Social Media Trends:
Influencer Marketing on
YouTube Top Spending Industries

Social Media Trends:
Influencer Marketing on
YouTube Top Spending Industries

Nowadays, influencer marketing seems to be transforming the marketing industry as a whole. In fact, according to a study from MuseFind, 92% of consumers trust an influencer more than an advertisement or traditional celebrity endorsement. As a result, a majority of brands are turning to platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitch to showcase their products and services through the power of influencers.

With the influencer marketing industry positioned to become a $10B industry in 2020, its momentum is only continuing to grow. At an unprecedented level, brands are spending top dollar on YouTube to sponsor top-performing influencers that can spread brand awareness and create a killer social media presence online. If you’re curious about which industries are spending the most and are showing high returns, let’s break down NeoReach’s 2020 Q3 YouTube Influencer Marketing Global Spend Report that analyzes data from over 8,800 sponsored YouTube videos.

The Top Spending Industries

Out of the 1,775 brands that sponsored videos on YouTube in Q3, the influencer marketing agency analyzed the top 19 industries in depth. These top 19 industries sponsored videos that gained over 1.3 billion views by spending a total IMV, or influencer media value, of $196 million – a 9% increase in total spend from brands in Q2.

As a result, all of the industries combined drew in a total reach of 15 billion. However, some industries stood out against others when it comes to total spend. Together, these top five industries spent more than $148 million collectively on YouTube videos that indicated brand partnership.

Technology Industry

When analyzing the top 5 industry spenders, the tech industry accounts for almost half with 46% of the total IMV spent. In comparison to other industries, tech continues to dominate in views with over 450,000 views in Q3 – this is over twice as many views as the gaming industry, which ended up as the next highest industry spender.

Gaming Industry

As a video-sharing platform, YouTube has had one of the most significant impacts on the gaming industry. Now, there are even entire influencer marketing agencies that are entirely dedicated to gaming and acting as the liaison between gaming brands and creators. So far, the benefits of YouTube for gaming companies have paid off. While the industry spent $32.7 million on sponsored YouTube video content, this content produced a reach of 2.8 billion.

Food and Drink Industry

Following Q2, the food and drink industry almost exclusively ran influencer marketing campaigns on YouTube with the goal of spreading brand awareness and promoting special offers to online users. Sponsoring 410 more videos in this quarter as compared to the previous quarter, the industry saw a 12% increase in reach. Also, the industry’s total sponsored views grew by 2 million.

Fashion Industry

For fashion brands today, maintaining a strong social media presence and media marketing strategy is a key to achieving success and driving sales. In fact, experts on social media have claimed that social networking platforms are quickly becoming a natural environment for brands. Specifically, platforms like YouTube have proved to be top-tier tools for fashion brands to increase brand awareness and target potential customers because it is highly visual.

Beauty Industry

The beauty community on YouTube has been changing the whole beauty industry recently. With influencers like James Charles, NikkieTutorials, and Jackie Aina drawing in millions of viewers on each of their videos. As more beauty consumers continue to reject traditional forms of marketing, like TV ads or magazine ads, beauty brands have turned to YouTubers to promote their products.

Breaking Down the Details

From Q2, the top spending industries of 2020 remain the same: tech, gaming, and food and drink. Combined, these industries had a combined reach more than doubling since last quarter at a 51% increase.

Technology Industry

According to NeoReach, the technology industry is the reigning champ when it comes to top industry spenders. Achieving a reach of over 6 billion on YouTube, video sponsorships on the video-sharing platform has consistently shown high returns as a marketing channel for the industry. As a result, leading brands in the tech industry spent more than $68 million on influencer marketing in Q3, which makes up 35% of the total top industries’ spend. In Q3 in particular, the technology industry sponsored 65% more videos compared to other quarters, almost doubling the IMV spent by the gaming industry. Thus, tech brands saw more than two times the views and engagement.

Spending over $40.8 million, the technology industry’s top five brand spenders made up about 60% of the total industry spend. With 261 million views collectively, these brands also accounted for 57% of the total technology industry views:

Gaming Industry

The gaming industry comes out as the second highest industry spender. Achieving a reach of 2.8 billion, gaming makes up 18% of the total Q3 reach noted in NeoReach’s report. As a whole, the industry invested $32.7 million during Q3, which is 30% more than the food and drink industry. With its large investment in influencer marketing, the gaming industry received 13.9 million engagements across YouTube.

When comparing YouTube to Twitch and Facebook Gaming, YouTube remains the most effective channel for influencer marketing content. The top five gaming brands on YouTube made a total investment of $12.7 million, accounting for 39% of the total industry spend. These brands were:

Food and Drink Industry

The food and drink industry accounts for a vast number of brands ranging anywhere from energy drink brands to candy brands. As a whole, food and drink brands spent a total of $25 million on sponsoring YouTube videos. Resulting from these sponsorships, the industry gained 10.4 million engagements and 177 million views during Q3 from less than 1,000 videos. Plus, the industry’s sponsorships achieved an impressive reach of 2.3 billion.

The top five brand spenders in the food and drink industry spend a total of $16.3 million on YouTube, which is 65.2% of the total industry spend. Just like last quarter, Bang Energy, Reese’s, and G Fuel came out on top as high spenders in the industry. Together, these top five brands gained 115 million views from 554 videos, which is 65% of the industry’s total views. These top brands are:

As shown by NeoReach’s thoughtful research and industry insights, influencer marketing is constantly growing and evolving to accommodate the behavior of the top spending brands on YouTube. With traditional marketing methods and traditional media declining in popularity, influencer marketing campaigns are becoming even more effective and are bringing high value to the brands that utilize them. Comparing NeoReach’s Q3 data against their data from Q1 and Q2, it’s clear that sponsored YouTube videos and brand partnerships will not only propel the careers of online creators but will propel brands to new heights of success.