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YouTube, Big Data, Big Brands = Trouble for Kids and Parents Jeff Chester There is a “digital gold rush” underway to cash in on young people’s passion for interactive media. Google and other media and ad companies are working to transform kids’ clicks and views into bundles of cash and burgeoning brand loyalty. While TV still dominates a great deal of kids’ media viewing, they are also consuming content (often simultaneously) on mobile devices, tablets, and through streaming or video-on-demand services.1 In February, Google launched its YouTube Kids app for children five and under; Disney acquired leading youth-focused online video producer Maker Studios last year in a more than $500 million deal, giving it control of “the largest content network on YouTube”; Viacom’s Cartoon Network (CN) now offers CN’s “Anything,” providing mobile phone-friendly “micro” content and promising to serve a “network of devices giving a network of experiences to a network of fans”; and Amazon, Netflix, and others sending more “kid-friendly”streaming video-on-demand programming.2 But unlike broadcast and cable TV, where there is at least a handful of FCC regulations that prevent some of the worst practices perfected by advertisers for targeting kids, the online world is mostly a regulatory-free zone when it comes to digital marketing.3 Advocates and child-health experts fought a long campaign, from the 1970’s to the 1990’s, to ensure that TV didn’t take unfair advantage of how kids relate to advertising—so that shows weren’t simply “program-length commercials” for toys, or that the “host” or star of a program—such as a cartoon character—didn’t also pitch products at the same time. There were also modest limits in how many ads could appear in so-called “kidvid” programming. These rules reflected research on children’s development and their inability to fully comprehend the nature of advertising. The FCC policies embraced an important principle: children were to be treated differently than adults when it came to TV advertising.4 Such safeguards are even more important in the digital era, when sophisticated advertising techniques gather and analyze data on everything an individual does, and incorporate an array of powerful interactive features on mobile devices and PCs that have been designed to get results. Parents and others who care about children should be forewarned: For Google, Facebook, media companies like Nickelodeon, toy companies, and junk food marketers, the Internet is a medium whose primary focus is to help brand advertisers turn young people into fans, “influencers” (to spread the word via social media), and buyers of products. Although children benefit from using educational apps, and have greater access to more diverse entertainment and other content, the motivation really at work is to mold this generation of youth into super-consumers, encouraged to engage in a never-ending buying cycle of goods and services. Children are now a key target for Google’s “monetization” strategies, helping the company cash in from the sales of toys, apps, junk food, and other products.5 (So-called “tweens” in the U.S. alone are said to influence some $200 billion a year in spending, including $43 billion of their own money.)6 With Google’s overall revenue growth

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slowing, with Facebook aggressively seeking to displace it as the global digital advertising leader, and with consumers flocking to mobile phones (instead of PCs) to view videos and use apps, kids—which were one of the only consumer groups not formally targeted by Google until now—are viewed as an essential new market to conquer. In February, Google unveiled a new advertiser-supported “YouTube Kids” app, its first “product built from the ground up with little ones in mind.”7 Google’s YouTube Kids “product manager” claimed that “the app makes it safer and easier for children to find videos on topics they want to explore.” Google also promised that ads “that aren’t kid-appropriate don’t surface.”8 But Google’s YouTube Kids is filled with ads disguised as programming and product pitches that violate rules that broadcast and cable TV channels have to follow. A coalition of consumer, privacy, and children’s advocacy groups urged the FTC to investigate Google’s new YouTube Kids app, as well as how the company targets older children on YouTube itself. (Six of YouTube’s leading channels are “aimed at children.”)9 Google wants to place even the youngest kids inside its powerful marketing apparatus, making sure they will help the company generate much-needed profits as they grew older.10 It is encouraging brands to take advantage of how young people are engaging in a “multi-screen experience,” including watching video on smart phones, and how YouTube combines the attributes of video service and social networking.11 Google explains that

YouTube takes the most powerful medium for connecting with the heart and mind—video—and elevates it from a one-way communication to a two-way experience by inviting brands and consumers alike to connect, curate, create and form community … . On YouTube, brands have the unparalleled opportunity to connect with their most valuable audience and the creative freedom to do so in the most compelling way. The reward for the marketer is a fanbase moved not only emotionally, but also literally, to purchase, comment, share and advocate for that brand. In short, YouTube moves people to choose your brand.12

As an article on the launch of YouTube Kids explained, “If YouTube can earn the trust of parents and hook a new group at an even earlier age, then that’s tapping a whole new market of users that will literally grow up with the service—and use it for a much longer portion of their lives.”13 While appearing as a distribution service for many programmers, independent and professional, YouTube is a key part of an incredibly sophisticated, elaborate, and highly powerful global marketing apparatus.14 Google executives recently pledged that they are “listening to brands” and taking “action” to help make YouTube a more effective platform to help accomplish their goals.15 YouTube: “one of the biggest Big Data projects in the world” YouTube incorporates all of Google’s expertise in gathering and analyzing consumer information, so a user, even a young one, can be effectively targeted with marketing. YouTube, it explains, “is one of the biggest Big Data projects in the world.” “At YouTube, data drives the way we make decisions,” including to help its advertisers “get

