Ever since it was launched back in 2005, it became abundantly clear that YouTube will become one of the most influential platforms in the history of media. Seventeen years and billions of hours of content later, it turned out that not only these hopes were not unfounded but they were far exceeded.
Giving free access to countless hours of fresh content relating to any topic in existence, YouTube managed to present itself as a great alternative to mainstream media, usher in new forms of entertainment, become the second largest search engine behind Google, and demonstrate a tremendous sway over the Millennial pop culture.
Any company that wants to have a shot at running successful marketing needs to have a very good grasp on everything this powerful platform has to offer. Let us take a look then at some of the major YouTube trends of 2022 to see where this behemoth will be heading in the following period.
Greater focus on YouTube shorts
When YouTube first removed its limitation on the video length, this move was considered a tectonic change since it allowed creators to unleash imagination without any limitations. However, not everyone necessarily enjoys 3-hour deep dives into some topic. Sometimes, we simply want to watch some crazy stunts or cute animals eating. Hence the ginormous popularity of Instagram reels and similar, limited formats. Although YouTube took some time to realize that if you can't defeat them it's better to join them, YouTube shorts are finally catching up and becoming an important source of revenue.
The ongoing development of live streaming
YouTube was never considered to be a very popular live streaming a platform. On the contrary, most of its traffic was generated by playback. But, due to countless factors we have encountered in recent years the interest for live streaming has swept over this corner of the web as well. Out of the 100 most popular YouTube live streams, the 60 that scored the highest viewing numbers were made in the last two years. Keeping in mind the company retains 30% of the revenue made by these videos we can expect to see this component developing in the following years which is something to keep in mind.
The expansions of YouTube SEO
In the introduction, we have briefly mentioned that YouTube serves as a very powerful search engine with billions of hits each day. Obviously, the companies that want to reach the widest possible number of clients need to take into account the powerful infrastructure provided by this service. So, it should come off as a big surprise that we are seeing a constant development of dedicated assets like YouTube keyword tools and similar products. Therefore, the full SEO potential of YouTube will only become more realized as time goes by and we will see an influx of videos optimized for marketing purposes.
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The new possibilities offered by chapters
Keeping in mind this fresh marketing perspective we can’t ignore the fact that the ability to break down your videos into the chapters where users will be able to breeze through the parts of the content they have no real interest in can be of tremendous help when making content optimized for the SEO tasks. As a matter of fact, we expect to see this idea pushed even further and leveraged in the same manner we now use headings, subheadings, and paragraphs. In the end, the goal of every quality piece of content is to keep the user engaged. If that means making videos easier to navigate we are all in for the idea.
Instructional videos are here to stay
The tastes and preferences of the audience usually change with the passage of time which is something any decent marketer should always keep in mind. However, even in spite of this fact, if we take a look at the top list of the most popular types of YouTube videos, we will see that how-to’s, instructional videos, unboxing and other informative pieces of content are still ranking at the very top which is, essentially, any marketer’s dream come true. This situation won’t likely change any time soon which, coupled with the enduring popularity of challenge videos, sets up excellent foundations for effective branding.
High contrast thumbnails
Last but not least, we would like to mention the detail that may seem menial at first glance but that can still be able to completely change the viewing patterns of your content. That's right, we are talking about the gradual decline of unique illustrations as the preferred and more efficient types of thumbnails and the slow but steady rise of their high contrast, and energetic counterparts. One of the reasons behind this development is that, besides the fact they are visually satisfying, these images are incredibly easy to make – just add some image, use the dark backdrop, add bright retro letters, and that's pretty much it.
So, there you have it – the top six trends that are currently moving the mountains across the YouTube landscape. And rest assured, we are talking about a massive landscape whose relevance in our lives will only keep on growing in the years to come. One of the reasons behind that is that short videos still make the easiest way to kill time or find information. Other comes in the fact that YouTube has demonstrated tremendous ability to evolve and be whatever its users need it to be. So, fasten the seatbelts, we have one very exciting trip ahead of us.