YouTube’s Influencer Marketing Phenomenon [New Study]
If you’ve not yet seen a YouTube microinfluencer unbox a mystery slime box or a nanoinfluencer review squishies from a Dollar Store haul, let’s face it… you’ve lost a step. But Shorr.com can help!
Welcome to YouTube influencer marketing in America, where adults and kids alike make millions of dollars recording themselves as they play with toys, put on makeup and push carts around Costco.
What follows is a report on the activity of a subset of influencers (and aspiring influencers) who produce two of the most notable staples in a YouTube influencer’s repertoire: “unboxing videos” and “haul videos.” More than a thousand of these videos are produced each week, and top influencers count their total views in billions. Before we reveal our findings, let’s define some terms:
- Haul video: Video in which a person discusses a number of products they’ve purchased, typically on a bulk shopping spree, known as a “haul.”
- Unboxing video: Video in which a person opens a package with a product in it, then reviews and/or uses the product.
- Macroinfluencer: Person with a million or more subscribers on YouTube.
- Microinfluencer: Person with between 10K and hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
- Nanoinfluencer: Person with less than 10K subscribers, and as few as 1K.
In October 2018, we analyzed the 3K most recently uploaded “haul” and “unbox” videos on YouTube. Our analysis begins by looking at what these two types of videos focus on, in terms of product categories and brands.
