YouTuber - Ongoing Disruption of Advertising Industry
A disruption innovation in business is an innovation that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market-leading firms, products, and alliances [1]. To be more specific, it happens when a small company with fewer resources successfully challenge incumbent business in the market which the incumbent ignores. The entrants target those overlooked markets first with a more-suitable product and a lower price. The incumbents usually do not respond vigorously. Then the entrants move upmarket and capture mainstream customers in volume. By this definition, the YouTubers who unboxing or product review videos are disruption of the advertising industry for several reasons [2].
To begin, comparing to advertising companies, the Youtubers usually work as individuals and have limited resources. Most YouTubers do not have access to a recording studio. Some of them do not even have basic equipment and might use their smartphone for recording and editing. When a Youtubers start their unboxing or reviewing career, they also have to buy the product they test without sponsorship. That means they might not be able to review expensive merchandise or luxury. On the contrast, a top-tier advertising company has its own studio for shooting and has the opportunity to choose its client.
Second, without specialization and teamwork, the product that most YouTubers deliver to the audience is inferior. Since unboxing or product video can be simply made by a smartphone, anyone can be a Youtuber. That means most YouTubers are not professionals in recording, editing, and advertising. The image and sound quality might be disappointing. The background may be distracting since it is the Youtuber’s bedroom. Also, they do the review based only on their experiences and might not have credible resources for research.
From the market perspective, the Youtubers target a new market. With the proliferation of the internet and video streaming business, people can see actual product that they are interested in an online video. Watching unboxing videos is convenient for shoppers. They can test the product without going to a store or place an online order. They can also compare different reviews by following multiple channels.
However, the product review or unboxing videos do have advantages compared to the traditional advertising model. We are used to seeing an advertisement on TV, on buses, or on the streets because the companies want everyone to see it. With the help of the internet, Youtubers can achieve the same goal with low cost and capture the interest of the customers more precisely. As mentioned previously, everyone with a smartphone can start to make an unboxing video implies there is minimal cost. Besides that, Youtubers capture potential customers very effectively. There are mainly two groups of people who watch unboxing videos. The first group is people who are already interested in buying the product; it is obviously easier to persuade them to purchase. The second group is the fans of the video blogger. The fans are likely to buy the product to support the blogger. The power of a popular video blogger is tremendous. For instance, Unbox Therapy is an unboxing video channel on Youtube with more than 12 million subscribers. The most viewed and least-viewed video on the channel has 71 million views and 3.2 million views respectively. It is far more costly to prompt a product by publishing an advertisement to the public.
Youtuber, as a new profession, is qualified for standards of disruption. Although unboxing video has great potential because of the fans-economy, it will not replace traditional advertisement completely. Since the traditional advertisement has more spreading routes. The Youtubers can be disruptive to advertisement but not to TV show, buses, and subways.
[3] https://www.youtube.com/user/unboxtherapy/videos?view=0&flow=grid&sort=p
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.