Social Content Opportunities for the Tourism Audience on YouTube in Q1 2023

Key Takeaways

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Top organic content opportunities in Q1 2023 for the Tourism audience include:

• Sightseeing List: These videos present thematic sights and attractions around the world using a list format. Examples include “25 Greatest Natural Wonders of the World” and “25 Most Amazing Ancient Ruins of the World”. The top videos in this category come from the travel outlet, touropia.

• Destination List: Like the Sightseeing List category, these videos introduce destinations in a list format, highlighting the attractions in each place. The majority of videos in this category are from travel vloggers and influencers.

• Travel Series Episode: Videos from travel author and host of Rick Steve’s Europe. These videos are part of his educational series that encourages North Americans to broaden their perspectives through travel

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How the Social Content Opportunity Analysis™ Methodology Works

1. ‍Measure & Categorize Posts. Sample a large number of social posts to find ones that are significantly outperforming the average.
2. ‍Identify Top Themes. Identify the themes that are resonating most with the audience by sorting the themes by their aggregated performance metrics.
3. ‍Measure The Benchmark. Identify content themes that are performing above and under an average benchmark for the industry based on views & engagements.
4. ‍Identify & Rank Opportunities. Look at the data and find the content themes that are resonating with the audience based on a set of top creators.
5. ‍Repeat For Each Platform. Repeat the analysis for every platform that matters to your brand and audience to find platform-specific opportunities.

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YouTube Content Bucket Definitions

• Sightseeing List: These videos present thematic sights and attractions around the world using a list format. Examples include “25 Greatest Natural Wonders of the World” and “25 Most Amazing Ancient Ruins of the World”.
• Destination List: Like the Sightseeing List category, these videos introduce destinations in a list format, highlighting the attractions in each place. 
• Travel Series Episode: Videos from travel author and host of Rick Steve’s Europe. These videos are part of his educational series that encourages North Americans to broaden their perspectives through travel.
• Scenic Videos: Stylized video footage using various filming techniques and angles to show off beautiful scenery in one or more destinations.
• Adventure Vlog: Vlog content focused on adventurous travel activities and experiences. These typically involve an element of danger or excitement and are physically challenging. 
• Packing Tips: Sharing packing lists and packing techniques for more efficient travel.
• Destination Travel Vlog: Videos from creators that document their trip in a specific location or area. The videos use candid first-person POV footage and scenic stylized shots with music and voice-over.
• Travel Guide: These videos share insight into accommodations, attractions, and general information for specific travel destinations.
• Food Focus: Highlighting the local cuisine in a specific city or country through content such as foodie vlogs and street-food tours.
• A to B Vlog: Travel vlogs that focus on the journey rather than the destination. This content covers travel via land, sea, and air, including road trip itineraries, cross-country trains, and cruises. 
• Culture Highlight: Videos that celebrate the local customs, history, and traditions that represent a cultural element of the place in which they are based.

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Sightseeing List is an extreme performing content opportunity, averaging 3x the views & engagement rate on YouTube

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Excellent performing content categories for the Tourism audience on YouTube include:

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Good performing content categories for the Tourism audience on YouTube include:

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Substandard performing content categories for the Tourism audience on YouTube include:

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Low performing content categories for the Tourism audience on YouTube include:

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Content Opportunities:

1. Sightseeing List

These videos present thematic sights and attractions around the world using a list format. Examples include “25 Greatest Natural Wonders of the World” and “25 Most Amazing Ancient Ruins of the World”.

Tactics to Implement:

• Video Duration: The average duration of videos in this category is 36 minutes.
• Titles: Video titles are optimized to increase click rate: They make the video’s subject explicit and utilize a number format and superlative words and phrases. Additional examples from touropia include 25 Most Surreal Places on Earth and 30 Most Beautiful Places in The World.
• Rankings: The videos rank each sight, counting down from 25 to the number one spot. The numbered ranking is displayed on-screen between each featured sight.
• Voice Over: touropia uses the same voice for all videos and plays the voiceover on top of stylized footage of the sight that is being discussed. 

