Marketing Mix of YouTube and 7Ps (Updated 2024)

The Marketing mix of YouTube analyses the 7Ps of YouTube, which include the Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Physical Evidence, and Process of YouTube. YouTube is an advertising platform credited for amassing a collection of short films & TV episodes, thousands of user-generated content, and hundreds of full-length videos and movies. YouTube is an online site that serves over two billion videos every day.

It is the leading online video-sharing site. This top video-sharing, online video-sharing, video-sharing, video-sharing platform, and hosting service provider was founded in 2005 and is an international company headquartered in San Bruno, California. Founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, YouTube is today owned by Alphabet Inc.

Competitors

• Yahoo
• Amazon Video Shorts
• Apple Inc
• DailyMotion
• Hulu, LLC
• Comcast
• Netflix, Inc
• Vessel

About YouTube

• Type: Video-sharing website
• Industry: Online media
• Founded: February 14, 2005
• Founders: Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim
• Headquarters: San Bruno, California, United States
• Area served: Worldwide
• Key people: Susan Wojcicki (Chairman) and Neal Mohan (CEO)
• Number of employees: Over 100,000

YouTube Product Strategy

The main products in the mix of YouTube are the videos offered to users in many fields of social media platforms. These videos range from news, sports, how-to… videos, documentaries, and reviews share videos, among others. Anyone can view any video found on the site. Account holders, on the other hand, are allowed to watch time upload their different videos. The journey of uploading videos starts with users being allowed 15-minute video uploads. Suppose you have a good track record through the compliance of YouTube’s Community Guidelines. In that case, you can be offered opportunities to upload videos for up to 12 hours.

The new Product Mix of YouTube in 2024 is as follows (Source).

1. YouTube for Viewers: Standard YouTube Platform: The leading platform where millions of videos are available for streaming. It includes various content such as music videos, tutorials, vlogs, entertainment content, and much more; YouTube Kids: A family-friendly version designed for children, featuring content appropriate for younger audiences; YouTube Music: A streaming service offering a vast library of songs, music videos, and live performances; YouTube Movies & Shows: A section where users can rent or purchase movies and TV shows.
2. YouTube for Creators: YouTube Studio: A dashboard for creators to manage their channels, analyze their performance with analytics, and interact with their audience; YouTube Live: Allows creators to stream live content to their audience; YouTube Shorts: A short-form video feature that lets creators upload videos of 60 seconds or less, similar to TikTok; YouTube VR: Provides immersive virtual reality content; Creator Academy: Offers educational resources for content creators to improve their skills and channel performance.
3. Monetization and Advertising: YouTube Partner Program: Allows creators to monetize their content through ads, channel memberships, super chat, etc. YouTube Advertising: A platform for businesses to advertise their products or services on YouTube videos; YouTube Premium: A subscription service offering an ad-free experience, background play, and access to YouTube Originals.
4. YouTube Originals: Original content produced by YouTube, including series, movies, and documentaries, is available primarily to YouTube Premium subscribers.
5. Community and Social Features: Comments and Community Posts: Enable interaction between creators and viewers; Channels and Subscriptions: Users can subscribe to their favorite channels and get regular updates.
6. Accessibility and User Experience Features: Captions and Subtitles: For better accessibility and understanding; Playlists and Watch Later Feature: For organizing and saving videos.
7. YouTube for Developers: YouTube API: Allows developers to integrate YouTube functionalities into their websites and applications.

YouTube Pricing Strategy

YouTube’s pricing, marketing strategy, and digital marketing strategy reflect a sophisticated blend of free and paid services and premium models designed to maximize user engagement while driving revenue through diverse channels. Here’s a breakdown of their approach:

1. Freemium Model: At its core, YouTube operates on a freemium model, offering free access to vast content while monetizing through ads. This approach ensures high user traffic and engagement, creating a large audience base for advertisers.
2. Ad-Supported Revenue: The primary revenue stream comes from advertising. YouTube uses targeted advertising, allowing advertisers to reach specific demographics. This model is attractive to businesses of all sizes, ensuring a steady revenue stream for YouTube.
3. YouTube Premium Subscription: YouTube offers a subscription-based model, YouTube Premium, which provides an ad-free experience, offline viewing, and access to exclusive content. This caters to users who value an enhanced viewing experience, creating an additional revenue stream.
4. Tiered Advertising Options: YouTube provides varied advertising options at different prices, including skippable and non-skippable ads, banner ads, and sponsored cards. This tiered approach allows businesses with varying budgets to use the platform for marketing effectively.
5. Content Creator Monetization: Through the YouTube Partner Program, content creators can monetize their videos via ads, memberships, and Super Chats. YouTube takes a cut of these revenues, incentivizing content creation while earning from it.
6. Market-Sensitive Pricing: In different regions, YouTube adjusts its Premium subscription pricing to reflect local market conditions and purchasing power, making it more accessible and appealing to a global audience.

