Which Consumer Tech Brands Are Winning The Social Video Race?

As the holiday season approaches, which tech companies are best connecting to their consumers? In its latest white paper, Unruly Media‘s Social Video Lab compared the video ad share volume for the top brands across four categories: smartphones, game consoles, video games, and web browsers.

In the smartphone category, Samsung ads accounted for more than half (52.4%) of all social video shares, but they only reached such a high percentage by inundating viewers with pre-rolls. Though brands like Apple had much less share volume, they were much more efficient. Specifically, Apple’s share:views ratio (1:24) was 33% better than Samsung’s (1:36). With these data in mind, an interesting debate arises: Are shares valuable enough to make Samsung’s impression spamming worthwhile, or should brands focus on efficiency, even if it means a decrease in total shares?

There are no questions, however, about the game console data: PS4 is wiping the floor with Xbox One. The latter console’s much-criticized E3 presentation appears to have serious damaged its brand reputation, while Sony’s more measured ‘we’re not doing what they’re doing’ approach has allowed it to rack up nine times as many shares. To rub salt in the wound, PS4’s most shared ad is a direct dig at the Xbox One’s restrictive used game policy. Ouch.

Unsurprisingly, the much-hyped Grand Theft Auto V led all individual games by scoring more than twice as many shares as any other competitor. At the same time, video games displayed the same trend as smart phones, with GTAV also posting the lowest share rate (EA’s second-place Battlefield 4 brand was more than 25% more efficient).

Among web browsers, an interesting trend can be seen behind Google Chromes 70% domination of all share volume: In the past year, Internet Explorer has closed the gap by scoring 88.6% of all shares. Perhaps the maligned browser isn’t just for old fogies after all.

You can view the full report by downloading it from the Unruly website.