It would appear there is some newfound controversy in the realm of video marketing, an industry that relies heavily on the TrueView ads that are relatively new to YouTube, the top name in video streaming and advertising. The controversy stems from recent arguments regarding the authenticity of TrueView advertisement views, with some saying that these views can be easily faked or bought, while others see no problem with the way these TrueView ads are working. No matter how they are working though, video ads have been a popular choice amongst marketers recently, and they are bringing in some impressive results.
I first found out about this issue of fake views versus real in an AdWeek article that was published earlier today. The article explains that there are quite a few marketing professionals out there who are wondering about the authenticity of views on TrueView video ads on YouTube. Their argument is that view numbers can be rigged very easily. The AdWeek article mentions channels like Machinima and Shut Up Cartoons, saying that these channels can easily and legitimately purchase views. “Say a Machinima viewer watches a 30-second spot for a show from the Wigs channel—that counts as a view for Wigs.”
When bringing up the subject with one of YouTube’s most popular channels, The Fine Brothers YouTube Channel, this is what they had to say to AdWeek;
“We’ve seen entire videos from other channels run before our videos from beginning to end,” said Rafi Fine, of The Fine Brothers YouTube channel, which has 2 million subscribers. “That’s like stealing our popularity. They’re fake views passed off as having a fan base. It’s like having your show play as a commercial for American Idol, and counting all the people who saw the commercial as actual viewers for your show.”
There are also fears that some very sneaky advertisers have found certain algorithms upon which they base their questionable video marketing tactics. Though YouTube has done what they can to help and diminish these algorithmic systems, there is only a certain amount of ridding that can be done in cases such as that.
Anyways, the fact is simple; these purchased views are almost useless and here’s the explanation.
YouTube officials insist there would be no way to buy enough views to crack the top 10 rankings. A source close to YouTube called the idea that you can “game” the platform “nonsense.”
There was even one official who used some relatively simple math to figure out that in order for any of these purchased views to make any sort of useful impact, marketers would have to spend upwards of $100,000 a week, which is absolutely not worth it, considering that amount would not even be returned.
So, there is good reason to believe that there are many marketers who are using TrueView ads illegitimately, using views that are not authentic to help their business. However, it seems that they are wasting their time. I guess the moral is that some people should have paid more attention in math class.