YouTube Place Strategy

YouTube allows users to upload, watch, or download videos from mobile devices. Unlike previously when you were required to have installed an Adobe Flash Player plug-in before you could be able to view people watch its videos from smart devices, since 2010, viewing people watch its videos is made possible by anyone as the HTML5 standard inbuilt multimedia capabilities that are supported by web browsers are now used to view the videos. The supporting browsers include Internet Explorer, Chrome, and the Safari 8.

Here’s the place to watch videos with the time and strategy of YouTube.

1. Global Online Presence: YouTube operates as a globally accessible platform, available in most countries and offering content in many languages, ensuring widespread reach and accessibility.
2. Device Agnosticism: The platform is accessible across various devices, including smartphones, tablets, desktop computers, and smart TVs, facilitating user access from virtually anywhere.
3. Integration with Google’s Ecosystem: As part of the Google family, YouTube is seamlessly integrated with other Google services like Google Ads and Google Play, enhancing its accessibility and functionality for users and advertisers.
4. Local Content and Regional Customization: YouTube provides region-specific content and features, tailoring its offerings to meet local tastes, trends, and legal requirements, which helps in increasing local engagement.
5. Partnerships with ISPs and Mobile Carriers: Collaborations with internet service providers and mobile carriers, sometimes offering YouTube as a bundled service or with unique data plans, further expand its accessibility and user base.

YouTube Promotion Strategy

YouTube has done several advertisements, digital marketing, local campaigns, and social media promotions in partnership with several other companies to improve its visibility and target a wider audience. One such partnership was between YouTube and NBC, an agreement struck in 2006. In the following year, YouTube entered into another agreement with BBC, with other contracts subsequently being reached with CBS, MGM, and Lions Gate Entertainment, where such companies were allowed to post TV episodes and full-length films on YouTube, accompanied by adverts in the Shows- a US viewer section.

Other promotion features include partnerships with other social media platforms, online video-sharing platforms, and content creators. The central promotion partnership here is the attractive deals that allow the video uploaders to share the revenues collected by YouTube from one’s uploaded video sharing their products. This encourages video creators to upload more and produce high-quality content and videos to attract more traffic.

Some Recent Video ads and Print ads for YouTube are:

YouTube People Strategy

The “People” element of YouTube’s service and marketing strategy and mix is crucial to its overall YouTube marketing mix and strategy. This aspect focuses on the internal and external human factors that contribute to the delivery and perception of the service. Here are key points regarding the “People” component in YouTube’s service and marketing strategy and mix:

1. Creators and Content Providers: At the heart of YouTube are millions of content creators, ranging from individuals to large corporations, who generate diverse content. These creators are essential for YouTube’s service delivery, as they provide the core product that attracts users.
2. User Community: The vast and active user community engages with the platform by viewing, liking, commenting, and sharing videos. This community is crucial for virality, feedback, and the overall success of content on the platform.
3. YouTube Employees and Management: The strategies, policies, and daily operations managed by YouTube’s employees and leadership team directly impact service quality and innovation. This includes everything from platform development to customer service and content moderation.
4. Brand Ambassadors and Influencers: Influential YouTubers and celebrities who endorse the platform significantly attract new users and retain existing ones. They enhance the platform’s credibility and appeal.
5. Customer Service Teams: These teams address user issues, such as technical problems, account management, and content disputes. Their efficiency and effectiveness can significantly affect user satisfaction and loyalty.
6. Content Moderators: Given the platform’s commitment to content guidelines and community standards, moderators are crucial for maintaining a safe and respectful environment. Their work impacts user experience and brand reputation.
7. Partnership and Collaborative Efforts: Collaborations with music labels, TV networks, movie studios, and educational institutions enrich the content ecosystem on YouTube, enhancing the variety and quality of available content.
8. Advertisers and Marketers: They play a vital role in the ecosystem by funding a significant portion of the content through advertising. Their needs and feedback can influence YouTube’s features and policies.
9. Developer and Tech Community: The developers working to improve the YouTube platform, including its algorithm, user interface, and new features, play a crucial role in ensuring a seamless and innovative user experience.
10. Regulatory Bodies and Policy Makers: Their regulations and guidelines can impact how YouTube operates in different markets, affecting content, privacy policies, and advertising practices.

