Looking back to only a decade ago, how we consume and share online video has drastically changed. YouTube launched in 2005, and by the end of the year, site visitors were viewing 8 million videos each day. From the early days of marketing with video, marketers have evolved from the one-to-many approach and now deliver real-time, personalized SmartVideos that contain a message unique and relevant to each recipient. In fact, in 2014 SmartVideo views surpassed 300 million – quite an exciting milestone for our team.
YouTube helped to bring a level of personalization to the video experience. Guy Atzmon, vice president of creative at SundaySky, says, “As a consumer, we consume video that speaks directly to our interests, whether that’s watching music, content, relevant product reviews or tutorials. That’s a type of personalization— you can choose content that speaks to you and your interests.”
Adds Mark Flaharty, executive vice president of advertising at SundaySky and former YouTube-er, “Since its inception, YouTube shifted the creation of video to a one-to-one experience. But from a sharing standpoint, it’s a one-to-many experience. Each user can now leverage YouTube’s platform to touch the world with niche video content.”
As consumers were eager to watch more online video, marketers began integrating video – the most engaging and captivating medium – into their marketing strategies. In February 2007, SundaySky was founded to develop a platform that automatically generated real-time, personalized videos. Now marketers can move beyond the one-to-many approach of online video and combine creative, data and logic in real time to deliver personalized SmartVideos that engage individual viewers across the customer lifecycle.
In celebration of YouTube’s 10th anniversary and SundaySky’s eighth, take a look at how personalized video has evolved over the last decade:
