Top YouTube Advertisers in Q1 2019

It’s expected that brands will spend nearly $18M in digital video by the end of 2019—a 25% increase year over year. With consumers spending five times the amount of time watching videos as opposed to reading static content, it’s no surprise marketers are ramping up their spend in this category.

Video ads are increasing in popularity and touching almost every part of the web. They can be found on everything from social media networks, top news and trade publications, and especially on video-sharing websites such as YouTube.

Nearly 5 billion YouTube videos are watched every single day, making it the leading video content channel and, more importantly, a hot place for brands to place video advertisements. For vendors and media sellers, this means growing opportunity to work with the brands placing video ads on YouTube.

For that reason, we’ve utilized our enhanced Adbeat integration to deliver you the advertisers who allocated spend toward digital video, specifically on YouTube, throughout Q1 of 2019. We’re also throwing in details on why you should keep these brands on your radar for upcoming opportunities.

1. Grammarly

The online grammar checking, spelling checking, and plagiarism detection platform, Grammarly, was the highest spending YouTube advertiser in Q1. In September of 2018, our in-house prospecting publication, WinmoEdge, reported that the brand was drastically increasing digital spend, mostly on youtube.com, easybib.com, citationmachine.net, and reddit.com.

We can confirm that our predictions were spot on. In Q1, Grammarly spent over $100M on digital advertising, 94% of which was spent on video. The remaining budget was allocated across direct (1%) and programmatic (5%).

2. Wix

In February of 2018, Winmo reported that Wix would be increasing its digital spend after its Super Bowl ad didn’t perform up to standard. Luckily, it was a learning experience and the brand has ultimately found that digital is more up its alley and has since seen increased growth as a result of utilizing this channel.

The brand has continued to invest heavily in digital advertising, spending over $15M in Q1. The brand spent a heavy chunk (97%) of its digital ad budget on video throughout March, as Wix teamed up with Marvel Studios to promote Wix Turbo and Captain Marvel. It is expected that there will be future campaigns to promote Wix Turbo, so keep an eye out on this brand to secure upcoming digital revenues.

3. barkTHINS

There hasn’t been any huge news on barkTHINS since being acquired by Hershey in 2016. However, the brand did allocate 99% of its Q1 digital budget to video to capitalize on the Easter holiday. Hershey’s Q1 sales reports indicate that the snacking industry is booming and consumers are willing to purchase greater quantities online, indicating a heavier investment in online spend may be around the corner.

Additionally, an enormous competitor entered the snacking market in April 2019; as Forbes puts it, “Snacks are so hot right now that even Ferrero, which not long ago prided itself on being the only top U.S. confectioner that solely focuses on candy, now wants to take a bite of the market.” With such a major competitor entering the market, keep an eye out for spend increases in the coming months.

4. Groupon

With over 97% of the $43M Groupon spent in Q1 being allocated to video, they definitely make the cut for this list of top YouTube spenders. Most recent campaigns highlight kids activities and coupons, “saving by the poolside,” and saving money while traveling—telling us the brand is preparing to bank on the summer season. While there are no immediate action items on this brand, definitely keep them on your radar as they continue to put ad dollars toward the upcoming summer season.

5. Truth Initiative

A leader in tobacco use prevention, Truth’s newest campaign focuses on educating younger audiences on the harmful effects of vaping. This initiative is hardly breaking news, as it became public knowledge in August of 2018. However, we are seeing that the organization is taking heavy measures to reach its audience through YouTube, where 96% of 18-24 year old Americans are active.

How heavy? Well, the brand's digital spend in Q1 totaled just over $14M, $13.2M of which was spent on YouTube video ads. 95% of the brand's total digital budget was allocated to video while the remainder was spent direct (2%) and programmatic (3%).

6. Southwest Airlines

In January of this year, WinmoEdge reported that Southwest would be ending its service to Mexico City—choosing to use the financial resources to bolster other routes instead. Our team gave readers the heads up to be expecting spend increases focused on leisure destinations.

Once again, our publication nailed this on the head as the airline just flew its first plane full of passengers to its newest route, Hawaii, at the end of April. These plans have been in the works since early 2018, but once flight approval was given by the Federal Aviation Administration in late February, it was game on for Southwest. In March, we saw drastic digital increases across video, specifically on YouTube, with campaigns promoting tickets from California to Hawaii at fares as low as $49 each way. Southwest spent over $18M in Q1 to promote the expansion, $17.7M of which was spent on YouTube. 94% of Q1 ads were spent across video, 5% direct, and 1% programmatic. Other sources advise that Southwest is likely to mount aggressive ad dollars to further the Hawaii promotion throughout the remainder of the summer, so vendors and sellers should reach out to win last-minute revenues.