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closer to the holy grail of precision targeting.”16 YouTube, explains the company, has “one of the world’s richest datasets,” which it combines with “Google’s cutting-edge technology” to “transform insights into real-world products.” YouTube continually researches and develops ways to measure and analyze how ads can work more effectively; it identifies “new algorithms and methods for optimizing ads,” “researches new ways for modeling end user behavior,” and more.17 Its data fuel YouTube’s “recommendation systems,” and the company is now “pushing the boundaries of science and engineering” to make its home page deliver more revenue. It offers its users, including children, “recommended videos” as well as other products that help its advertisers. Through machine learning about us, including analyzing our data, Google plans to further strengthen how it can “introduce users to areas of their interest that many did not realize YouTube had.”18 YouTube is now working to “build the next generation game-console based TV experience with YouTube video content,” which will deliver “a compelling lean back experience with monetization and e-commerce offerings” (including “pay-per stream” and ad content), as well as through partnerships that “integrate” its content.19 Generating revenues by attracting and targeting gamers is a key part of YouTube’s marketing-to-youth strategy.20 It is also positioning YouTube to be a key part of digitally connected “Living Room” devices, including “game consoles, smart TV’s, set-top boxes” to “drive distribution and user engagement.” We “put your brand in their hand” Through its “brand channels”—“a 24/7 broadcast center where customers can watch, share and love your brand”—YouTube helps advertisers like Red Bull and Walmart “energize” its customers. These channels can be specially configured to work well with mobile devices, explains Google, so marketers can “put your brand in their hand.” Google also offers a “Custom Brand Channel” on YouTube, “the highest level of brand channel customization,” which incorporates special “interactive applications” designed to promote the “branding” experience more effectively.21 Last year, as part of its ongoing effort to work more closely with leading advertisers, Google also unveiled its “Partner Select” program, which helps its clients take advantage of its advanced data-targeting platform to run ads on its top-ranked video programming.22 Google is working to have YouTube play a key role erasing what’s left of the boundaries that have separated advertising and content. Through what it calls “content marketing,” YouTube promises to help its advertisers take advantage of our “shortening attention spans” to positively respond to a brand’s message, explaining that “In a world of shortening attention spans and increasing options, advertising is undergoing a sea change. More and more, ads are becoming content that people choose to watch. … [W]e use the tools and know-how developed by a generation of YouTube content creators to help brands develop ads that will resonate with today’s consumers.”23 As a leader in using mobile phones to target individuals based on their actual location, Google is also in the forefront of delivering its content on smart phones and similar devices, boasting that “viewing video on smartphones is far less distracted than it is on TV.”24

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YouTube: “Precision Targeting at Scale” To help its advertisers, YouTube provides “precision targeting at scale” that leverages “the sight, sound and motion of video, the most persuasive ad format every evented.” Google claims that its “targeting tools are so precise” marketers “can show your ad to folks around your corner or to anyone around the world.” One can target by age, gender, zip code, language, interest, and can “retarget” someone whose data have been (largely secretly) collected when they were on YouTube or other sites. Google offers advertisers a formidable arsenal of “3rd Party Audience Data” that can incorporate details on one’s finances, buying behavior, and many other personal details.25 Now reaching one billion people worldwide, YouTube identifies Hispanics, teens, those “hard to reach,” as well as adult men and women as key targets; it notes, for example, that “54% of all teens” and “59% of all Hispanics” use it. (Among the “facts” on Hispanics it lists for advertisers is that “76% currently own a pet” and “58% are grocery decision makers in their household.”)26 YouTube also plays a direct role helping key advertisers achieve their goals, including through its “in-house creative team” (which it calls “The ZOO”) that “can unleash the true power of your message with a custom campaign.”27 YouTube’s “Brand Nirvana” Promotes Junk Food to Kids Google has been helping Mondelez, Pepsi, and other fast-food marketers push their products—despite concerns about the global obesity epidemic—especially on young people.28 Last year, Mondelez signed a deal with Google that featured the candy and snack company making a commitment to “accelerate” its investment in online video. The pact involved the use of Google’s advanced data-driven targeting system (known as “programmatic buying”) and the development of more “branded content.” Google and Mondelez are “partnering on content pilots through YouTube’s Brand Partner Program … [to produce] low-cost video content featuring influential digital stars with Sour Patch Kids in the U.S.”29 Mondelez’s YouTube channel for Oreos features an array of ads dressed up as games, in English and Spanish, which is typical of Google’s use of video to promote junk food products using the full power of its platform.30 Fast-food companies, including such brands as Coca-Cola, Mars, Mondelez, Wendy’s, and Post cereal, are also using advanced analytics on YouTube viewing to help refine their targeting strategies.31 Frank Cooper, Pepsi’s chief marketing officer, was a keynote speaker at YouTube’s “Brandcast” 2014 event.32 In announcing that Pepsi has increased its spending for YouTube services by 50 percent over the last year, Cooper noted that “we live in a world where visual content in the digital space is the new center of gravity for pop culture,” and being on YouTube and related digital applications enables Pepsi to be part of a conversation that is “driving culture.” When people share “your content with their friends,” he noted, it is “brand nirvana.”33 YouTube as Toy Promotion Central Google is positioning YouTube to be a central place for children to learn about toys they want their parents or family to buy. As one toy business analyst explained, “It’s a totally new way of advertising. [The YouTube channels] are becoming more and more