19M  Views

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7.4M Views

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2. Destination List

Like the Sightseeing List category, these videos introduce destinations in a list format, highlighting the attractions in each place. 

Tactics to Implement:

• Video Duration: While the average duration of videos in this category is 22 minutes, the top-performing video is 52 minutes long.
• Navigation: These videos make it easy for viewers to navigate between the listed destinations This example lists time stamps in the video description, while this one uses YouTube’s video chapters feature.
• Sneak Peak: Both videos begin with a 30-second intro that sets the stage for the subject matter and shares a preview of the video content.
• Personal Experience: Travel influencers Ryan Shirley and Lost LeBlanc use their own travel experiences to shape the lists in their videos, adding credibility to their rankings. 
• Destination Highlights: In this video, the creator provides in-depth details on each destination including the activities and amenities available and which type of travellers the destination will appeal to the most.

12M  Views

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3M  Views

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3. Travel Series Episode

Videos from travel author and host of Rick Steve’s Europe. These videos are part of his educational series that encourages North Americans to broaden their perspectives through travel.

Tactics to Implement:

• Video Duration: The average duration of videos in this category is 35 minutes.
• Introduction: Each episode from Rick Steve’s Europe opens with a short clip outlining the topic of the video, followed by a signature animated intro clip.
• Educational: Throughout the videos, the host provides rich background on each place he visits; sharing insights into the culture, history, and industries that shape the locations.
• Supporting Elements: The videos use on-screen images and text to support the hosts’ explanations. For example, this video uses an animated map to hone in on the exact locations that are featured. 
• Filming Formats: The videos use scenic footage of the location with voiceover narration as well as talking-head content where the host speaks directly to viewers. 

5.7M  Views

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5.4M Views

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Outliers:

These videos were omitted from their content buckets as ‘viral’ outliers for exceeding 3x the views and engagements of their respective benchmarks.

Travel Guides

Content: These travel guides are from vlogger Lost Leblanc. In these examples, the creator shares comprehensive guides for locations in Southeast Asia. He combines a variety of filming styles and techniques and uses on-screen text to share the names and locations of the places discussed. 

2.9M Views

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3.8M Views

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Scenic Video

Content: This “4K Virtual Vacation” video aims to make viewers feel as if they are escaping reality while watching. The creator uses slowed-down aerial footage and scenic shots that encourage a sense of relaxation and calm.

7.3M Views

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Destination Travel Vlog

Content: Vloggers document their trip through Dubai, sharing their total spend each time they make a purchase. The video specifically looks at luxury travel options to illustrate how much the wealthy might spend on a trip to Dubai and to evaluate how the luxury experiences impact their overall enjoyment and happiness. 

3.3M Views

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Packing Tips

Content: This video from Hopscotch The Globe shares packing tips in a list format. The creator uses talking-head footage and animated transitions between each tip.

1.8M Views

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Culture Highlight

Content: An informative explainer-style video sharing the history and use of Gaelic in Scotland. The video utilizes sounds and animations for scene transitions as well as on-screen text and images to support the voiceover. 

655K Views

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Based on total views and engagements, the following were the top content formats on YouTube for the Tourism audience.  

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Top YouTube Content Format Definitions

• Video Listicle: Videos that present ideas to the viewer through a list of items, such as “25 Greatest Natural Wonders of the World”.
• Travel Series Episode: Videos that are part of a thematic series. Content includes topical profiles from different locations.
• Vlog: These videos combine multiple filming styles like talking head, aerial, and “follow me” footage with supporting images and text to tell a story or document a trip.

• Stylized Video Edit: High-production value videos that edit together aerial footage featuring natural landscapes and aesthetic scenes. These videos typically include music and little narration.
• Travel Guide: Videos from creators and brands that focus on a location rather than themselves. They provide helpful insight and advice for making the most of one’s trip to a specific destination.
• Educational Video: Informative videos that feature the creator in a controlled setting speaking to the viewer about a specific concept.
• Interview: Interviews with one or more subjects that include a combination of interview audio and video, edited with supporting video clips and images.