Travelers Spending More Time Consuming Travel Videos Content on YouTube: A Good News for Travel Businesses
Here is a great news for all travel businesses, according to a new whitepaper from Think With Google, travelers are spending more time watching online videos than before. A YouTube data analysis revealed that travel related content views are 118 percent up year over year.
The increasing popularity of mobile devices to consume video has made an impact on the rise in travel video viewings, this means that more people will book tickets to travel to various destinations. In 2013, 30% travel video views came from mobile devices, but these have increased by 97% on smartphones and 205% on tablets year over year.
The rise in the online video consumption is a tremendous opportunity for brands and marketers. The trend of using online video for driving engagement and awareness will accelerate even further. Online video is a very powerful way to add to the excitement about a destination, service, product or brand.
Brand vs. Community Generated Content
According to Google’s data 67% travel-related video views were for brand or professionally released videos. Opportunities are constantly growing for travel brand marketers. Branded videos views have increased by 394 %. Companies including Disney Parks & Resorts, Turkish Airlines and Expedia have a strong brand presence and are the most of the opportunity.
Travel viewership videos graph has increased significantly across categories. 40% of users tune in to watch videos about tourist attractions & destinations. The cruises and charters category saw an impressive growth of 262 percent. Which was the largest YoY growth. The remarkable rise is mainly due to an increase in video content produced by companies including Viking River Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines, and Princess Cruises.
Videos At The Top Of The Funnel
The whitepaper also reveals that 71% of travel video searches are based on the names of destinations.
The searches for general travel queries was at 8%, travel products at 6%, local attractions at 9% and travel brands at 6%. The percentage was considerably lower when compared to the search based on destination names.
The searches for specific company brands forms 58% of travel searches. This explains the varying roles channels play in the purchase cycle.
When Do Consumers Watch Travel Videos?
According to the graph below. A large number of people tend to watch videos in the evening. This suggests that videos play a very important part in the consideration and research stages of the consumer’s journey.
Google’s whitepaper states that two out of three U.S. Consumers watch travel videos online when they are thinking of taking a trip according to a recent study conducted with Ipsos MediaCT.
Travel Channel Subscriptions Percentage By Format
Top travel channel subscriptions have increased by 106% in the year 2014 till date. The data also mentions that subscribers watching was 86% longer per view than that of non-subscribers.
An interesting observation here was that 48% users have subscribed to video blogs featuring personal travel experiences. Not only this consumers also are interested in branded content, 19% travel subscriptions are for official travel brand channels.
Influencers also play a key role in the research and consideration phases. The long purchase cycles of travel denotes that personal content as well as recommendations hold an important spot in this vertical in particular.
Travel Channel Subscriptions By Age Group
People of all ages are interested in YouTube travel content. 50% travel subscribers age range is 25-64, 38% are in the 18-24 age range.
The younger audience is more interested in video blogs and authentic content. Whereas, the 25-64 year old range is interested in the content related to reviews, brand information and tips.
The increase in the views of travel related videos means that travel business marketers sharing video content have higher chances of getting more traffic & revenue.
