By: Team ELM
It is no secret that TV is changing. As streaming services and other forms of media are overtaking the traditional arena that used to belong solely to TV, there is increasing variety in the way that people can enjoy watching media of all kinds. YouTube is one of the most popular ways to share content and to watch movies and shows. Google owns the platform and it is built to be used by anyone, from large travel channels and media companies to people who share their own personal videos. This is a platform that is readily searchable and that offers content of all kinds to anyone who wants to use it for this need. It is not hard to imagine that YouTube might be replacing TV as the best means of enjoying media of many kinds. If you want to learn more about how YouTube is beating traditional TV, you need to read on!
YouTube is Easier to Access that Traditional TV
While there are some sites that are not suggested for children and there are some corners of YouTube that are not for everyone, there are not many limits to accessibility when you are using YouTube for your video and media enjoyment. YouTube has to abide by copyright which means that you cannot just add copies of your favorite movies to your own YouTube channel, but there are few other limitations in place on YouTube. TV might not have to set warnings that ask your age before users can access certain content, but it also does not allow you to search for items that you want to watch in real-time. You have to watch the scheduled programming on most TV channels, or you might have access to some on-demand watching that you can engage with at any time. YouTube is your oyster, no matter what time of day or night you are shopping for things to watch and you will not run into too many limitations on what you can see. While this might seem like it offers too much risk to younger viewers or those who find some things to be too sensitive for their viewing, it is a net benefit to everyone that you can access anything that you want at any time of the day or not on YouTube’s site 
YouTube Has Grown Exponentially
YouTube has grown to own a larger share of the TV market than any single TV channel. Nearly 74% of adults in the US use YouTube these days. That is more than Facebook or any other social media or streaming site. This is the most popular online platform for video sharing and enjoyment in the US at this time and you can see why as soon as you hop onto YouTube and start looking around. There is something for everyone on YouTube and you can shop through things like self-help videos, tutorials, and shared information about products and services. Businesses and personal users alike interact with the platform and it can be used for the promotion of your business, your products, or even your personal activities each day if you wish. YouTube is pervasive and it would be very difficult to find anyone alive today that did not know what YouTube is and what it can do. YouTube is shown in many countries and is accessible to all ages and to people with all kinds of interests. This is one of the most powerful factors when you look at the success of this platform when compared with other streaming sites and traditional TV. TV and many other sites have set the bar to access their products so high that most people cannot afford to enjoy all that these other kinds of mediums can offer. YouTube allows you to enjoy everything that it can offer without having to pay for various levels of access and without being forced to commit to buying channels and other items that are not interesting to you. Just imagine if you could select a specific set of channels from your cable company and just pay for those items to watch and enjoy. Think of all the money that you would save! YouTube allows you to pay one small fee each month for ad-free access to any kind of content that you might want to see. And you will never have to pay for any extra layers of access to see what you want to see on the site. This is a powerful reason that YouTube has become so popular and has taken up such a large share of the streaming and video sharing market. There are few companies and entities out there that can offer you so much access for such a low price. If only cable TV worked the way YouTube did! It might be able to give YouTube a run for its money if it did!
YouTube Acts Like a Social Media Network
YouTube is unique to other streaming sites because it offers social interaction that is a lot like what happens on social media sites. You can comment on videos, share them with ease, and enjoy engagements with other users with ease. Just check out our channel. This makes YouTube really unique and helps to make it have a lasting impact on the streaming and video sharing reality that is a big part of what the internet is used for. As animation and videos have become a larger part of the presence of many businesses and entities online, you will find that YouTube is usually the first source for tracking down this information. YouTube is like a video sharing hub and this is one of the best ways to access all kinds of video. Businesses are wise to share all of their videos and animation content to YouTube to help net interactions with users of all ages and interests. The social interactions that are possible on YouTube and the way that it shows you suggested videos that are related to your other interests allows for connection-making that is not possible through other video-sharing mediums. There are many collaborations that are fostered between businesses each year by YouTube and you will see brands working together to generate content on a daily basis. This linked marketing and promotional experience would never be possible with TV and its antiquated interest in promoting unique channels over categories of related content.
YouTube is Easier to Access on Mobile than Traditional TV
If you want to know what really makes YouTube so successful, the use of this tool on mobile is one of the key benefits of using this app for your business promotions as well as personal sharing of all kinds. YouTube works perfectly on mobile devices, tablets, and more, which is a big factor in the success of this platform over some forms of video streaming. There are other streaming services that can offer seamless user experiences when accessed on devices that are not PCs, but this is not as common as you might think. Even Facebook video and streaming can run into issues when used on certain devices. YouTube is a really viable option for sharing information about a business or a service because you can count on it to work perfectly, no matter what kind of device you are using. This is one of the most important reasons that YouTube is beating TV. Think about the last time that you tried to access a TV app on your phone. How good was that streaming experience for your needs? You probably had to struggle to make the app work the way that you wanted it to and it was probably riddled with ads and other hindrances that impacted your enjoyment of the show or video that you were watching. This is not the case when using YouTube on your devices and that is a key reason for YouTube’s success.