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important.”34 Although Google’s terms of service (ToS) for YouTube requires users to be 13 and older, it’s clear that it is targeting kids—and violating its own policy—in order to profit from the children’s market. Its ToS states that “the Service is not intended for children under 13. If you are under 13 years of age, then please do not use the Service. There are lots of other great web sites for you. Talk to your parents about what sites are appropriate for you.”35 Yet despite its own ToS banning children from signing up, YouTube is clearly targeting kids. For example, “FunToyzCollector,” which describes itself as “all about kid-friendly videos for toddlers, babies, infants and pre-school children,” recently placed first in views among all the YouTube channels (517.3 million).36 The channel engages in “unboxing” toys, an increasingly sought after YouTube genre that provides viewers with a “virtual tour” of kids products, such as “Sofia the First Balloon Tea Party 2-in-1 Playset with Disney Frozen Princess Anna Elsa of Arendelle.”37 Very popular with young kids in the U.S., the YouTube ad-supported channel made its owner an estimated $4.9 million last year.38 Kids either find or are shown these channels as they search for new toys to buy or to receive as presents.39 “DisneyCarToys,” “a fun kid friendly toy channel” produced by Disney subsidiary Maker Studios, is another example of how Google profits by permitting the targeting of children.40 The channel is one of five toy-related YouTube channels that Disney acquired in 2014, including “HobbyKidsTV, ToyReviewToys, AllToyCollector, and TheEngineeringFamily.” These popular “top 40 toy channels worldwide,” which integrate Disney’s characters and brands into the programming content, are now part of Disney’s “merchandising” strategy, which will include more brand tie-ins and advertising. Maker Studios itself has a major kids marketing presence on YouTube. It describes its “Cartoontium” set of programs as “the place to find all the best kid’s entertainment on YouTube!”41 One of its channels is called “Messy Painting in the Dark-Neon Arcade,” where “Toys, games and financial support [is] provided by Hasbro.” Other Cartoonium programming features “classic episodes of Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake.”42 “Strawberry Shortcake” and other programming include ads for toys (and some of these shows are also on the YouTube Kids app).43 One reason Disney acquired Maker, explained CEO Bob Iger, was to reap its “great access to data and algorithms,” which are gathered from billions of views collected through its 55,000 YouTube channels.44 Another kids’ toy–focused YouTube service is also partnering with the Disney/Maker empire. “EvanTubeHD,” involving two young children (eight and five years old) and their father, “boasts more than a billion views across” three channels. The two children “review and play with the most popular kids toys currently on shelves.” As an analyst explained why toy companies are enthusiastically seeking out relationships with kid reviewers online, “Kids trust other kids more so than they would an adult.”45 Maker has a broad range of marketing services it offers brands and advertisers, including “custom pre-roll” ads (the short spots that run before a YouTube or other video content

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starts); channel targeting (“integrate your brand message natively into our top performing channels”); and sponsorships (“More than just a logo, our unique custom sponsorships allow you to connect with our forward leaning and deeply engaged audiences”).46 Maker touts its strong alliance of partners, including its “custom solutions to the world's best brands” and “effective and hyper-targeted media solutions.” Partners include Mattel, Pepsi, Warner Bros, and parent Disney. It also works with the leading ad agencies that represent major global brands “to create unique programs across our programming and talent.”47 In another example of how Google fails to protect children, it allows Disney to encourage its young viewers to connect to them using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram—despite these sites requiring users to be 13 years or older.48 So eager is Google to reap profits, it appears purposely to ignore how toy companies are establishing nothing more than 24/7 virtual ad channels on YouTube. For example, Spin Master, a “top-five” toy company, has created a “kid centric YouTube channel dubbed SpindoTV, aimed at children 6-11. Its shows are based on its toy line-up, including “Sick Bricks” and “Beat the Parents” board game. Many of its shows are a part of Google’s new YouTube Kids app. According to a Spin Master executive, “We know from our research that these kids are already on YouTube in massive numbers.”49 YouTube, of course, is just one method Google uses to help it reach and monetize young people. It is also “building successful apps and games” for its “Google Play for Education and Kids vertical,” helping developers create “commercially viable offerings to educators and students, parents and kids.”50 The popularity of YouTube among children has triggered a “must-have-the-video-network” buying strategy from companies targeting the youth market worldwide. Marketers researching youth know that kids are using YouTube as a search engine because it includes pictures, videos, and other audio-visual material. It’s also “easy to navigate” for children, with reports that “kids who are into watching TV episodes on YouTube” like to see other episodes and “recommended videos” on the sidebar. More critically, digital market researchers studying children have identified YouTube as providing

an important social and creative outlet for tweens, and finding cool YouTube videos to share with others is a form of social capital. … [T]weens most frequently share cool videos when hanging out (in person) with their friends and family. … [W]e call this phenomenon clustersharing. … [I]t speaks more to their desire to physically experience videos with others—to see, to feel and to share that experience, including their thoughts and emotions.

