According to Tech Crunch, we’re now watching an astounding one billion hours of You Tube every day.

Blame Google. Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006, in a move to generate new sources of revenue outside its traditional Internet search advertising business.

Google claims that more than one-third of all Internet users watch YouTube and more than half of those views now come from mobile devices.

Traditional television and cable viewing is still relevant, but less so. According to Ad Week, today’s viewers are watching as much video online as they’re watching on television.

And Google will not let YouTube plateau anytime soon. Google announced in 2015 that is tapping into its Google Brain service to help target YouTube content offerings. Google Brain will collect huge amounts of data about how many people watch videos, how long they watch them, and other points of interest in order to recommend other videos a user should watch.

In 2016, Google purchased the Irish technology company Green Parrot Pictures to improve video quality (image sharpening, reducing visual noise and rendering a higher-quality, steadier video). This is especially helpful for low quality footage shot on low-resolution mobile phone cameras.

Given these cord-cutter trends and Google upgrades, what is YouTube’s role in your media plan? Have you changed your media spend to reflect the massive shift to online, available anytime video? Do you use You Tube to promote your products or services? Do you use it to educate customers with helpful how-to tips?

To optimize overall reach and effectiveness of your marketing

campaigns, we recommend combining the “best of both tubes.” See if a balance of YouTube and television advertising spend works for your brand. It might be time to rethink your allocation and tap into those one billion hours.

Tech Crunch Link https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/28/people-now-watch-1-billion-hou rs-of-youtube-per-day/

Ad Week Link http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/young-or-old-everyone-see ms-online-video-much-tv-now-167541