One billion videos that are consumed by online Australians every month (Comscore). This Burson-Marsteller study examined 101 top brands in Australia and their use of social video sharing sites.

1. Top Brands in Australia & Social
Video Sharing Sites
Sydney, Australia
June 2010

2. Methodology – Research Objectives
• The study tracked 101 key non-governmental brands with significant operations in Australia.
Source companies were taken from The Nielsen Company (Nielsen) report: Top Media Advertiser
Report for 2009.
• The Burson-Marsteller (B-M) study examined official branded channels within the top social video
sharing sites; YouTube, Vimeo and Metacafe.
• The study looked at:
– The presence of a branded channel
– The number and type of channel/s
• Corporate – Relating to whole of company
• Promotional – Relating to a competition, marketing campaign or special offer
– The number of videos, subscribers and total views (all videos combined)
• The objective of the study was to investigate the extent to which leading brands operating in
Australia had incorporated video into their online marketing communication programs
• The study follows two related social media research projects by B-M:
– Social Media Use by Australia’s Best Brands (November 2009)
– Online Newsroom Study (March 2010)

3. Executive Summary
• More than half (65 per cent) of the 101 brands surveyed did not have a branded
video channel within the top social video sharing sites.
• Of those brands with official video channels:
– 67 per cent had one or more corporate channel
– 33 per cent had one or more promotional channel
– Only ten per cent of the brands surveyed offered both corporate and promotional channels.
• More than half of the corporate channels were designated ‘inactive’ having not been
updated for more than two months.
• The average view count across all channels was 12,298 with an average of 13
subscribers per channel.
• YouTube hosted 98 per cent of the channels studied, making it the number one social
video sharing site for Australian brands.
• An April 2010 comScore Video Metrix announcement identified Australia as the third
largest video-viewing market in the Asia-Pacific region, with more than 10.6 million
people viewing 934 million unique online videos in the month of January 2010.

4. Official brand presence in social video sharing sites
11% Most of the 101 brands surveyed are not
More than leveraging the opportunity presented by top
One
social video sharing sites.
Channel
65 per cent (66 of the 101 brands) have no
24% official brand presence in the top sites.
One
Channel A small number of brands seem to be investing
65% resources in branded video channels and using
No them to drive promotional and corporate
Channel communication goals.

5. Channel focus – corporate or product?
Of those brands with a presence on the
top social video sharing sites, 67 per
cent had one or more corporate channel.
33 per cent had one or more promotional
channel.
10 per cent of the 101 companies
surveyed managed both corporate and
product / promotional channel/s.

6. Number of videos per channel
Eight per cent of branded video
channels in the top social video
sharing sites offer more than 50
videos.
41 per cent of the branded video
channels contained less than ten
videos. These profiles should be
viewed as inactive accounts.

7. Subscribers to channels with >50 videos
This graph shows the correlation
Number of video / subscribers per channel
between the number of videos on
the channel and the number of
subscribers.
Volume of activity is just one
determinant of success. The
quality and relevance of the
content is the primary determinant
of success for online video
content.
Video content within social
networks and social media should
be search optimised to enhance
discovery and improve search
Each tab represents a brand channel engine rankings.

8. Subscribers to channels with <50 videos
Number of video / subscribers per channel
Each tab represents a brand channel

9. Total number of views per channel <100,000
100,000 84 per cent of the channels surveyed
have generated less than 100,000 total
90,000 views, as of April 2010.
Total number of views per channel
80,000 66 per cent have generated less than
50,000 total views.
70,000
84 per cent have generated less than
60,000 10,000 total views.
50,000 These findings support the assertion that
the ‘build it and they will come approach’
40,000 to social media and online content does
not work.
30,000
Brands need to ensure that their social
20,000 media campaigns are integrated with and
supported by broader marketing
10,000 communication programs.
0
Each tab represents a brand channel

