Visa CMO Says YouTube Spend Lags Dramatically Behind TV

YouTube overtook traditional TV as the most-watched video provider on U.S. television sets early last year, with people watching 182 million hours daily, more than Disney accumulates across ABC, ESPN and its streaming services combined, according to Nielsen data.

Despite this shift in viewership, big brand budgets haven't followed, with TV campaigns still commanding production budgets four to five times higher than YouTube counterparts with similar audiences, according to Portal A co-founder Zach Blume.

Visa CMO Frank Cooper III says budgets allocated for YouTube "are still lagging dramatically behind the budgets that are allocated to TV projects" both from media and creative production perspectives. Large advertisers frequently treat YouTube as part of their digital marketing budget rather than their traditional TV budget, placing it in direct competition with platforms like TikTok and Instagram instead of television.

Visa rarely negotiates YouTube deals directly with the platform, working instead through talent firms and creator agencies, as it did last year when setting up a paid appearance by YouTube duo Colin Rosenblum and Samir Chaudry on Visa's "Money Travels" video podcast. Cooper says YouTube could help marketers by sharing more data to develop simpler ways to understand and measure investment results, noting "it's evolving rapidly, and it's hard to put your arms around the entirety of it."

Full story: WSJ