These Companies Had The Biggest Branded Channels On YouTube In 2016 (Report)

A new report from the Berlin-based digital media company Divimove sought to determine the most consistent and successful YouTube channels operated by the 500 biggest brands on earth.

In terms of business categories, media companies are by far the most prominent on the platform given the nature of the industry — with companies like Warner Bros. and MTV paving the way. The least successful category, according to Divimove, is engineering and extracting, where nascent players like John Deere and ExxonMobile boast just tens of thousands of subscribers apiece.

YouTube, however, has become a non-negotiable component of most brands’ social marketing strategies globally. For instance, only 11% of the world’s 500 biggest companies — as listed here — do not have self-branded channels, according to Divimove. Most of these companies are located in China, where YouTube is unavailable, or in Japan and Korea, where a greater emphasis is placed on local streaming competitors.

After the media industry, the second most successful business category on YouTube is beverages, and Divimove calls out corporations like Pepsi and Coca-Cola, who ”essentially invented modern day marketing.” After beverages is technology and electronics, followed by automobiles, then retail, then personal care and cosmetics. Each of these categories is already enormously popular on YouTube in terms of user uploads, Divimove notes, including tech reviews, car videos, shopping hauls, and makeup tutorials.

In beverages, Red Bull is the largest player by a longshot with 5.6 million subscribers. In the tech realm, Playstation boasts 5.1 million subscribers, and in automobiles, BMW is leading the charge with 610,000 subscribers. Victoria’s Secret is the biggest retail branded channel with 1.2 million subscribers, while Chanel operates the biggest beauty branded channel with 694,000 subscribers.

For more findings, check out Divimove’s full report right here.