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Beginning of section: Develop a Programming Strategy

Develop a Programming Strategy








Answer the questions your consumers are asking to create programming that is always relevant throughout the year. Consider making product tutorials, how-to lessons or customer service videos.

Abdul Latif Jameel Motors paired with YouTube to develop a fresh way to engage their consumers that tapped into passion points. The result was a success, new programming that loyal viewers continued to come back to.



Create Hero content to take advantage of tent-pole events and grow your audience in a big way.





Beginning of section: Programming Hero Content

Programming Hero Content



Identify important events that are relevant to your audience.




Consider collaborating with YouTube creators to amplify your message.




Bite, Snack, Meal


People come to YouTube to fulfill all sorts of needs throughout the day, from quick how-to videos to entertaining carpool karaoke. Their willingness to engage with your videos depends on a variety of factors you can’t control. But you CAN control the form your videos take, and the storytelling methods you employ. Carefully calibrating these elements can help you meet viewers at their moments of need.







Longer-form videos that aren't possible on TV with the ability to build brand equity. 0:30+.

The Bite: starts high, holds the rush of adrenaline, and conveys the key message of the upcoming season for Netflix series Orange Is The New Black; a :06 Bumper for Netflix Asia.

The Snack: moves quickly into motion like the :30 it was based on, but took only its most impactful moments to maintain the up-tempo drum beat viewers required to stay engaged; the result was more Ad Recall than either the Bumper or the longer-form trailer; a :15 non-skippable for Netflix series Orange Is The New Black.2 Learn more on Think with Google: Testing Video Ad Lengths With Netflix

The Meal: jumps into the action, but keeps a pace that allows the viewer to explore more beyond the key messaging; for the upcoming season for series Orange Is The New Black, a :30 non-skippable ad for Netflix Asia.






Beginning of section: Programming Hub Content

Programming Hub Content


Here are some suggestions to get you started:

Create an editorial voice with a strong, distinctive style.


Maintain a consistent visual language.

Communicate a regular and clear release schedule in channel art, video descriptions and/or calls to action in your videos. See Organic Optimization for more.




Consistent Schedule:

Upload a video to your channel on a specific day.

Consistent Format:


Consistent Elements:


Why Be Consistent?


Increase fan loyalty.

Make your audience comfortable.

Help your audience develop a sense of expectation.

Best Practices to Remain Consistent

Develop ideas that can be expressed over multiple videos.






Plan your creative concept carefully. Does it have longevity?

Implement recurring formats and predictable programming—organize your videos and channel activity into a daily, weekly or season-long schedule.









Beginning of section: Programming Help Content

Programming Help Content

Help content refers to your channel’s always-on videos. Straightforward how-to guides are a natural fit for this kind of content, but that doesn’t mean you always have to be providing actionable advice. Your goal should be to make videos that meet users’ needs.

Here’s how to get started:








What Makes Content Discoverable?



Best Practices for Discoverability


Fully optimize your metadata including video titles, tags and descriptions. See Organic Optimization for more details.





Make your videos discoverable with fully optimized titles, tags, and descriptions, and they’ll be surfaced for more YouTube users to find.

Beginning of section: next steps

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  • 1, 2, 3 “Testing Video Ad Lengths with Netflix,” Think with Google, December 2016.