YouTube Marketing Trends in 2022

As the importance of video continues to grow, many marketers are watching to see if 

YouTube will keep pace in 2022.

To find out where YouTube may be heading in the coming year, we reached out to social 

media pros to get their thoughts.

#1: YouTube Solidifies Its Social Network Status

YouTube is often chalked up as the home of silly Internet videos. Companies recognizing 

YouTube as a search engine and content machine have leveraged the platform as a place to 

upload video, but they’ve focused their social efforts on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

Now, YouTube is allowing creators to communicate with their subscribers and channel 

visitors in more ways.

With the addition of features such as a basic status update with a photo, people who want 

to better connect with a video-obsessed audience will see YouTube as a social network 

rather than just a video collection zone.

This is going to be a game-changer for YouTube as a competitor in the social space, and 

marketers should be thinking bigger when it comes to what this platform means to their 

strategy.

#2: YouTube Explores Long-form Television-style Content

In 2022, YouTube will evolve to maintain its strategic position as a video platform that’s 

the second-largest search engine.

To increase revenues, YouTube will tap into Google’s treasure trove of data to test 

production and marketing of longer-format television-type series. This competitive move is 

in response to the rise of original series creations by Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu.

YouTube will also introduce new advertising formats during the video experience, since

roughly a third of Millennials watch YouTube ads in their entirety. Specifically, we’ll see the

addition of ads in the middle of videos longer than one minute, similar to Facebook’s

approach.

.

#3: YouTube Channels Embrace Quality Over Quantity

For a long time, the trend on YouTube was to create more content in hopes of building 

subscribers and views. Now, businesses are smarter and realize that making less content 

with quality keywords will give them a bigger ROI.

2022 will be the year we see an increase in educational content from businesses on 

YouTube, as that will give them the best chance of appearing in search and attracting a 

larger scale of potential customers.

Marketers need to focus on content that educates their potential customers and that will 

always give them a positive return on their investment of time.

#4: YouTube Integrates Third-party Software to Improve Broadcast Quality

YouTube will seek to acquire a third-party encoding software company like Telestream 

(which makes Wirecast), Switcher Studio, or Livestream.com (which develops software and 

hardware). When this happens, it will be easier and more affordable for us to produce high-

quality, highly engaging video content for our fans and subscribers.

For example, Switcher Studio has already released a free iOS app that we can use to live 

stream on YouTube or Facebook.

No matter what, due to the strength of their search and discovery algorithm, YouTube 

remains a force to be reckoned with. Forward-thinking marketers should plan on a strategy 

that integrates live and recorded video alongside their written content distribution.

#5: YouTube Marketers Focus on Educational Content Delivery

As video continues to spread across social media channels, we’ll see videos on YouTube 

continue to become more meaty and robust. Instead of the 30-second video demos of 

recipes that have taken over Facebook, success on YouTube will require companies to 

create 1- to 5-minute in-depth demos, courses, and series that answer the viewers’ 

questions (some of which they may not have even known to ask, like whether a $27 or 

$1,000 cake is more delicious).

Your YouTube channel should make your audience go, “Huh, I learned something.” 

Marketers can find inspiration from YouTube-focused publishers like Screen Junkies and 

BuzzFeed Video, whose videos are usually entertaining, often informative, and all just a 

little outside of the box. Even if you’re a financial services provider or a furniture company, 

your videos can and should do more than touting your services or the benefits of your 

product.

#6: Influencer Marketing Evolves Into Exclusive Partnership Programming on 

YouTube

In 2022, more brands will work with influencers on exclusive, longer-term engagements 

instead of the transactional, one-and-done “campaign” mentality we mainly see today. This 

will be in the name of producing programming, not campaigns or “content.” Nowhere will 

this be more obvious than on YouTube.

But here’s the catch: We have to stop thinking about influencers as glorified channels 

through which you pump pieces of your campaign.

The above approach and all its potential benefits to your company only come to fruition 

with more exclusive, longer-term relationships: a partnership based on mission-alignment 

and context built over time to unlock the potential sitting on both sides.

#7: Increased Socialization Features Improve YouTube Engagement

YouTube will borrow the sticky elements of other social media platforms to help channel 

owners attract, retain, and engage their fans. In addition, as the frequency of engagement 

increases, so will the number of daily vlogs. To stand out, marketers will need to deliver 

content that benefits their audience and consistently engage in two-way conversations 

with viewers.

#8: YouTube Promotes Longer Engagement Views

YouTube is actively measuring how long people spend at the site and will be promoting 

videos that engage viewers for longer periods of time. They are also keenly aware that 

younger viewers with disposable income are spending more time watching YouTube on a 

mobile device, usually a smartphone.

To take advantage of this shift, marketers need to do three things:

First, they should experiment with longer-form videos, provided those videos can hold 

viewers’ attention. Since the average YouTube session is now over 40 minutes, videos don’t 

need to be two minutes long.

However, YouTube viewers’ attention spans haven’t expanded, so a talking head droning 

on for half an hour won’t work. Instead, spend more time in post-production adding 

engaging graphic overlays. These can include cut scenes, closeups, freeze frames, 

countdown numbers, URLs, and even Easter Eggs that will cause people to stop and 

“rewind” your videos.

Second, if marketers are looking to drive traffic from YouTube to a website or landing page, 

they’ll need to use YouTube cards throughout the video. While YouTube Annotations were 

a great addition to creating clickable links within a video, they didn’t work on mobile.

YouTube cards allow you to create clickable, engaging calls to action within the video that 

show up wherever the video is shown, whether on a smartphone, tablet, or embedded on a 

website or blog.

 Third, marketers need to invest advertising dollars on YouTube. Google is getting better at 

tracking users across devices, and YouTube will be a beneficiary of this additional targeting 

information. Coupled with keyword search, marketers will be able to reach their ideal 

customers with both pre-roll ads and sponsored video promotion.

#9: YouTube Improves Social Features for Creators and Fans

YouTube is an amazing search engine and distribution platform, but a social network? 

While YouTube has all of the hallmarks of a social network: videos spawn conversation and 

there are fans, followers, and content galore, the engagement engine (YouTube comments) 

is lacking.

Conclusion:

This coming year, look for YouTube to push back against Facebook’s, Instagram’s, and 

Twitter’s poaching of YouTube’s video space by offering more social networking 

opportunities for both creators and fans.

Savvy content creators and brands will leap on the opportunity to create engagement and 

dialogue with their fans and followers.