Understanding Paid vs Owned vs Earned Views in Video Marketing - [ReelPop Q&A]

ReelPop Q&A is a weekly question and answer series made possible by Poptent.  Each week we will choose to answer one question from a reader relating to best practices and strategies for online video marketing and advertising.  If you would like us to answer your question for an upcoming post, please click here or comment below.

Today's reader question is:

What are the differences between earned, owned and paid media and how do they work together in a video marketing campaign?

Answer: Earned, Owned & Paid Media Views Defined

This is the essential question behind what most people refer to as viral videos. Many brands are under the often mistaken impression that they can take their branded content, post it to their social media properties (YouTube channels, Facebook pages, Twitter, Pinterest boards, etc.), cross their fingers, and wait for their videos to go viral. Not only are the odds greater that Facebook and Google will hold hands and sing Kumbaya, but generally speaking, this is not the way video marketing works.

Owned Media Views:

So let's break it down. The video views your content receives when you post it to your brand's social media properties are what is referred to as owned views. As the name suggests, these are the views that you own by the nature of them happening organically on your own properties.

Earned Media Views:

In contrast to owned views are what is referred to as earned views. Earned views are the Holy Grail of views. These are the views that happen because of social sharing. In essence, someone that you presumably share either some relationship with or some mutual interests is telling you to watch this video. Videos that are shared are 3 times more likely to be watched and are watched 3 times longer than a video that a user finds himself. They also have higher levels of brand lift and are much more likely to be shared again.

Unfortunately, even the most "social" of brands rarely have enough eyeballs to encourage enough social sharing to achieve any meaningful ROI. Video production isn't cheap. Especially when done well.

Paid Video Views

Enter the paid view. Paid views are, in essence, online video advertising. These include pre-roll, rich media banner ads and native placements. The most effective of these to encourage social sharing are native placements. Native placements are integrated into the user experience, are non-interruptive, are contextually relevant, and are based on user-initiated views. These are paid placements next to contextually relevant content that is usually in the form of thumbnails served up to the user as additional content that they may be interested in. These are usually priced on a CPV (cost per view) basis and offer higher engagement rates, higher completion rates and usually have social sharing functionality built in.

Paid & Earned Work Together for Effective Video Campaigns

Not all views are created equal. The most effective video marketing campaigns will use paid views to drive social sharing and earned views in order to generate ROI. The more spent in paid views, the more opportunity to garner earned views and higher levels of engagement. Remember, you can't share what you didn't see.

ReelPop Q&A is a weekly video marketing Q&A series made possible by Poptent.
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