Team5pm on leveraging YouTube to launch Amazon Prime Video in the Netherlands

In 2020, Amazon Prime Video entered the Dutch market, competing giants like Netflix and the smaller Dutch variant Videoland.

Amazon Prime Video aimed to generate more exposure through YouTube for its large catalogue of originals and exclusives. The focus was to reach and retain the Dutch film lover (ages 18-35 years) which was our central target group.

Key targets for Amazon Prime Video Netherlands on YouTube included:

• Reach 202,500 organic views on their videos
• Achieve a watch time of 742,500 minutes on their videos
• Gain 3.2m impressions on the channel
• Have an engagement rate of 1.5% and accumulate 3,240 engagements on their videos
• Grow to 20,000 subscribers on the Amazon Prime Video Netherlands YouTube channel

The strategy

The strategy of Team5pm was straightforward: we researched the relevant subcultures and their distinctive language so we knew how to communicate with them with the right content. By indulging in their culture and speaking their characteristic language we would create a loyal and active fanbase consisting of true Prime Video lovers.

A few weeks after the launch of Amazon Prime Video’s YouTube channel, a challenge we had to overcome was that the organic recommendations didn’t appear within YouTube, which resulted in the content not being discovered enough.

By optimizing our distribution strategy and utilizing other social media platforms including Facebook, Reddit, Dumpert and 9Gag – where fans are already active – we gained more traction on our videos. The key to the success, however, was our tailor-made advertising strategy, which focused on distributing organic content and serving them as ads among specific tailored audiences.

The campaign

Custom target groups were created for each video in order to reach the specific fanbase. The ads were not your usual short videos or typical commercials. On the contrary, these ads were funny special edits, memes or popular clips which led to a tremendous growth in the channel’s popularity. The viewers weren’t used to seeing these funny, custom made ads, but they absolutely loved it.

By using the videos as discovery ads, the videos appear at the targeted audience’s ‘recommended content’ instead of as pre-rolls. When the content interests these custom targeted viewers, they intrinsically click on the ads themselves. This leads the viewers directly to the video where they can then engage with and subscribe to the channel. The interaction of these intrinsically motivated viewers with the video and the channel is incredibly valuable.

The results

In addition to the growth in paid views, our ad campaigns resulted in an enormous boost in organic recommendations, views and watch time. Once on the channel, fans would also click through to other content on the channel. We created a stable base of around 300,000 views a day, with peaks of nearly a million.

By speaking the language of the subculture of our target audience, we were able to grow an enormous fanbase. Our custom designed memes were by far our viewers’ favourite content with the number of views going through the roof.

With the combination of data research, optimized content creation and a well-thought-out advertising strategy as the core accelerator, we achieved the following results (July 1, 2020 to March 1, 2021):

• 86,238 subscribers gained (+331% relative to target)
• 657.4m impressions (+20,444% relative to target)
• 35.9m views in total (+17,628% relative to target)
• 2.8m hours of watch time (+22,526% relative to target)
• Average watch duration 4:48 per video
• 743,549 engagements; engagement rate 2.07%
• 87% of views (31.2m) are from organic reach

“Team5pm’s in-depth YouTube expertise helped us to gain the valuable insights that we’d been looking for. They translated these into a well thought-out, tailor-made advertising strategy that engaged our target audience in the Dutch market and made them a fan of our brand. We know the challenge of building a loyal fanbase, so we are proud to have established over half a million engagements and more than 85,000 loyal Prime Video fans.” Mark Whelan, EU social media video manager, Amazon Prime Video

This project was a winner at The Drum Awards for Marketing 2021. Find out which competitions in The Drum Awards are currently open and don’t forget to visit our new interactive calendar.