Simple Market research /Survey pilot data analysis - Essay Example

Introduction Social media giant, YouTube, started operating in 2005 and went on to become one of the most visited websites of all time, with close to 20 million visitors per month. According to USA today, more than 100 million videos are viewed on the site each day, and more than 65000 videos are uploaded every hour. (YouTube 4 you) Because of the widespread popularity of YouTube, it appears as a highly potential tool for product marketing and brand promotion. However, it is difficult to ascertain exactly what kind of promotional opportunities it may present in terms of product marketability and target audience.

This is the main focus of this report, which attempts to evaluate the potential of YouTube as an advertising medium. Research Approach The central approach of this research is to focus on users, for which, primary research questions were prepared and a survey was conducted on 18 November 2011 at the library. Questionnaires were randomly distributed to students. A total of 9 structured questions that include optional un-structured questions like “Why do you think like that” were included in the questionnaire.

Twenty students responded to the questionnaire. The results were analysed in the secondary research. Quantitative approach For the purpose of this report, quantitative research techniques were used to analyse the data collected from questionnaires using statistical tools. Benchmarks were used to calculate percentages and ratios in order to quantify the answers of the respondents for ease of analysis. These percentages or ratios will be further depicted in tables and pie charts or whichever means appears best for the situation.

Quantitative data is always extrapolated from a sample of general population or market. It gives the opportunity to work on numerical variables (values) to explore customer choice and patterns of usage (Hague). Numerical variables are easier to analyze and evaluate. Responses to the questionnaires are tabulated and analysed as follows: Q1. Have you ever watched a video on YouTube? All of the respondents were aware of YouTube and had used it before. It can thus be deduced that YouTube is quite popular with the students. Q2. How did you discover YouTube?

35% of the respondents came across YouTube during web browsing and Google search. 40% of the respondents were introduced to YouTube through friend and family recommendation, indicating that friend/family recommendation also plays a crucial role in spreading its popularity. The role of television and newspaper was just 25%. Q3. How frequently do you use/visit YouTube? 30% of the respondents are daily users, visiting YouTube every day. 40% of the respondents visit it at least once a week. 15% of respondents state that they are not regular users and that they visit it only when their friends share links to interesting videos. Q4. How much time do you spend watching videos on YouTube (average time spent on YouTube)?

55% of the users stated that they just watch specific videos and do not spend time searching for videos. Q5. Are you Registered YouTube user? The main purpose of this question was to evaluate how many users share their information (through registration) and subscribe to newsletters from YouTube. Just 35% of respondents are registered users. This low percentage may be because of the YouTube policy in which users do not need to register for watching videos. Q6. Are you content with the (can you rate the) services provided by YouTube?

Respondents rated the quality of service of YouTube in the range of 4.45 to 5.30% rated YouTube as an excellent website, 40% are ‘very satisfied’, 25% are ‘satisfied’ and only one respondent is not content with the YouTube services. Q7. Have you tried another video sharing website, if yes can you rate it? Although YouTube is the most popular video sharing website, it is not the only one. Therefore, this report also aims at contrasting it with other competing services. Of all the respondents, only 9 had tried different services.

Compared to YouTube’s services, the competitors’ services were rated very low, at 1.88. The respondents cited the less user-friendly interface and low bandwidth of the competitors services as the reason for such a low rating. Q8. Are you (paying attention) –Noticing advertisement flash banners on YouTube? 75% of the users responded that they notice the advertisement banners only sometimes. Just 10% of the YouTube users stated that they pay attention to the advertisement banners every time.

Only 3 respondents stated that they haven’t heard about flash advertisement banners before, and therefore the third option was added to the survey. Q9. What do you think about the advertisement policy of YouTube? 65% of the respondents had a positive attitude towards YouTube advertisement policy. 30% of the respondents sometimes found the advertisements to be annoying. Only one respondent was unhappy about the advertisement policy. Report YouTube is a very popular website among students. The huge popularity of YouTube is a result of people’s recommendations of videos to one another on social networking platforms, and also due to its high visibility in web searches.

According to Miller (You4tube), YouTube became a much more prominent and popular video-sharing site after it was acquired by Google. 70% of the respondents visit YouTube at least once a week. This is a very significant amount when it is considered on a global scale, despite the fact that users do not prefer to spend time searching videos. They just watch specific videos that are sent/shared by friends on social platforms. As mentioned earlier, though most of the respondents frequently visit YouTube, only 35% of them are registered users, sharing information and making comments on videos.

Users are not bound by membership restrictions or compulsory registrations. This may be the reason why YouTube grew so fast in terms of popularity. This may also prove to be a weakness in presence of a powerful competitor that attracts memberships and subscriptions. According to the survey, respondents rated YouTube services as 4.45 and competitor websites as 1.88. YouTube’s user-friendly interface and bandwidth size gives it an edge over other competitors. According to the present survey, advertisement banners are not much effective nor are video advertisements (which start at the beginning of the shared video).

15 out of 20 users said that they notice banners only sometimes. Respondents take the YouTube advertisement policy positively except for one of the respondent who correctly points out that for continuing to provide free services and for maintaining a good quality, YouTube has to host those advertisements. As is evident from the results of the survey, YouTube may not prove to be an effective marketing tool as most users often ignore the advertisement banners. However, companies may experiment with innovative promotional videos that may go viral or are motivational enough to be shared or recommended on social platforms.

If given an opportunity to do a major survey, I would include more content-specific questions and will include a large sample size for the survey. I will use both quantitative and qualitative research methods and will include the demographic information such as age, sex and location, of the respondents. I will also attempt to investigate to what extent the present companies are profiting from YouTube advertisements. References Bibliography Appendix Q1. Have you ever watched videos on YouTube?

□Yes □ No Q2. How did you discover YouTube? □Internet Browsing (Google search) □Friend, Family recommendation (social environment recommendation) □TV, Magazine, News paper □Other other write here …………………………….. Q3. How frequently do you use/visit YouTube? □Everyday □At least once in a week □At least once in a month □Not a regular user Q4. How much time do you spend in watching videos on YouTube (average time spent on YouTube)? □ Browsing for Hours □Less than hour □Couple of Minutes Q5.

Are you a registered YouTube user? □Yes □No Q6. Are you content with the (can you rate the) services what provided by YouTube? □Excellent: 5 □Very Satisfied: 4 □Satisfied: 3 □Poor: 2 □Very Poor: 1 Optional Why do you think like that, Please explain: ………………………………………………………………………….. Q7. Have you try another video sharing web-page? □Yes □No If yes, can you rate it? □ Excellent: 5 □Very Satisfied: 4 □Satisfied: 3 □Poor: 2 □Very Poor: 1 Q8.

Are you (paying attention) –Noticing advertisement flash banners on YouTube? □ Every time □ Sometimes □I haven’t noticed it before Q9. What do you think about advertisement policy of YouTube? □ completely content about it □It fair, □Sometimes annoying □I hate it