The Lead

We often see companies spend gobs of money on the production of what is essentially a television commercial, with the expectation of it repurposing it on YouTube and making it "go viral." There lies the first issue; TV ads aren't Web videos. Some can be, but if you look at the majority of successful videos on the Web, many of them have not, or could not be aired on TV. Our visitor said that Web videos are either highly entertaining or highly informative, and are almost always fairly short. Now consider that a lot of TV commercials are funny or informative and very short, yet you probably wouldn't pass many of them along. I believe that's because Web videos are usually edgier than what you'd find on TV - or they have a cheesy, home-grown feel and can be completely random. In addition, when videos live on the Web, entertainment usually comes first. In the ad world, brands can't afford to spend millions of dollars to entertain. They want to measure, dissect and ultimately sell products. Here lies another question; do millions of views on YouTube equate to an increase in sales? Maybe, maybe not. Overall, I see viral videos as more of a branding effort, geared for the "long tail" than an instant sales generator.

On the flip side, even if your video is entertaining or informative, and even short in length, people still may not share it among peers. Why? I think a lot of marketers are still trying to figure that out. In the meantime, if you have a video that you want passed along, look into some of these driving forces and manage your own expectations about its outcome. Then ask yourself if it truly has viral potential, or if you have a TV commercial that you just really want people to watch.