The same researchers advise marketers to take advantage of the “clustersharing” concept, and encourage ways to “enhance that in-person, social experience. Using ad content (like a group game) or finding a way to alleviate the agonizing “live” wait of a 15-second pre-roll between each video presents “an opportunity to enrich your brand experience with this very engaged audience.”51

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Tracking our “Consumer Journey” Google is in the forefront of digital marketing companies promising to help its clients influence and “measure” what it calls the “customer journey.” It views itself as helping them analyze and place each consumer on a continuous “path-to-purchase” cycle, tracking us wherever we go, and using its resources to have us shop “until we drop”—online and off.52 Among the benefits Google promises its advertisers, for example, is that they will be able to identify and “value” their “best customers,” and “distinguish the whales from the wasted energy.”53 (“Whales” is a marketing industry term describing a big spender; “waste” is an ad term for a consumer deemed not valuable.) YouTube conducts research to document how its advertisers positively impact our “recall” of various brand commercial messages.54 Google’s DoubleClick division, which uses data to determine the impact of video ads, offers advertisers the latest ways they can “verify” whether a person actually views a video ad on YouTube.55 To help its largest advertising clients measure how we respond to Google’s interactive marketing services, the company is now working with Nielsen and comScore, two of the leading global companies that assess consumer interaction with ads, including on YouTube.56 There are other companies also helping marketers analyze YouTube data. For example, Outrigger’s “OpenSlate” platform “ingests, analyses and scores more than 220,000 YouTube channels on measures of engagement, consistency, influence, momentum and ad effectiveness.” (It now is up to 250,000 channels.) It “supplements YouTube data on more than 70 million videos with data from social media and proprietary demographic data. Our platform consistently incorporates brand advertising performance data to further develop video and channel level profiles.” Through its information, brand advertisers can identify “the highest-quality inventory on YouTube,” and then target them using a variety of Big Data tactics. (“Inventory,” as used by the online marketing industry, can either refer to individual users or programming content. Kids and teens are seen as highly valuable “inventory.”)57 Time for Regulatory Action Against Google to Protect Kids Google, as the dominant digital marketing company, has raised numerous concerns about its corporate practices, including from privacy regulators, civil liberties advocates, and competition regulators from around the world. (The company has led an anti-privacy-regulation agenda in both the U.S. and EU, to ensure that the flow of personal data that makes its interactive marketing system run will never end.)58 Its latest move to better monetize children through YouTube Kids is the first of what will be a succession of profit-generating ventures that help transform kids’ lives into a never-ending commercial. Even Facebook, which expressed interest in targeting children 13 and younger, has not yet directly entered the kids market. Google’s brazen move to cash in on our kids will likely spur Facebook to jettison any reticence to include them on its social network. After all, why should Google gain all the profits from this new, lucrative, and influential audience? Beyond federal and state investigations into Google’s brazen targeting of children on YouTube, what’s needed now are new policies that ensure young people aren’t unfairly

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treated by digital marketers. This includes rules that don’t leave children and teens vulnerable to digital marketing practices and also better protect their privacy. For example, Google is at the forefront of companies using what is called “immersive” media, to make sure brands—including on YouTube—can “grab” our attention.59 All of the data gathered from our use of mobile phones, social media, and online video feed so-called “profiles” that are used to target us for advertising—increasingly regardless of location (think of a mobile discount coupon from a nearby fast food outlet appearing on children’s phones as they come out of school) and in real-time (right as you are in the store cereal or toy aisle). These practices are highly questionable when targeting adults, let alone young people. Companies like Google should develop their own policies that actually protect and empower young people—not just turn them into the latest profit center. A global leader like Google, with immense profits, should only be offering kids commercial- (and data targeting-) free content. It shouldn’t be helping junk food and toy companies take advantage of kids to sell them products that don’t promote their development and health. It is doubtful, however, that Google will change course. It is, after all, primarily an advertising company whose allegiance is to the biggest brands and the marketing industry.60 It’s time for activist shareholders of Google and other companies to press for the adoption of new corporate policies that protect young people in the digital age. Parents will have to decide whether Google’s corporate culture, focused as it is on promoting marketing to young kids, is incompatible with their values and goals. But it will also take a movement of parents, educators, public interest groups, and policymakers to force Google and other kids marketers to act responsibly. If we want to see the next generation grow up without being greatly influenced by the most powerful advertising apparatus yet developed, this is a fight we must join. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 eMarketer, “Kids Online: Digital Natives in Digital Homes,”Jan. 2013; eMarketer, “Digital Kids: Digital Natives with Analog Tendencies,” June 2014; eMarketer, “Cartoon Network Serves Kids Platform Specific Programming: An Interview with Jeffrey Grant,” personal copies. 2 Maker Studios, “About,” http://www.makerstudios.com/about; “Cartoon Network Approaches 2015-16 Upfront with Unmatched Growth Across All Screens,” 19 Feb. 2015, https://pressroom.turner.com/us/cartoon-network/cartoon-network-approaches-upfront-unmatched-growth-across-all-screens#.VQ2EbEajNBL; Cartoon Network, “Introducing Cartoon Network Anything,” Cool & New,” 10 Oct. 2014, http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/blog/post/introducing-cartoon-network-anything-2?atclk_hp=hpg_community_blog_introducing-cartoon-network-anything-2; “Amazon Gives Second Seasons to Four Kids Shows,” LA Times, 23 Feb. 2015, http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-amazon-gives-second-seasons-to-four-kids-shows-20150223-story.html; “The Nick App is Here!” Nick.com, http://www.nick.com/app/. 3 A notable exception is the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a 1998 law whose passage was spearheaded by the author. While COPPA limits the collection of personal