YouTube Process Strategy

The “Process” component of the service marketing mix for YouTube encompasses the operational and procedural aspects that affect its service delivery. This includes how services are provided to users, content creators, and advertisers on online video-sharing platforms. Here are key points regarding the “Process” component in the whole marketing mix of YouTube’s service marketing mix:

1. Content Upload and Management: YouTube has streamlined the process for uploading videos, making it accessible for creators of all sizes. This includes tools for editing, managing, and analyzing content performance.
2. Search and Discovery: The platform uses sophisticated algorithms to recommend videos to users based on their viewing history, preferences, and engagement patterns. This process is critical for content visibility and user engagement.
3. Monetization and Advertising: YouTube provides a detailed process for creators to monetize their content through ads, memberships, and merchandise shelves. For advertisers, it offers targeted advertising options, including demographic, interest-based, and geographic targeting.
4. Community Engagement and Interaction: The platform facilitates interactions between creators and viewers through comments, likes, and shares. It also includes live-streaming features, community posts, and other tools to enhance engagement.
5. Content Moderation and Policy Enforcement: YouTube has established processes for content moderation, including automated filtering, human review, and user reporting to ensure content adheres to community guidelines. This is crucial for maintaining a safe and respectful platform.
6. User Support and Resolution: The platform provides a comprehensive help center, support channels for users and creators, and a process for appealing content decisions or addressing account issues.
7. Platform Updates and Feature Rollouts: YouTube regularly updates its platform and introduces new features to improve user experience, enhance content discovery, and provide creators with more tools. The process includes testing, feedback collection, and phased rollouts.
8. Creator Education and Support: YouTube offers resources like the Creator Academy, help forums, and dedicated support for popular creators to educate them on best practices, platform features, and ways to grow their channels.
9. Quality Assurance and Performance Monitoring: The platform continuously monitors video performance, platform stability, and user feedback to identify issues and optimize the service.
10. Data Privacy and Security: Processes to protect user data and privacy are integral, including compliance with regulations (like GDPR), secure data handling practices, and transparent user controls over their data.
11. Accessibility and Inclusivity: Ensuring the platform is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, through features like captioning, screen reader support, and alternative text for images.

YouTube Physical Evidence Strategy

The “Physical Evidence” component of the service marketing mix for YouTube marketing refers to the tangible and intangible elements that help users perceive and evaluate the service. While YouTube operates primarily as a digital video-sharing platform and not all services, making traditional physical evidence less apparent, several aspects still serve as physical evidence in its service marketing techniques and delivery. Here are key points regarding the “Physical Evidence” component in YouTube’s service marketing mix:

1. Website and Mobile App Interface: The design, layout, and usability of YouTube’s website and mobile apps provide a tangible representation of the service. A user-friendly interface that is visually appealing and easy to navigate enhances the user experience and serves as a critical piece of physical evidence.
2. Branding Elements: YouTube’s logo, color scheme, and graphic design elements across various platforms and promotional materials create a visual identity that users recognize and associate with the service.
3. Video Quality: The resolution and quality of videos hosted on YouTube serve as evidence of the platform’s commitment to delivering high-quality content. This includes support for high-definition (HD), 4K, and even 8K video resolutions.
4. Studio Spaces: YouTube Spaces, physical studio locations available in some cities for creators to use, offer tangible evidence of YouTube’s investment in content creator support and community building.
5. Merchandising: Merchandise created by YouTube or its creators, such as apparel, accessories, and other branded items, provides physical evidence of the platform’s brand and the communities it fosters.
6. Live Events and Meetups: YouTube-sponsored events, creator meetups, and award ceremonies (e.g., YouTube FanFest, YouTube Creator Awards) offer physical spaces where the YouTube community can connect, further reinforcing the brand’s presence and commitment to its users and creators.
7. User Experience Features: Features such as video buffering speed, the reliability of the platform during high traffic periods, and the effectiveness of the search and recommendation algorithms are tangible aspects that affect user satisfaction and perception of the service.
8. Advertising and Promotional Materials: Physical or digital advertisements, billboards, and promotional videos for YouTube itself or specific YouTube channels and events serve as physical evidence of the platform’s marketing efforts and reach.
9. Security and Privacy Features: The visibility of security measures, such as HTTPS on web pages, privacy settings, and secure payment methods for YouTube Premium or channel memberships, provides users with tangible assurance of their data’s safety.
10. Content Accessibility Features: The availability of features like closed captions, adjustable playback speed, and high contrast mode for users with disabilities acts as physical evidence of YouTube’s inclusivity and accessibility efforts.

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