YouTube One Channels: “You Are More Than the Sum of Your Uploads”

You might go viral with a one hit wonder – but, let’s face it, that strategy doesn’t hold up well. You’ve seen poor David after his trip to the dentist. But have you seen “David After Harlem Shake” or “David After Valentines Day?” Didn’t think so.

Why not consider building a cohesive channel, a unique experience, taking an audience centric and targeted approach to keep YouTube viewers satisfied and returning for more? With the recent public roll out of YouTube One channels, you can do just that.

YouTube has finally adapted to the social media reality with a new design that is more marketable and more interesting not only for users, but also for brands. With more customization options, brands can make their first impression count, attract and engage subscribers, and leverage their presence on the #2 search engine in the world.

If you haven’t already checked out the new layout, here is what you can look forward to:

• Making a Good First Impression – A welcome video that is visible only to non-subscribers, allows brands to position themselves and provide an overview of the channel. The fact that this video is only seen by new visitors is a great way to grab attention and encourage channel subscription. It also saves precious space above the fold to offer different content to regular visitors.
• Wow-ing with a Visual – YouTube One channel header images are bigger and better than ever. Following the trends of the Facebook cover photo and the recent update to Google Plus header images, YouTube forces you to upload a full sheet of art over 2000 pixels in height. Then, it autocrops to the middle of the page. This makes it a little tricky to nudge your image into the right place, but if it means optimal viewing on all devices, we approve. Which brings us to one of our favorite new features…
• Being Everywhere at Once – Your target audience checks out your YouTube channel everywhere – on their couch, at work, on the weekend, which is why it’s so important to provide a cohesive experience wherever they are. Mobile now makes up 25% of YouTube’s total views, and the YouTube iOS app has been downloaded more than 100 million times. With the new layout your channel will scale beautifully to any size screen, and your social links are available on any device with a browser. Consistent with our future friendly approach, this multi-channel integration is critical moving into 2014 and beyond.
• Taking Greater Control – How you present your playlists and videos on your channel is now completely up to you. Highly visible and organized “shelves” of new and curated content allow your fans to easily navigate your channel and discover the next thing to watch. With a variety of customizable layouts, you can arrange your channel to best highlight your most important messages first while organizing everything else by playlist or tag.

All in all, we are pretty pleased. Branding works across devices, you can reach out to non-subscribed viewers, and you can show off more of your content in an organized fashion so viewers will engage further. The new layout change is already available, since March 7th; but brands have until mid-June to plan for its adoption before their content is automatically converted over. Take advantage of it and thank YouTube because according to them, “you are more than the sum of your uploads.”