Running a video channel
A video channel serves a defined audience through a continuing programme of content. Running it combines audience research, a content plan, a publishing schedule, promotion and evaluation of viewers’ responses.
Purpose
YouTube channels can start conversations, share knowledge and expertise, engage viewers and add brand value. Video channels can connect industry experts with potential clients, train teams and educate patients.
Audience and content strategy
A professional video channel starts with a content strategy addressing six questions.
- What will the channel focus on?
- What will make its content unique, valuable and important?
- What problems do clients face?
- What is happening in the industry?
- What is trending about the industry on social media?
- Where does the organisation have exclusive insights or more experience than competitors and other industry participants?
A content plan should connect the strategy’s objectives with topics, potential speakers or types of speaker, and expected publication dates. Planning a year ahead, maintaining consistent content and refining ideas through news monitoring, research and surveys are recommended; publishing only two videos is insufficient to achieve the desired effect.
OCT Clinical’s Industry Voice channel surveyed more than 100 members of its intended pharmaceutical audience to plan the next year’s content. The most requested topics were the Eurasian Economic Union’s implications for pharmaceuticals and patient-recruitment tools in Russia, corroborated by research on other platforms and discussion with business-development and clinical staff. Its first speakers were in-house experts, followed by external pharmaceutical and clinical-research specialists from different countries.
Publishing schedule
One CRO channel team recommended a minimum of approximately one video a month, increasing publication according to audience response and available internal resources.
Discovery and promotion
Translated titles, subtitles and captions can help attract a global audience. Descriptions should use natural language focused on one or two keywords that also appear in the title.
Other social networks can announce new releases and cross-promote the channel, while relevant influencers and teasers for full-length videos can help reach further viewers.
A professional interview channel
Industry Voice launched on YouTube in October 2019 with interviews about clinical-research and pharmaceutical trends, news, regulatory updates and practical professional information. Face-to-face interviews were planned, but COVID-19 restrictions led to remote interviews, which the operators found equally effective for reaching an international audience.
Audience and commercial results
By the 2021 account, the channel’s operators reported more than 10,000 views and a fivefold increase in subscribers over the preceding year, with subscriber growth beginning after the interviews appeared. They judged the channel worthwhile for its niche pharmaceutical and clinical-research audience, favourable average watch time compared with hundreds of YouTube videos with similar view counts, and sales attributed to added brand value.
The first episode, on pharmaceutical trends in 2020 with a former FDA advisory-committee member, gained more than 500 organic views in two months. Organic views come from people who find a video themselves rather than through sponsored links. Its December 2020 analytics screenshot showed 519 views since publication. The company reported more than 20 website visits referred from YouTube in the first month and over 120 conversions from that episode by the time of its account.
The operators attributed the channel’s international reach to its range of subjects and use of English: only about 10% to 15% of views came from Russia, where the project originated. Analytics recorded viewers in 17 countries, led by the USA, Sweden, Germany, Korea and Spain.
Watch time and discovery
Average interview watch time was five minutes forty seconds. Viewers aged 24 to 34 watched an average of 28% of an episode, compared with 96.8% among those aged 55 and older. A COVID-19 vaccine episode’s watch time in hours was 6.5 times the average for the channel’s other videos. The operators also found that their most-viewed videos generally exceeded three minutes, illustrating that each project has its own indicators.
The account reported 19.6% of views as coming from YouTube and 26.8% from other social platforms, many from LinkedIn. Its traffic-source screenshot gave this breakdown.
| Traffic source | Share |
|---|---|
| YouTube search | 31% |
| External | 26.8% |
| Channel pages | 12% |
| Direct or unknown | 7.7% |
| Browse features | 6.6% |
| Others | 15.9% |
A hospital channel for children
San Diego Zoo Kids was developed as a closed-circuit, child-friendly, non-commercial television channel for children unable to visit a zoo or spend time with animals. The idea followed a nurse’s thank-you note describing the distraction and comfort that the zoo’s live Panda Cam gave patients. Hospital staff had reported lacking the resources, time and expertise to make animal programming themselves. The channel was designed for continuous, round-the-clock viewing, combining zoo and safari-park footage, conservation fieldwork, live animal cameras, keeper and scientist interviews, and partner-zoo and aquarium content.
Technology, funding and hospital access
The team spent more than a year researching the technology, and finding a donor was the hardest part of development. A philanthropist funded a pilot at selected facilities, including four children’s hospitals, and the channel began with just over three hours of content. He subsequently funded five years of broadcasting and challenged the team to raise equipment funding locally and reach 300 children’s hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses within five years.
Recruiting the next children’s hospital after the pilot took nine months. The team found that access required an introduction through the local community or hospital network to a staff member interested in providing the service, rather than cold calling. By its 2020 account, the channel reached 306 facilities in 44 states and 12 countries, with an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant covering equipment and installation.
Experience evaluation
The channel’s second evaluation explored the experience of 100 hospitalised children, more than 100 parents and almost 90 caregivers at three children’s hospitals and one Ronald McDonald House. The channel’s operators reported seven findings from that evaluation.
- Children felt happy while watching.
- The channel provided a zoo experience for children unable to visit.
- It helped children learn about animals and reinforced a conservation ethic.
- Watching distracted children from their reason for being in hospital.
- It prompted animal-related conversation between parents and children.
- It offered a shared experience that clinicians integrated into care.
- It helped parents cope and persevere during stressful periods.
The organisation also reported unsolicited testimonies from hundreds of caregivers and parents. Families described shared enjoyment, including a child who saw a parent smile while they watched together and parents who found the channel a source of hope during repeated hospital stays.