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!information from children 12 and under, in reality it offers only partial protection from today’s highly sophisticated digital marketing apparatus. 4 Children’s Television Report and Policy Statement, 50 F.C.C.2d 1, 14 (1974). Congress codified and endorsed these policies in adopting the Children’s Television Act of 1990. The FCC expanded its policies to digital television. See Children’s Television Obligations of Digital Broadcasters, 19 F.C.C. Rcd. 22943 (2004). 5 Denny’s, “The Grand Slams,” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSDnZKOk5R3z6Ks_C5LDMW37VlzJN7HfP; Denny’s “The Grand Slams Trailer—Meet the Slams,” YouTube, 30 Sept. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBLThhKIoFM&list=PLSDnZKOk5R3z6Ks_C5LDMW37VlzJN7HfP&index=1; WeeklyChris, “All I Want is You—Ep 1—Breaking Out,” YouTube, 10 Oct. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FD6nFx3aRQ&feature=youtu.be&list=PLzzD2BLOpPf5j9mHEfRrIj4SCn_dgFtVQ. 6 Gregory Smith, “Tween-Age Dream,” Popai, Mar. 2013, http://www.popai.com/industry-news-blog/tween-age-dream. 7 “Introducing the YouTube Kids App,” YouTube, 23 Feb. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUmMAAPX6E8&feature=etp-gs-ytk; Shimrit Ben-Yair, “Introducing the Newest Member of Our Family, the YouTube Kids App—available on Google Play and the App Store,” YouTube Official Blog, 23 Feb. 2015, http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2015/02/youtube-kids.html. 8 Davey Alba, “Google Launches ‘YouTube Kids,’ a New Family-friendly App,” Wired, 23 Feb. 2015, http://www.wired.com/2015/02/youtube-kids/; Jeremy Dickson, “YouTube Kids App Officially Unveiled at Kidscreen Summit,” Kidscreen, 23 Feb. 2015, http://kidscreen.com/2015/02/23/youtube-kids-app-officially-unveiled-at-kidscreen-summit/. 9 Stuart Dredge, “YouTube's Top 100 Channels Have More than Doubled Their Views in a Year,” The Guardian, 2 Mar. 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/02/youtube-top-100-channels-funtoys-pewdiepie-taylor-swift-doubled-views. 10 YouTube Kids has been designed, it says, “for small fingers,” so “kids can easily swipe.” This is likely meant to eventually better help advertisers gather the clicks for their products they plan to see. http://kidscreen.com/2015/02/20/google-launching-youtube-kids-app/; Amir Efrati, “The Hole in Google’s Mobile Strategy,” The Information, https://www.theinformation.com/The-Hole-in-Google-s-Mobile-Strategy (subscription required); Amir Efrati, “The Hole in Google’s Mobile Strategy, Part Two,” The Information, https://www.theinformation.com/The-Hole-in-Google-s-Mobile-Strategy-Part-Two (subscription required). YouTube supplies more than half of Google’s U.S. revenues from the sale of what’s called display ads, slightly more than 1 billion in 2014 (with worldwide overall YouTube revenues in 2014 at around $7.6 billion). eMarketer, “YouTube Net US Ad Revenues, 2013-2017,” Mar 2015; eMarketer, “YouTube Ad Revenues Worldwide, 2013-2015,” Mar. 2015, personal copies. 11 Greg Philpott and Anish Kattukaran, “Evolution of TV: Reaching Audiences Across Screens,” Think with Google, Feb. 2015, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/evolution-of-tv-reaching-audiences-across-screens.html; “YouTube Insights Hangout—August: How Mobile Video can Drive the Future of Brand Marketing,” YouTube, 28 Oct. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezg173lP8vE; Andrea Chen, Mahlet Seyoum, Reginald Panaligan, and Kimberly Wasiljew, “The Role of Digital in TV Research, Fanship and Viewing,”

