Research shows a quarter of all branded video shares occur within the first three days of launch
An online branded video will, on average, receive a quarter of its overall shares within the first three days of its launch, according to research from technology company Unruly.
The Social Diffusion Curve, which measures the average number of shares a video attracts across the social web throughout its lifetime, also uncovered that the ‘viral peak’ of a branded video campaign tends to occur on its second day, when the average online ad attracts one in 10 of its total shares online.
In order to research the lifecycle of a viral video data was collected by the Unruly Viral Video Chart, which has been tracking the web’s most popular videos for seven years. 200 of the most shared branded videos of 2012 were analysed tracking over 500 billion shares and 1.6 million videos at any one time across 1,300 brands on all verticals.
According to the findings 10 per cent of shares happen on day two, with 25 per cent of shares taking place within the first three days and 50 per cent of shares within the first three weeks. Within three months videos have racked up 66 per cent of shares, with strong correlations found between shares achieved in days one to three, days on through six and all-time shares.
Ian Forrester, global insight lead at Unruly, commented: “This data can really help brands determine the likely ‘shareability’ of their videos by watching shares in the first week of launch. We found that the first days following the launch are key to both the video’s short and long-term success. Additionally, there are strong correlations between shares achieved in the early days of the campaign and all-time shares. Brands who have great shareable content should consider this when planning their distribution strategies during the critical launch stage.
COO and co-founder at Unruly, Sarah Wood, added: “For brands that are serious about maximizing the viral spread of their video content, looking at the most successful videos of 2012 shows that generating large numbers of views and shares early on in the campaign cycle does two things: it increases the likelihood of creating a viral cascade in the crucial first days of a campaign and it also leads to increased views and shares over the longer term.”