YouTube: five things you need to know
It is likely that your organisation has considered or is considering using YouTube as part of its marketing strategy. YouTube provides a unique opportunity for marketers to reach an unprecedented number of potential customers.
There are an estimated 70 million YouTube users. YouTube reports that more than 100 million videos are viewed on its site worldwide each day – you don’t get a much bigger audience than that. On 23 October 2007, YouTube announced the creation of an Australian version of its site, which will likely mean increased presence and participation locally.
Before you hit the ‘upload’ button on that new video, you should be aware of the following five issues that can make or break your campaign.
1. Control
Once you upload a video to YouTube, your control over its circulation will be extremely limited. In fact, you will often lose control over the video altogether. YouTube users can use the functionalities on the site itself (share, embed and comment on videos), and can also use other software and web tools to download copies and, in extreme cases, edit your video in ways that you may not like.
More recently, YouTube has developed new functions that allow users to post ‘video comments’ on clips, which provides even greater scope for distortion of your original message.
What can you do about the control issue? The practical answer is “not much”. In the web 2.0 world, the user is king and it is very difficult for organisations to restrict access to their material or prevent users from engaging in citizen journalism on third party-controlled websites.
The real issue, therefore, is to consider the nature of your campaign at the outset and assess whether the subject matter and execution are suited to YouTube. To date, the most successful viral campaigns on YouTube have been those where the subject matter is suited to user-generated content. Often these have a satirical theme or allow users to positively engage with the subject matter, add their own content, and pass it on to their friends.
Videos that are political or likely to create emotional responses from consumers are perhaps better suited to other sites where you have a greater level of control. YouTube may work well for politicians whose primary goal is to create debate and gain exposure in the lead-up to elections, but the considerations are different for organisations whose reputation and brand is crucial to their success.
A highly successful example of a campaign that is well-suited to YouTube, which is running on the CBS YouTube Channel, is the ‘Ghost Whisperer Scariest Story Ever Told’ promotion. The promotion allows users to submit their version of the next line of a scary story for the chance to be included in the final version, which will air on CBS (see www.youtube.com/cbs).
2. Contractual issues – YouTube’s terms of use
From a legal perspective, it is critical that you understand YouTube’s terms of use before uploading your video to the site.
YouTube’s terms of use prohibit any “commercial use” of the site except to generally “promote your business or artistic enterprise”. However, use of the site that generates advertising or subscription revenue or any use that competes with YouTube or its owner Google is prohibited.
Therefore, use of YouTube should be avoided for contests that require payment of an entry fee or campaigns that promote commercial blogging or video sharing. Similarly, if you intend to embed your YouTube video in your own website and charge users for access or downloads, this may breach the prohibition on commercial use.
The terms of use also state that all risk and liability associated with use of the site rests with the user and YouTube expressly excludes any claims against it for use of your videos or user actions, such as comments, that cause damage to your organisation or could be defamatory.
3. Copyright
YouTube’s terms of use provide that each user grants a licence both to YouTube and to all YouTube users to make use of their video submissions, including the right to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform them.
Accordingly, you must have copyright permissions for all videos and materials that are uploaded to the site and ensure that these permissions cover all uses contemplated by the YouTube terms of use.
It is also important to consider whether you have the right to sub-license any content that is being used from a third party (for example, where your campaign uses licensed film or television content that is not owned by your organisation), as the terms of use require you to grant a licence to YouTube and YouTube users for all content.
An often-misunderstood area is copyright in videos. Copyright protects not only cinematograph films (i.e. moving images and sounds), but also underlying dramatic works, script and background music as separate copyright materials. Permission from the copyright owners for use of each of these materials is needed.
If you are sourcing content from a third party, the licence between you and the provider should allow you to sub-license your rights to YouTube and YouTube’s users. The licence should also make it very clear that the material being licensed may be used on web 2.0 applications such as YouTube and the duration of the rights granted is sufficient for the life of your campaign.
If your advertising agency is securing your content, you should ensure that the copyright and licensing issues have been adequately addressed before you make use of the content.
4. Moral rights
In Australia, authors of copyright works and performers of live performances (insofar as they consist of sounds) have individual rights in their works and performances. Broadly speaking, these rights are a right of attribution, a right against false attribution, and a right of integrity (which includes the right to prevent derogatory treatment of the work).
These rights are separate to copyright and cannot be assigned. On sites such as YouTube, where there is scope for videos to be edited and commented upon freely, moral rights issues assume particular importance.
Before uploading a video to YouTube, it is critical that you have written moral rights consents from all authors and/or performers who may have rights in the video or underlying works. Again, if your advertising agency is securing your content, obligations should be placed on your agency to get these rights.
5. Monitoring
Finally, it is critical that you regularly monitor your video on YouTube to ensure that your campaign is not being misused. Although there is little you can do to control people’s comments, one option that is in your control is to remove your clip. Often the uptake of these types of campaigns occurs very quickly, which means that hourly (or at least daily) monitoring may be required.
If your agency is constructing and implementing your campaign, obligations to monitor and report to you should be considered. The agency should also agree to provide assistance in notifying YouTube of infringing or inappropriate content.
This list of points should give you a few things to talk about at your next marketing strategy meeting. The key to marketing with YouTube and other web 2.0 applications is planning early and structuring the arrangements between your content providers and external agencies that are suited to these campaigns. This can be difficult in a world that requires fast-paced and responsive campaigns, but the risks associated with these activities demand a well-planned approach. |