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Think with Google, Apr. 2014, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/the-role-of-digital-in-tv.html. 12 Google, “YouTube,” Think with Google, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/products/youtube.html. 13 Alba, “Google Launches ‘YouTube Kids,’ a New Family-friendly App.” 14 For a glimpse into how Google helps marketers, see, for example, Google, “Platforms,” Think with Google, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/platforms/; AdMob, “Monetize,” https://www.google.com/admob/monetize.html; DoubleClick, “Scaled Media Buying,” http://www.google.com/doubleclick/networks/scaled-media-buying.html; Kim Larson, “Letting Go: Six Secrets from Google's BrandLab,” Think with Google, Oct. 2013, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/let-go-six-brandlab-secrets.html. 15 Aaron Taube, “4 Things You Need To Know About YouTube's Big Advertiser Presentation,” http://www.businessinsider.com/4-important-things-from-youtubes-newfront-2014-5#ixzz3TXWfiUZS; VidCon, “The Industry Track,” http://vidcon.com/the-industry-track/. 16 Google, “Software Engineer, YouTube Big Data,” https://www.google.com/about/careers/search#!t=jo&jid=42172&. 17 “We love our users, advertisers and content creators, and understanding them better is at the heart of what the YouTube data organization is all about.” Google, “Product Analyst, YouTube,” https://www.google.com/about/careers/search#!t=jo&jid=55735001&; Google, “Data Scientist/Quantitative Analyst, YouTube,” https://www.google.com/about/careers/search#!t=jo&jid=21965002&. 18 Google, “Director of Recommendation Systems, YouTube,” https://www.google.com/about/careers/search#!t=jo&jid=96295001&. 19 Google, “Manager, Product Partnerships, Living Room Distribution Partnerships, YouTube,” https://www.google.com/about/careers/search#!t=jo&jid=91935001&; Inside Privacy, “House to Hold Hearing on Internet of Things,” 20 Mar. 2015, http://www.insideprivacy.com/united-states/congress/house-to-hold-hearing-on-internet-of-things/. 20 Gautam Ramdurai, “Think Gaming Content Is Niche? Think Again,” Think with Google, Dec. 2014, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/think-gaming-content-is-niche-think-again.html. 21 “YouTube Brand Channels: Your Brand’s ‘Always On’ Channel,” https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.youtube.com/en/us/yt/advertise/medias/pdfs/brand-channel-onesheeter-en.pdf. 22 Neal Mohan, “Unlocking the Brand Opportunity,” DoubleClick Advertiser, 4 June 2014, http://doubleclickadvertisers.blogspot.com/2014/06/unlocking-brand-opportunity.html; DoubleClick, “Programmatic,” http://doubleclickadvertisers.blogspot.com/search/label/Programmatic. 23 Google, “The Creator Playbook for Brands,” Think with Google, Mar. 2014, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/research-studies/youtube-brand-playbook.html; Google, “Content Marketing on YouTube: Behind the Scenes,” Think with Google, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/collections/content-marketing-on-youtube-behind-the-scenes.html. 24 Google Ads, “How to Set Up Location Targeting,” YouTube, 12 Nov. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixthPMyXxCw; Google, “How Mobile Video Can Drive the

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Future of Brand Marketing,” Oct. 2014, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/youtube-insights-stats-data-trends-vol6.html; Google, “Mobile Ads,” Think with Google, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/products/youtube-mobile-ads.html. 25 Google, “YouTube Targeting: Precision Targeting at Scale,” http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.youtube.com/en/us/yt/advertise/medias/pdfs/targeting-onesheeter-en.pdf; Google, “Targeting,” Think with Google, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/products/youtube-targeting.html; Google, “Find Your Most Valuable Audience,” Think with Google, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/products/youtube-audience.html. 26 Google, “Demographics,” Think with Google, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/products/youtube-demographics.html. 27 Google, “Custom Solutions,” Think with Google, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/products/youtube-custom-solutions.html. 28 Google, “How Budweiser Won the Big Game With ‘Puppy Love,’” Think with Google, Nov. 2014, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/case-studies/how-budweiser-won-the-big-game-with-puppy-love.html; Google, “Brand Marketing Case Studies,” Think with Google, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/collections/brand-marketing-case-studies.html; Google, “YouTube Advertiser Case Studies,” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL92C2FFA1C6100BC1. 29 “Mondelez International Announces Deal with Google To Accelerate Online Video Investment,” 1 Oct. 2014, http://ir.mondelezinternational.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=874019. 30 “Oreo Cookie,” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/Oreo. 31 OpenSlate, “Customers,” https://www.openslatestudios.com/customers.html. 32 Sam Gutelle, “Google Preferred Is The Star Of YouTube’s 2014 Brandcast,” 1 May 2014, http://www.tubefilter.com/2014/05/01/google-preferred-2014-youtube-brandcast/; “Brandcast 2014: Brands on YouTube,” http://datab.us/gsQ9CobmPJ4#Brandcast%202014:%20Brands%20on%20YouTube. The next “NewFronts” conference, features Google and others. “Digital Content New Fronts 2015,” 27 Apr. – 7 May 2015, http://www.iab.net/events_training/2015/newfronts. 33 YouTube Advertisers, “Brandcast 2014: Frank Cooper PepsiCo,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HF8gVFpn80&list=PL9Xlh2Jq9l7UmYlhFvxk638T6wUHrCmHk. 34 Gary Rusak, “How YouTube is Changing the Face of Toy Marketing,” Kidscreen, 9 Feb. 2015, http://kidscreen.com/2015/02/09/how-youtube-is-changing-the-face-of-toy-marketing/#ixzz3Urus4bJj. 35 YouTube, “Terms of Service,” https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms. 36 FunToyzCollector, “About,” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyCollectorBR/about; “FunToyzCollector,” https://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyCollectorBR; Joshua Cohen, “Top 100 Most Viewed YouTube Channels Worldwide,” Tubefilter, Jan. 2015, http://www.tubefilter.com/2015/02/27/top-100-most-viewed-youtube-channels-worldwide-january-2015/.

