What Marketers Can Learn From the End of YouTube Annotations (Ep. 84)

Annotations were the go-to feature for marketers who want to use YouTube to drive traffic back to their website. Those versatile little boxes popped up anywhere in your videos, and offered unique capabilities.

Whether you wanted to add a link, send viewers to another channel, or update your content with a note, Annotations were a great tool to enhance any YouTube video.

However, they had one fatal flaw — they weren’t mobile compatible.

Of course, back when they debuted, this wasn’t an issue. Ten years ago, we would have never imagined the significant impact smartphones would make on video viewership.

But with 60% of YouTube users watching on their mobile devices and a clear preference for End Screens, the verdict was clear: it was time for annotations to go.

Even though this might seem like a simple update, the end of Annotations indicates a significant shift in the way we use and interact with video content. So to explore the topic, I asked Vidyard’s Content and Social Media Manager, Jon Spenceley, to join me on this podcast!

Tune into this week’s episode to learn the latest news about YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat, and more!

If you like the show, please leave us an honest rating and review on iTunes. You’d really be helping me out!

NOTE: You can also listen to the episode here, or download the episode to your device (right click and save).

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why consumers are cutting the cord with cable companies
• Why Twitter is taking live video to the next level
• How entrepreneurs are developing AI software to take down violent live videos
• How Twitter is benefitting from Donald Trump
• Where you can go to access Bloomberg News 24/7
• Why Snapchat is trying to attract U.S. TV ad dollars
• Where you can find teens online, and how to market to them with Influencers
• Why YouTube is ditching Annotations in favor of mobile-friendly End Screens
• What freebooting is and what Facebook is doing about it
• How you can take a lesson out of Alex Dainsis's book to see how you can make interesting, educational videos about any topic

Links & Resources

• Read Jon Spenceley’s article, “YouTube Ditches Annotations, Welcomes New Mobile-Friendly Interactivity”
• Learn how to create videos that generate ROI by signing up for our 5-day Mini-Course

See how Alexis Dainsis makes science interesting in her video below!

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for listening to the show! Don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes to get automatic updates when new episodes are available.

If you enjoyed the show, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the left.

Also, it would mean a lot to me if you would leave an honest rating and review on iTunes. Ratings and reviews not only help me serve you better, but they make a huge difference in the show’s ranking on iTunes.

If you have any questions you’d like featured on the show, or if you would like to suggest an expert (yourself included!), please let us know HERE.