A Quarter Of Branded Video Shares Occur Within The First Three Days Of Launch

A quarter of the average online branded video’s shares occur in the first three days of its launch. That’s according to a new research by video technology company Unruly into the lifecycle of a viral video.

The Social Diffusion Curve, which measures the average number of shares a video attracts across the social web throughout its lifetime, also found that the ‘viral peak’ of a brand’s video campaign occurs on the second day, when the average online ad will attract one in 10 of its total shares across the social web.

Using data collected by the Unruly Viral Video Chart, which has been tracking the most popular videos on the web for the last seven years, the analysis showed that:

10% of shares occur on day two;
25% of shares occur in the first three days;
50% of shares occur within the first three weeks;
66% of shares occur in the first three months;
There are strong correlations between shares achieved in days one to three, days one through six and all-time shares.

“This data can really help brands determine the likely ‘shareability’ of their videos by watching shares in the first week of launch,” said Ian Forrester, Global Insight Lead at Unruly. “We found that the first days following the launch are key to both the video’s short and long-term success. Additionally, there are strong correlations between shares achieved in the early days of the campaign and all-time shares. Brands who have great shareable content should consider this when planning their distribution strategies during the critical launch stage.”

“For brands that are serious about maximizing the viral spread of their video content, looking at the most successful videos of 2012 shows that generating large numbers of views and shares early on in the campaign cycle does two things: it increases the likelihood of creating a viral cascade in the crucial first days of a campaign and it also leads to increased views and shares over the longer term,” explains Sarah Wood, COO and Co-Founder at Unruly.

The Social Diffusion Curve is based on an analysis of the 200 most shared branded videos of 2012. Unruly recently launched Unruly ShareRank, an algorithmic tool that allows advertisers to predict the ‘shareability’ of their video content, repeatedly and at scale, before it is even launched.

Note to Editors

To download an image of the Social Diffusion Curve, please click here.

About Unruly

Unruly is a video technology company that works with top brands and their agencies to predict the emotional impact of their videos and get them watched, tracked and shared across paid, owned and earned media. We use our proprietary technology to turn target audiences into engaged viewers and engaged viewers into customers and advocates. Brands use our social analytics dashboard to benchmark their content, outsmart the competition and demonstrate superior ROI.

In a nutshell, brands use Unruly to join the dots on Facebook, YouTube and the social web. The Unruly Viral Video Chart has tracked 329 billion video streams since 2006. With an engaged audience of 978 million consumers, across the full range of mobile, tablet and second screen devices, Unruly has delivered, tracked and audited 2.8 billion video views across 2,500+ social video campaigns for over 400 brands including Coca-Cola, T-Mobile, Volkswagen, Microsoft, Warner Brothers and adidas. We’ve worked with 60% of Interbrand’s Top 100 Best Global Brands and our mission is to deliver the most awesome social video advertising campaigns on the planet.

Founded in 2006, Unruly has 11 offices and employs over 125 people globally. In 2012, Unruly secured a $25 million Series A investment – the largest ever for a private company in the social video space. The company has won over 15 awards including “Best Content Distribution Service” at the Braves Awards; “Digital Innovator of the Year” at the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 and #14 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA 2012. To find out more visit www.unrulymedia.com