Is advertising your music on YouTube useful? Does it get you views, subscribers and new fans? Perhaps even helps you sell your music? I decided to put it to the test using Drooble’s YouTube package.
Some time ago Drooble announced YouTube advertising packages. They offer you around 500 views for $25. That’s only USD$ 0.05 per view so a fair price. Even though I was very skeptical, even before ordering it on Drooble I’ve voiced my doubts, I put it to the test with a recent video I uploaded. A video that was not getting a lot of views but, compared to my other music videos, was doing okay.
You might wonder why I did spent money on it. Well, it’s easy to be skeptical. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating, right?
THE GOOD NEWS (AND SOME BAD)
The service is useful in regard to the number of views. It went from 80 views to 606 views in a week (and it’s now up to well over 1,400). So the views kept coming even after the advertising campaign stopped.
However, no new subscribers and, what’s worse, the viewing time per user for the video went down a lot. Meaning, people would only watch for about a minute or so instead of the full video (as was the case with most viewers before that).
The advertising does work if you want to push the view-counter up. But it doesn’t get you engagement from viewers. No feedback as in comments or likes or even dislikes.Even the scam-advertising will get you at least likes or dislikes (and some trash feedback). Isn’t that weird?
For me, this was just a “put it to the test” and as far as I’m concerned, it didn’t pass. A waste of money. Even though I did expect this, I hoped it wouldn’t be true and would lead to more engaged viewers.
The loyalty of the viewers makes me wonder if the views are machine-generated. Even though the line of the viewer loyalty goes down slowly. It might be “too human” to be bot views (as the ones you get when ordering 5,000 for $10 at some of the scam services around). But, .. Only 22,5% of the viewers watched the full video. As I said, no likes, not even dislikes. Now that does make me suspicious. If people don’t even “hate” or “like”? With over 500 views there should be at least a few likes and one or two ‘dislikes’.
As I noted before, the YouTube statistics also show that the people watching the video as a result of the advertising are also less interested in viewing the full video as the ones that find it because of organic search. That’s probably to be expected however it does show the importance of organic traffic to your videos. You know, people that click on the video they read about 😉
CONCLUSION: IS THIS A SCAM?
I’m a little disappointed to see that the advertising Drooble offers seems to drive people to the video that aren’t interested in it after all. It’s well spend money for me however, since it was an experiment. But, if you’re looking for a promotional tool for your band or video clip I’d say: don’t buy views/advertising. Not on Drooble. But especially not on other sites that offer you “tons” of views. They are scams for sure. In Drooble’s case, I’m convinced they’re doing the best they can and might even believe they offer a useful service. And I’m sorry to say: they don’t. The statistics proof it.