TOYS ON YOUTUBE
Subscribers: 103,091 Views: 142,742,399
YouTube is changing the way kids watch. Lewis Tyler finds out more and looks at some of the website’s top toy channels
IN THE beginning, there was TV. It only had a few channels, and kids relied on them to see their favourite shows. It was the primary way for kids to interact with brands and find out about new toys during the ad breaks. Satellite was a game
changer – as more kids channels were introduced the TV landscape became more fragmented, adding opportunity for more shows and for extra advertising platforms. Now, the internet is
having a similar effect. Advances in streaming video content mean kids can now watch online. At the forefront of the revolution is YouTube, which has become something of a hub for internet video. For certain pioneering toy
brands, particularly those in the girls market, the ‘webisode’ (short, episodic, online which typically lasts a few minutes) has become an incredibly impactful method of brand engagement. Take Monster High for
example. Its YouTube uploads regularly attract at least 500,000 views and often more than one million. It’s no co-incidence that in Mattel’s most recent Q3 financial results, girls brands were up 57 per cent, ‘primarily driven by Monster High’. “Monster High was very much born from the digital platform,” explains Emma Stowers, Mattel’s UK marketing manager, girls. Children are instinctively ‘digital savvy’ these days, Stowers says, and YouTube has become significant.
“It’s easily accessible and is there is no appointment to view; it’s there on demand,” comments Stowers. “Creatively, it gives us more opportunities to build exciting and engaging content around our brands and to be flexible with our story telling.” NPD believes those
brands which embrace the digital content revolution will be the ones that prosper in the long run. “These toys are very
relevant to the girls of today, because they talk to them through social media, with Monster High releasing video on YouTube,” says Frédérique Tutt, NPD’s analyst for the European toy market. “We’ve seen that’s one of the biggest growth areas in the UK market and if you can can do it through YouTube and get as popular as Monster High is, without going through TV or films, it raises an interesting question for the future of media.” However the website’s true beauty is its user- generated content. In the past few years
YouTube has grown its user uploads dramatically with the introduction of its partner programme, which effectively pays users to produce videos. Now anyone can become
the presenter of their own show and, if they have the audience, they can make a living by exploring their favourite subjects in an in- depth way that TV possibly struggles to do. In this feature, ToyNews
profiles YouTube’s top toy content from big brands, toy fans and more.
These are the brands which are best using YouTube to cultivate their fan bases
20 December/January
Subscribers: 40,059 Views: 97,711,853
HOT WHEELS
This die-cast car brand has recently jumped into real life with a series of outrageous stunt and Hot Wheels’ YouTube presence acts as a hub for the team’s exploits. The latest Hot Wheels toys are also profiled.
BARBIE
Barbie has only half the YouTube presence of her alternative fashion doll cousin Monster High, but she’s no slouch. This year she has branched out with a splendid CG-animated reality TV-style show titled ‘Life in the Dreamhouse’.
Subscribers: 42,200 Views: 76,375,000
MONSTER HIGH
The success of Monster High has been built with online content and at the heart of this is a series of animated webisodes (online shows usually around two-minutes long). On YouTube these webisodes regularly attract at least 500,000 views and often more than one million – very healthy numbers indeed. With an audience like that, Mattel also has fertile ground for promoting the latest Monster High toy releases.
Subscribers: 6,644 Views: 8,986,000
TRANSFORMERS The channel for all things Transformers has everything from teasers for the latest Transformers movies, TV series’ and video games, to profiles on the latest toys and their corresponding TV commercials.
NERF
Nerf HQ keeps fans updated with everything that’s going on with the blaster brand. There’s also informational programming in the shape of the Nerf Performance Institute, which gives viewers in-depth info on the latest toys.
Subscribers: 37,000 Views: 28,235,000
Subscribers: 12,400 Views: 42,700,000
SKYLANDERS Activision’s Skylanders YouTube channel treats fans of the game to behind-the- scenes talks with developers of the video game. ‘Meet the Skylanders’ clips introduce fans to the latest collectable toys and characters.
Subscribers: 21,150 Views: 53,550,000
MOSHI MONSTERS This channel from Mind Candy features snappy shorts from the world of Moshi Monsters. On the menu are animations, activities and giveaways for fans, and toys are also profiled. A slick Moshi TV show has also just launched.
www.toynews-online.biz
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