparked tremendous outrage within the YouTube community. Large channels with over millions of subscribers have noticed a dip in their wallets. YouTube had begun demonetizing several videos, thus leading to many angry, frustrated, and upset YouTubers.

Now you may be wondering how does YouTube demonetizing videos have anything to do with data analytics? The analytics from the YouTube channels specific to individuals were one of the first ones to take hard hits. Their data displayed that because they were losing on monetized videos, they were losing people, and losing people means losing money. YouTubers rely on their analytics to show brands, business partners, and companies that why they should invest their product, time, or services on them. There have been times where YouTubers have even admitted to selling their channel analytics data. The digital revolution has made it so that hundreds of thousands of individuals can take the entrepreneurial side of the career path. Through one channel developing thousands then subsequently millions of subscribers, it is only a matter of time before their “business” takes off. There are kids the age of 13 making millions of dollars a year through posting videos online. Their online following has led several companies to change their courses of spending their marketing budget. The analytics taken from a channel such as Logan Paul, goes further than just how many views his channels makes on a single video, but also how many people are purchasing his merchandise, following him on social media, interacting, etc. Because there are many potential revenue streams, Paul is able to form a business out of his channel. If he chooses to monetize his analytics data, companies will perhaps have more of an insight as to what they should do for their businesses.

Traditional companies are rapidly realizing the importance of watching, maintaining, and being receptive to their data analytics. Whether it is the data from their YouTube channel, or analytics from their website, if they choose to, they can take all the information they’ve gathered and make a profit.

Resources:

http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-to-monetize-your-data/

https://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/blogs/5-key-components-to-monetize-your-data/

The Future of Digital Analytics Looks A Lot Like Google

It is no secret that massive companies such as Adobe and Google are the dominate the analytics market. Many say that these companies are the face of the digital analytics future because of not only their scale of measurement opportunities, but also the many services they provide. When Google released their Analytics 360 suite of tools, it changed the way in which companies use and visualize their data. The new suite, which replaced Google Analytics Premium, provided a more in-depth as well as a larger array of options for a business to collect data online.

Google Analytics and Adobe try to be as receptive as possible to the behavior of empowered consumers, in the sense that they know that is the customers, not the brands, that drive online influence. Analytics in general have seen a large shift because of the internet. The internet has played a tremendous role in how analytics work, but it is still a bit of a gray area in marketing. Say you are in Best Buy looking for a new Apple laptop. You are seeing the prices in the store and checking your smartphone to see if Amazon or Apple have better deals before making a decision of where to purchase the computer. Every single move you make on your phone is data being stored which can be analyzed later. The amount of time spent on each the Apple and Amazon website, browsing the laptops online, and even selecting to purchase it online while standing at Best Buy are valuable information companies want to know. Knowing a customer’s exact location when making an online purchase can get a bit iffy depending on privacy restrictions, but nonetheless is not impossible.

Why use Google Analytics?

In this digital era, anything and everything done online is important, trackable information for a company. Going back to the laptop example, something as simple as knowing where a purchase was made can have a significant impact for a company. If a company such as Best Buy knows that there are several people that walk into their store to compare prices and purchase from a different website, it can mean a lot. First off, it’s probably not all too common that Best Buy would have information like this in their hands. But if their Google Analytics shows that people browse a product then bounce off the page, chances are they may be purchasing it from another site. This would mean that Best Buy has some remarketing to do if they would like to stay in business.

Large companies often have teams focused solely on observing their online analytics. Call-to-actions, click-through-ratios, and traffic count scratch only the surface of a deeper marketing realm. The analytics collected assist in the way a company positions themselves as well as how they see/engage with their customers. When you think about it, even Google uses their own analytics platform. Whether it is using it to measure traffic on YouTube or which things are searched the most on the website, this data collected plays a role in the algorithm to determine which videos, products, or content should be displayed higher up or featured on a page. Sure, money is also involved because companies can pay to display advertisements, but for the most part, Google relies on its own analytics for them to conduct business themselves. The future of data analytics looks like Google because of the way Google keeps improving their suite of tools. The digital world is moving rapidly, thus forcing Adobe and Google to constantly think five steps ahead. While some tech or digital companies are focused on staying relevant in the present, both companies are working to not only stay relevant in the future, but continue to set the bar and standard high for those who turn to them for analytics.