When Music Video Plays Get Juiced
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05-06 Tools Pandora AMP 07-08 Campaigns The Offspring, Lil Nas X, Maroon 5, Lewis Capaldi 09–14 Behind The Campaign- Oasis OCTOBER 02 2019 sandboxMUSIC MARKETING FOR THE DIGITAL ERA ISSUE 237 VIewTUBE WHEN MUSIC VIDEO PLAYS GET JUICED COVERFEATURE light onto a previously little-discussed industry practice: that of paying to run music videos as pre- and mid-roll TrueView ads on YouTube, with this counting towards the videos’ view-counts. This, we should stress, was totally legal. According to YouTube, paid advertising counts as a ‘view’ when someone watches a complete advert that is 11-30 seconds long; when someone watches at least 30 seconds of an ad that is more than 30 seconds long; and when someone interacts with the ad. In this case the ‘ad’ was a clip of the song. It’s also a widespread practice, particularly in Asia and Latin America, where TrueView ads are significantly cheaper than in other parts of the world. “The whole fucking industry does paid views,” Times Music COO Mandar Thakur told the All About Music conference in Mumbai in August. An investigation by Rolling Stone suggested the same was WHEN MUSIC VIDEO true in Latin America, where labels might pay up to $100k for up to 12m additional VIewTUBE PLAYS GET JUICED YouTube views. When Indian star Badshah claimed to have broken the opening-day record for views of a new music video on YouTube, people started asking questions. Some suggested that, by boosting plays with TrueView ads, it wasn’t a record he had broken – it was the platform itself. YouTube was quick to respond and put new rules in place. In the wake of this, we ask what the controversy could mean for music marketing, how music charts are reacting to being juiced and why an obsession with breaking records can sometimes do more harm than good. “The practice of bolstering views via ads is as common as drinking water or breathing,” ith the music industry having Badshah had broken YouTube’s 24-hour in a press release (as it has done in the past Thakur tells music:)ally now. “Everyone arranged its week around charts for viewing record was still something to behold. for these records) nor in response to direct who can afford to in this part of Wthe best part of the last century, it To briefly recap: Sony Music India enquiries from journalists. the world does it, make no mistake should come as no surprise that a chart- announced that the video for Badshah’s new Quickly, it emerged that Sony Music about it. To an extent some of this topping feat can create considerable global track ‘Paagal’ had been watched 75m times India had used YouTube advertising to bolstering serves a real purpose, whether attention. And yet the interest - or for BTS’ in its first 24 hours on YouTube “dethroning boost views of the ‘Paagal’ video – Badshah it’s promotional or whether it’s to stand superfans in particular, fury - that greeted BTS and Taylor Swift”. Yet YouTube pointedly himself announced this in an Instagram out in the sheer amount of material there is the news in July that Sony Music India artist did not confirm the new milestone, neither story responding to critics. The affair threw out there.” 1 | sandbox | ISSUE 236 | 18.09.2019 COVERFEATURE Thakur thinks that it’s only when this advertising: forcing a video as an ad, where it practice becomes “misleading and harmful” is obviously not a true play.” that it becomes a problem. “In many cases This is not to say that such ads have no bolstered views help break a track but what role to play in music-marketing campaigns. we see is an inflated bubble of mostly ‘dry’ YouTube has made it clear that it sees views,” he explains. legitimate reasons for labels to be using them. The main gripe within the music industry “ TrueView , within the industry, is an this summer, then, was not so much that important part of many labels’ and artists’ Sony Music India had paid for views of promotional plans,” Bryan told music:)ally. Badshah’s video , but rather that it had “We believe it continues to be something used the strategy to break a high-profile that the industry should use to connect YouTube record, and then bragged about it. in a very targeted way with their most By September, YouTube was announcing metrics into line with the policies of official critical ways we recognise and celebrate the important fans… Those fans can often some changes to its chart and milestone charts companies like Billboard and Nielsen. success of artists on our platform,” he said. become influencers on the platform for that regulations. It would no longer count paid Speaking to music:)ally when YouTube “ We’re very focused on making content... so those targeted, early-stage advertising views on YouTube towards its announced the change, the company’s sure that we maintain consistency campaigns, we believe, are really healthy for own charts, nor would it count them towards global head of label relations Stephen Bryan and credibility in our records and in the industry.” 24-hour-debut totals. explained the move as a way of ensuring the our charts, because we want our focus Darren Hemmings, managing director of “Artists will now be ranked based on credibility of its charts. to be completely on the success of our artist marketing agency Motive Unknown, hopes view counts from organic plays,” announced “Our 24-hour records and our charts partners and their labels and management the move will change music marketing YouTube, stressing that this brought its own have always been, and increasingly are, teams.” plans. “It isn’t something we’ve engaged with When YouTube changes its policies, it can for years now as we went there and learned be controversial: witness the recent protests our lessons. But I live in hope!” he says. (and subsequent u-turn by YouTube) when Hemmings thinks that labels should it changed the way its channel-verification move towards using YouTube ads to market system worked. But in the case of paid views a release or artist in the broader sense, of music videos, the industry response has rather than simply trying to boost a chart been warm. ranking. Thakur describes it as “a very welcome “Which, frankly, is what it should have move from YouTube”, although he adds that been used for all along. We are in this job “time will tell if the result of this is a deep to build meaningful connections; to grow crackdown or not”. In his opinion: “Fake audiences for artists. That takes time, views end up killing the creative industry and thought, strategy and effort. TrueView ads to being more harmful in the long run to artists game video views never did much to move - all around. It’s not real business, it’s sheer the needle in that regard,” he says. vanity for the people, businesses and talent “I don’t think it makes ads less who crave it.” worthwhile; I mean this is a platform at the music:)ally’s head of digital strategy end of the day. It’s what the ads you show Patrick Ross agrees. “This is definitely a comprise, irrespective of whether said ad positive change because it was just silly is on YouTube, Instagram or a massive ad that people were able to game the charts,” hoarding in the middle of London.” he says. “Especially with that kind of Patrick Ross says that one of the main 2 | sandbox | ISSUE 237 | 02.10.2019 COVERFEATURE positives of YouTube’s rule change is that it may encourage people to look at YouTube views with new eyes. “We have done things with potential clients who have 100,000 views of one of their tracks on YouTube and the next one has 50,” he says. “We ask them: ‘What’s going on?’ ‘Oh I put money behind that one.’ If it is a quality view then they [viewers] should be coming back. But you can tell very quickly from looking at a channel which ones they put ads behind and the ones they haven’t.” As such, YouTube’s move can be seen as part of a wider discussion about what aggressively to boost the views on new were totally shallow; in YouTube’s he says. “Anecdotally, and really, it’s hard genuinely constitutes success for a song or videos”. But the report also notes that the analytics you can see retention on to quantify if this works, but when we have artist online, at a time when buying YouTube cost per view of these ads in the US may a video clip and this method was an exciting new asset to share (like a music views, Spotify streams and Instagram be “five to ten times as much” as in Latin inevitably the worst in that regard, video) we’ll run targeted TrueView ads followers (for example) is an option – America, which would make it uneconomical suggesting that it never drove meaningful to rake in as much traffic to the asset as however unwise – for marketers. for US labels. connections at all.” possible within the first week.” “We are in an era now when we look at A report on Badshah’s success in the The question that Hemmings raises of Byrne explains that if the video is Spotify and we don’t talk about streams Economic Times, meanwhile, claimed that whether this kind of advertising works is properly optimised - “cross-linked, tagged, so much as followers and listeners,” says for five millions rupees (around $75,000) a tricky one to answer, one that depends great thumbnail” - the label often sees Ross.