Celeb gossip in Germany nets a quarter of a billion views in six months
(Source: Youtube/DagiBeee)
Impressions for German online tabloid portal Promiflash are shooting through the roof. So much so that it’s now the fastest growing German-language Youtube channel. Over 200 million views in 6 months—and over 60 million of those in the past 30 days alone. No matter how you spin it, those are insane numbers. Online Marketing Rockstars explains, how after relaunching the channel things really took off—and what that means moneywise.
Gronkh, Dagi Bee, BibisBeautyPalace, or Freekickerz—they may be foreign to international audiences, but for German speakers they are household names in the influencer scene—and Promiflash obliterated them all in total views in just a matter of weeks and months. That kind of performance isn’t just making waves in Germany, “in the past 30 days, there were only 484 Youtube channels around the world that generated more views than Promiflash. That is especially impressive when you consider that globally there are more than 20 million channels,” says Christoph Burseg, operator of Veescore, a Youtube-analysis tool.
Relaunch to the view monsoon
Promiflash is by no means new to Youtube. First launched in 2010, they only posted modest growth figures until this past May. On May 19, Promiflash streamlined their content offering, deleting the majority of the 2435 uploaded videos and leaving just 155 live. Ever since, the views have been ridiculous.
Promiflashes views on Youtube (Source: Veescore)
Why? Because by relaunching the channel, they changed the focus of their content. While Promiflash had published videos of international stars, such as “Blockbusters—here are 2o15’s most successful films” or “Bold looks! These star show their styling courage,” they now are focusing on German celebs, especially Youtubers and Social Media stars.
Bibi and Dagi—the biggest click generators you’ve never heard of
Of the 20 most-viewed videos at present, 15 of them belong to German Youtube stars Bianca Heinicke or Dagmara Nicole Buckley, or both of them together. Known as “BibisBeautyPalace” and “Dagi Bee” respectively, their Youtube channels provide beauty tips and are among the largest channels in Germany. Period. Promiflash’s decision to focus on homegrown Youtube personalities is as simple as it is shrewd. “What German Youtube users are most interested in, are the biggest Youtubers,” says Burseg. The majority of the clips on Promiflash are of Bibi and Dagi, cut down to maximize effect. There are also videos on US singer Selena Gomez and German Instagram and Musical.ly stars Lisa and Lena. In addition, videos of German pop singers/power couple Sarah and Pietro Lombardi have also provided added push after a recent affair and divorce made headlines all across the Fatherland. These are all topics and personalities that interest younger target groups—like those on Youtube.
The 20 most-viewed videos on Promiflash
“The sheer amount of comments on the videos show just how relevant the content is for the target group. And that’s sustainable. Videos that were posted seven months ago are generating thousands of new views per day,” says Youtube expert Burseg. Almost two-thirds of the new views, however, are from new videos. On average, new views generate 60,000 views after a single week. “What’s important for a video’s success? To be current, to “virality” of a given topic and an enticing headline,” says Burseg.
Promiflash’s new video strategy
Just because Promiflash gave many older videos the boot, doesn’t mean that it’s no longer a numbers game. “Roughly 15 new videos a day, roughly 450 new videos in the past month, and none of them are 5 minutes long.” In fact, most of them are shorter than 45 seconds.
The Youtube reset was a part of a comprehensive rethink of video strategy and a move towards TV production. As much is evinced by a publicly accessible protocol from the February 2015 shareholder meeting of Celebrity News AG, Promiflash’s parent company.
Nearly five million website impressions
That video offensive needed a few months to start producing returns, doing so in October with a new website, which was the first to embed video content en masse. Now, new videos are published on the website, app, Youtube and Facebook nearly simultaneously.
Visitor trends on Promiflash as per IVW/Meedia
And it’s not just on Youtube where Promiflash is making a splash. According to the German Advertising Board IVW, Promiflash registered a total of 4.95 million video impressions in November 2016: 3.6 million on the app, 831,000 mobile and 480,000 desktop.
Six-figure revenue a month?
The video content certainly has the potential for some lucrative marketing deals. If you take a standard video CPM of €30 and apply that to 5 million views, you get a potential revenue of €150,000 a month. Looking at the desktop page, it would appear that only a few views are being marketed at present. In fact, it’s only the older clips that include ad prerolls from Procter & Gamble brands Lenor and Pantene.
Promiflash, however, appears to have earned most of its money on Youtube, where “monthly ad revenue from Youtube marketing lies in the upper 5-figure range, probably even in the low 6 figures,” says Burseg. There is also revenue potential from direct sponsors, and many of the most-popular videos already are sponsored clips.
Good news for German publisher Ströer and subsidiary TubeOne
The Promiflash Youtube channel is a part of the multi-channel network TubeOne, of which German publishing giant Ströer has held a majority holding since February 2014. Since then, Ströer has also overseen marketing operations of the Promiflash page. Apparently Ströer is providing Celebrity News AG with a minimum marketing revenue in order to piggyback on the reach that Promiflash possesses. With the success that the latest video clips have enjoyed, such a deal would figure to more than worth it.
