Tubular Ties E-Commerce Sales To Social-Video Views In New Metric

If ever there was a Holy Grail of metrics for online video, it’s the ability to connect audience viewing habits, especially of ads, with their actual buying habits. Tubular Labs has taken a step in that direction, with a new metric correlating social-video views with purchases on Amazon.

The company today launched the new measure as part of its Tubular Audience Ratings suite. An initial study showed that one-quarter of those watching product-related social video programming went on to buy the product through Amazon. It’s a reminder of the potential power of providing a wide range of video content about a brand’s products, with a metric that finally quantifies the effectiveness of the approach.

“What this suggests to brands is that they should consider the audience that they are paying to be in front of,” said Ian Ettinger, Tubular senior product marketing manager. “Whether it is through their media ad spend, or through branded content, who watches is extremely important because some media publishers deliver more valuable audience(s) that are more likely to shop online.”

Tubular has been prominently involved in industry efforts to create new cross-platform metrics to allow brands to better evaluate where their viewers are. Adding a “bottom-of-the-funnel” component to metrics closes the final part of loop between ad, outlet, audience, and purchase.

“Now that the business and publisher communities can see unique reach, frequency and get conversion rates for ecommerce, brands can rethink how they invest in social video and unlock its potential,” said Tubular Chief Marketing OfficerJosh Schmiesing.

The company triangulated opt-in behavioral-data panels and its existing partnerships on content measurement to pull together a new report, planned to be quarterly, that tracks the linkage. The first report covers Q3 data in electronics, computer accessories, home & kitchen items, and apparel, shoes and jewelry,

Of those categories, electronics in particular had a clear correlation, with 25 percent of the consumer sales on Amazon coming from people who had previously watched video content about that category. The company calculated that equaled about $24 billion in sales.

Ettinger cautioned that “we cannot say” that watching a given video “put them over the top” in making a given purchase in the succeeding 30 days. But correlations are notable.

“There are clear lines between the types of content audiences are watching and how that influences their shopping behaviors,” said Schmiesing. “Our new capabilities demonstrate the impact of social video for brands as a sales-oriented solution, showcasing how marketers need to invest further in these platforms while evaluating ad budgets.”

The company will more fully roll out the new metrics early in 2022, but will include key data in quarterly reports to spotlight trends and shifts in audience patterns. Company executives said the new metrics should help publishers make the case to brands about the unique qualities of their specific audience, without cookies but now including their buying behavior.