Few brands feature in YouTube top 5,000 publishers list

To make it into the top 5,000 YouTube publishers list, brands need approximately 43 million views. To effectively keep up with the top players, brands need to convert 2,274 subscribers for every one million views. Such are the findings of video distribution and content development provider Touchstorm.

When it comes to the number of brands that are in the top 5,000 on YouTube the numbers aren't quite as spectacular. According to Touchstorm, just 74 brands appear and not a Coca Cola or Microsoft to be seen. The other 4,926 publishers, which include musicians, teenagers with webcams, and professional content producers, have "vastly out-performed brands in finding an audience for their content", says the report.

CEO of Touchstorm, Alison Provost, believes her company's Index reveals "a significant brand fail on one of the most important platforms today". She believes that brands must act more like publishers if they are to taste success on the video site, by producing quality content and marketing it correctly. Instead, most brands purchase pre-roll advertising or employ YouTube 'talent' the former doing little to boost subscribers and the latter simply driving more traffic to the talent's channel.

One aspect of YouTube brand channels that the Index doesn't appear to touch on is that many brands are looking to drive traffic to their websites, not rack up huge YouTube channel subscriber numbers. Also, the fact that not many brands are showing up in Touchstorm's Index could indicate that most brands are more focused on the selling aspect but are yet to grasp what it is that attracts video viewers and keeps them coming back for more.

Tags: brand marketing, branded content, publishing, video advertising, video content, YouTube