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!37 FunToyzCollector, “Sofia the First Balloon Tea Party 2-in-1 Playset with Disney Frozen Princess Anna Elsa of Arendelle,” YouTube, 20 Mar. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCD5xKIEPFo; James Gordon, “The Mystery Woman Who Makes $5million from YouTube but You'll Never See Her Face,” Daily Mail, 24 Jan. 2015, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2924880/Forget-funny-pet-video-highest-YouTube-earner-faceless-woman-makes-nearly-5-million-opening-toys.html. 38 Rob Wile, “The Highest YouTube Earner of 2014 Made Nearly $5 million Just by Opening Disney Toy Packages,” Fusion, 16 Jan. 2015, http://fusion.net/story/38924/the-highest-youtube-earner-of-2014-made-4-9-million-just-by-opening-disney-toy-packages/; Hillary Reinsberg, “YouTube’s Biggest Star Is An Unknown Toy-Reviewing Toddler Whisperer,” BuzzFeed, 18 July 2014, http://www.buzzfeed.com/hillaryreinsberg/youtubes-biggest-star-is-an-unknown-toy-reviewing-toddler-wh#.nw6dGX1BG; “DisneyCarToys,” https://www.youtube.com/user/DisneyCarToys. 39 Gary Bourgeault, “Disney's Maker Studios’ Strategy Looks Solid Going Forward,” Seeking Alpha, 12 Jan. 2015, http://seekingalpha.com/article/2815195-disneys-maker-studios-strategy-looks-solid-going-forward?page=2; Todd Spangler, “Disney’s Maker Studios Signs 5 Toy-Review YouTube Channels,” Variety, 25 Nov. 2014, http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/disneys-maker-studios-signs-5-toy-review-youtube-channels-1201364617/; Peter Kafka, “Toy ‘Review’ Videos Are Weird and Popular. So Disney’s Maker Studios Is Signing Them Up,” Re/code, 25 Nov. 2014, http://recode.net/2014/11/25/toy-review-videos-are-weird-and-popular-so-disneys-maker-studios-is-signing-them-up/. 40 “DisneyCarToys”; Joshua Cohen, “Top 50 Most Viewed U.S. YouTube Channels: Week of 3/6/15,” Tubefilter, 7 Mar. 2015, http://www.tubefilter.com/2015/03/07/top-50-most-viewed-us-youtube-channels-03-06-15/. 41 Marc Graser, “Bob Iger Explains Why Disney Bought Maker Studios,” Variety, 6 May 2014, http://variety.com/2014/biz/news/bob-iger-explains-why-disney-bought-maker-studios-1201173389/. 42 Cartoonium, “Messy Painting in the Dark—Neon Arcade,” YouTube, 20 Mar. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ulz2ENks1A0; “Cartoonium,” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/Cartoonium; Cartoonium, “About,” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/Cartoonium/about. 43 Cartoonium, “Strawberry Shortcake,” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMV6ofyeyFRScOCY4q7OxkAFOYEooypgJ. 44 Graser, “Bob Iger Explains Why Disney Bought Maker Studios.” 45 “EvanTubeHD: Toy Makers Look to Kid Reviewers to Boost Sales,” Parentdish, 5 Nov. 2014, http://www.parentdish.ca/2014/11/05/evantubehd-kid-toys/; EvanTubeHD, http://www.makerstudios.com/makers; EvanTubeHD, http://www.maker.tv/maker/evantubehd; Rusak, “How YouTube is Changing the Face of Toy Marketing.” 46 Maker Studios, “Media Solutions,” http://www.makerstudios.com/commercial#/media-solutions. 47 Maker Studios, “Partners,” http://www.makerstudios.com/commercial#/partners; Maker Studios, “Commercial,” http://www.makerstudios.com/commercial. 48 Cartoonium, “Messy Painting in the Dark—Neon Arcade.”