YouTube is Low Cost
There is no way to get your business’ videos or information to be streamed on things like Netflix or Hulu. However, for free, or for a very low cost, you can access the different tiers of YouTube’s network with ease. For users, there is no cost at all to watch videos and there are limited ads that have to be watched when enjoying shows and other kinds of media through the YouTube platform. YouTube Premium is only $12 a month which is very affordable and this gives you access to the YouTube site and its benefits ad-free and with some download options that are not allowed using the free version. Subscribers are also allowed to see videos in advance in some cases and they are given more access to social interactions than free account users. There is limited risk to accessing YouTube’s premium membership when compared to spending hundreds of dollars each month for cable. It is easy to see why the cost of YouTube would be so appealing to most people. No matter which side of the user experience you are on when working with YouTube, you will have an affordable and easy-to-access experience that cable and regular TV cannot compete with.
Performance and Data
When you are looking at sharing your own videos and your own business information online, YouTube is one of the best places to access information about the performance of your videos. You can readily see engagement information as well as likes and comments without having to guess about the actual performance of your posted media. YouTube offers a much more seamless interaction with the data side of your posts and almost any other site and you will be able to tell if you are getting the most out of your work and efforts to create videos or if you need to improve things and change the way that you are delivering information. This is critical to the success of video blogs and informative outreach that is done by any company today and you would have to dig through layers of information and metrics just to find what you need with social media or other sharing sites. Being able to tell how your videos are performing is not a new idea, but only YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram are really good at delivering this information for your needs. If you run your own business and do not employ an advertising agency to help you calculate the performance of each of your ad campaigns and branding efforts, you will appreciate the metrics that YouTube provides. There is no guesswork when you are using YouTube and you can easily see how well your videos and marketing materials are performing each day. This can save you lots of time and money over the long run and make your business branding and outreach efforts much more effective.
Advertising is More User-Friendly on YouTube Than TV
One of the key ways that YouTube outperforms other kinds of video mediums and TV, is that you will not have to sit through 2-3 minutes of ads at each break. Cable TV is still full of ad breaks and lots of annoying and spammy local ads as well as national ads that everyone is tired of seeing. YouTube actually uses internal logic that shows specific ads to specific viewers and you will only have to sit through 15-30 seconds of ads at each break. These ads are also skippable, which is not true of TV. Gone are the days of sitting through a few minutes of ads in between segments of a show. When you pay for a premium YouTube membership you don’t even have to watch any ads. This is one of the key reasons that YouTube is outpacing TV and this will continue to be a motivation for many TV watchers to use YouTube rather than cable TV for their media watching enjoyment. The ads on YouTube are carefully targeted toward things that people have already watched in the same category and towards age groups. Adults will not be likely to see things that will appeal to teens and vice versa. There are also geographical indicators that are used by YouTube to direct local ads to people in their own region rather than showing them a full slate of nationally-based ads. TV will just show you what the network thinks you want to see and there is no individual outreach for advertising through this platform. As a business, YouTube offers you the chance to provide information to the right target audience by suggesting your content to the people who have shown they might be interested in it. This means that your business will not be shown to just anyone who is watching related videos. You will save money when you use YouTube ads and you will be able to show your ads to the people who really should be seeing them and not people who will skip them as soon as they get the chance. Wasting money on advertising is almost the name of the game with TV ads, but when you use the advertising services that Amazon has to offer, you get targeted results that can save you money. You want to get as many conversions as you can per ad watch, and if your ads are not being shown to the right people you will just be throwing money away on an audience that will never buy from you.
YouTube is a Powerful Business Tool That Is Winning Out Over Traditional Television
If you have a business that you are trying to promote or you want to share content that informs and offers advice about services or products that you sell, YouTube is a very beneficial platform for your needs. There is nothing like being sure that your information is being shown to people with the right interests to engage with it and you will see more conversions for your efforts when you share your YouTube videos on your social media pages as well as your website. YouTube is the future and TV is in the past. There is no reason to try to force your business to connect with old technologies that have outlived their usefulness. While it remains to be seen if TV will have outlived its purpose for most consumers in the future, streaming services are quickly taking away the market share that TV used to occupy with ease. There is no indication that YouTube will not continue to grow in leaps and bounds and this can be a valuable way for you to market your goods and services as well as promote your business. At Early Light Media, we can help! Our video production services can help you create content that stands out and makes a splash on the platform. Get a quote now on your YouTube project!