10. Total number of views per channel >100,000
1,800,000
22 per cent of the branded channels
studied have attracted six figure
audiences (as of April 2010).
1,600,000
Total number of views per channel
Examples of corporate channels which
1,400,000 have recorded more than 100,00 views
in total:
• Telstra
1,200,000
• Qantas
• Roadshow Films Australia.
1,000,000
Example of product or promotional
800,000 channels which have recorded more
than 100,000 views in total are:
600,000 • Streets Golden Gaytime (Unilever)
• Rexona Australia’s Greatest Athlete
(Unilever)
400,000
• Toohey’s 5 Seeds (Lion Nathan
National Foods).
200,000
0
Each tab represents a brand channel

11. Most popular social video sharing sites
98%
Unsurprisingly, YouTube emerged as the
dominant video sharing social network for
branded video channels online.
98 per cent of the branded channels
identified in the study were hosted on
YouTube.

12. Best Practice in Australia – Qantas
• Subtle and appropriate branding
• Single channel for multiple programs
– News e.g. Qantas grid girl uniform launch / A380
launch
– Sponsorships: e.g. Qantas Socceroos
– Promotions / Programs: e.g. Frequent Flyer
scheme
– Paid media: e.g. Supporting advertising campaigns
• Regular updates and short videos
• Interactivity through comments
• Integrated: Links to and from Qantas.com
and blogs
• Content is fully search optimised and
organised by Playlist

13. Conclusions and Takeaways
1. Some of the largest brand name companies in Australia are investing in video content for the top social video
sharing sites. A significant proportion of brands are missing the opportunity to engage their audience groups via this
form of content and social media.
2. A 2010 Nielsen study found that the average online Australian spends 6 hours and 52 minutes in social media every
month, which is more than online consumers in the UK and the USA .
3. The same Nielsen study found that more and more Australians are accessing social media via mobile devices,
where there is an even stronger preference for video content. One quarter (26 per cent) of social networkers
participated in online social media in the 2009.
4. Having a presence within video sharing social media sites is just one step towards establishing an effective
presence. Brands need to have a clear strategy and to develop compelling content that engages their target
audience to increase their chance of success within this form of social media.
5. At a minimum, businesses should be listening to online discussions and content relating to their brand, products and
services within social video sharing sites. A failure to monitor in this way can lead to damaged company
reputations, as some major international brands have found to their cost.
6. Consumers consistently chose video content over text when surfing the Internet. Consumption of online video is
only likely to increase in the future as broadband speeds increase and as Australians increase the amount of time
they spend online. Brands should work to identify the role that video could play in support of their marketing
communications objectives.

14. Appendix: Source Companies – Nielsen 2009 Top Advertiser’s Report
• The Nielsen 2009 Top Media Advertiser’s Report covers main media advertising estimates for the period
Jan to Dec 2009 versus 2008 and summarises:
– Top 25 Advertisers/Advertiser Groups
– Top Advertiser Categories and their allocation of spend estimates across main media.
– Top Advertisers/Advertiser Groups by allocation of spend estimates across each of the 10 main
media sectors.
• The B-M study tracked the 101 non-governmental advertisers and related key brands that featured in
The Nielsen Company’s 2009 Top Media Advertiser’s Report. The Nielsen report, which tracks media
spend in Australia, identifies the top 25 biggest buyers (advertisers and advertiser groups) and their ‘key
brands’. The key brands highlighted in the Nielsen report do not necessarily account for the advertiser’s
total ad spend in 2009, nor are they all necessarily the top advertising spending brands in Australia.
• The top 25 advertisers (including the public sector brands that were omitted for the purposes of the B-M
study) accounted for 22 cents of every main media and dollar spent in 2009, according to Nielsen.
• Nielsen was not involved in the development of the B-M study but are aware of its existence.
• References to ‘brands’ in the remainder of this report refers to 101 brand name companies. B-M
included nine advertiser group brands in its analysis (where the corporate brand is distinct from key
brands) and 92 key brands relating to the 25 advertisers/ advertiser groups.

15. Contacts
Daniel Young, Director
Burson-Marsteller Australia
+61 (0) 2 9928 1589
+61 (0) 404 626 584
daniel.young@bm.com
Carly Yanco, Associate
Burson-Marsteller Australia
+61 (0) 2 9928 1531
+61 (0) 413 648 396
carly.yanco@bm.com