YouTube ‘bigger than TV’ for advertisers

One of the world’s biggest advertising agencies has urged marketers to learn from consumer-created content on websites such as YouTube.com, which now has greater reach among some US audiences than MTV, the music broadcaster.

The Leo Burnett agency, whose clients include McDonald’s, General Motors, Heinz and Samsung, said commercials would work on YouTube, which publishes video clips and has greater US reach than MTV, according to Carat, a leading media buying group.

But successful future campaigns would need to imitate viral content – so-called because of its rapid spread online – by being easy to consume repeatedly and to forward on, said Mark Tutssel, worldwide chief creative officer at Leo Burnett.

Advertisers would also have to invite consumer interaction, by allowing people to create their own commercials and comment, even negatively, on brands, Mr Tutssel said.