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!49 Bree Brouwer, “Mondo Media, Spin Master Debut Kids’ YouTube Channel SpindoTV,” Tubeflter, 10 Mar. 2015, http://www.tubefilter.com/2015/03/10/mondo-media-spin-master-spindotv-kids; Spin Master, “Videos,” http://www.spinmaster.com/videos.php. 50 Google, “Developer, Product Marketing Manager, Google Play for Education and Kids,” https://www.google.com/about/careers/search#!t=jo&jid=44045001&. 51 KidSay, “Digital Tweens: YouTube and the Rise of Clustersharing,” http://kidsay.com/youtube-clustersharing-request/; Mindshare North America, “Mindshare's Culture Vulture Live: Tweens, YouTube and What is Cluster-Sharing?” YouTube, 4 Dec. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKKrGZnXWhs. 52 Google, “The Customer Journey to Online Purchase,” Think with Google, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/tools/customer-journey-to-online-purchase.html#!/the-us/arts-and-entertainment/large/generic-paid-search; Cenk Bulbul, Netta Gross, Steven Shin, and Jeremy Katz, “When the Path to Purchase Becomes the Path to Purpose,” Think with Google,” June 2014, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/the-path-to-purpose.html; Google, “The Customer Journey to Online Purchase,” Think Insights, https://think.withgoogle.com/customer-journey-to-purchase/. 53 Google, “Measure What Matters Most: A Marketer's Guide,” Think with Google, Nov. 2014, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/measure-what-matters-most.html; Google, “Measuring the Impact of Online Video on Brand Metrics,” Think with Google, Mar. 2015, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/youtube-insights-stats-data-trends-vol10.html. 54 Google, “Brand Awareness and Ad Recall,” Think with Google, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/products/awareness-recall.html; Google, “YouTube Analytics Basics,” https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1714323?hl=en. 55 Google, “Protect Your Brand and Budget with Video Verification,” DoubleClick Advertiser, 11 Feb. 2015, http://doubleclickadvertisers.blogspot.com/2015/02/protect-your-brand-and-budget-with.html; Google, “Video,” Think with Google, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/platforms/video/insights/index.html. 56 “Nielsen Announces Expansions in Online Campaign Measurement,” 7 Feb. 2014, http://www.nielsen.com/au/en/press-room/2014/nielsen-announces-expansions-in-online-campaign-measurement.html; Neal Mohan, “Investing in Better Measurement for Brands,” DoubleClick Advertisers, 10 Feb. 2014, http://doubleclickadvertisers.blogspot.com/2014/02/investing-in-better-measurement-for.html; “comScore and Google Partner to Offer Actionable Audience Metric for Brands,” 10 Feb. 2014, http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press-Releases/2014/2/comScore_and_Google_Partner; Sam Thielman, “You Can Buy Nielsen Ratings on YouTube Starting Next Month,” Adweek, 1 Apr. 2014, http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/you-can-buy-nielsen-ratings-youtube-starting-next-month-156686. 57 “OpenSlate Releases Demographic Data for YouTube Channels,” 13 Jan. 2015, http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/01/prweb12439772.htm; eMarketer, “Do YouTubers Fuel Purchase Intent Among Teens?” 24 March 2015, http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Do-YouTubers-Fuel-Purchase-Intent-Among-Teens/1012260/1. OpenSlate just added an additional demographic targeting feature. It works this way: (1) An advertiser logs into the OpenSlate Select platform and defines the demographics and desired SlateScore of its target audience. (2) OpenSlate then gives the advertiser a customized marketplace of YouTube channels that meet those demographic and SlateScore qualifications. (3)The data are then made available in the advertiser’s preferred media-buying platform, where the purchase of pre-roll ads can be made

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!against the appropriate marketplace channels. Sam Gutelle, “Outrigger Media Raises $5.2 Million, Adds YouTube Demographics To OpenSlate,” Tubefilter, 13 Jan. 2015, http://www.tubefilter.com/2015/01/13/outrigger-media-raises-5-2-million-adds-youtube-demographics-to-openslate/. 58 In its 2015 annual report to shareholders, Google describes the laws that can be harmful to its business: “Various U.S. and international laws that restrict the distribution of materials considered harmful to children and impose additional restrictions on the ability of online services to collect information from minors; Data protection, laws passed by many states that require notification to users when there is a security breach for personal data, such as California’s Information Practices Act.” Google, Inc., “Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2014,” U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1288776/000128877615000008/goog2014123110-k.htm. 59 Google, “Lightbox Ads,” Think with Google, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/products/lightbox-ads.html. 60 IAB, “IAB Board of Directors,” http://www.iab.net/about_the_iab/iab_board.