How YouTube has changed the beauty industry?

Welcome back,

YouTube has had a significant impact on the beauty industry, both in a positive and negative aspect; so I thought I would have a look at these in depth.

Source (Lily Pebbles YouTube)

When I was doing some research for this post, I never realised the extent that the beauty industry plays on the video-sharing site YouTube. "In 2017 there were 88 billion beauty-related video views on YouTube, growing from “only” 55 billion in 2016" (source), this is a staggering figure but how has YouTube changed the beauty industry?

I used to love watching beauty related videos on YouTube, and some of my favourites were Tanya Burr and Zoella (Zoe Sugg). However, in more recent times it just hasn't been an area that has interested me, I put this down to growing up and just going through a phase of enjoying makeup and beauty.

Lily Pebbles is a British YouTuber, blogger and author who back in the day loved a makeup related video. She is known for collaborating with fellow YouTuber and best friend Anna Gardner on their monthly "Beauty Chat videos", and recently their podcast "At Home With...". But has since had a change in heart with her content which has led to her posting vlogs and lifestyle videos; just like viewers getting bored of the same content the content creators grow out of it as well.

YouTube has allowed content creators to develop into new career paths and natural progression within the industry, particularly getting paid for YouTube uploads. Zoe Sugg has almost 12 million subscribers and has since gone on to sign with talent agency Gleam Futures, release four books, and a beauty line called "Zoella Beauty" in collaboration with Superdrug. As you can see if it weren't for posting on YouTube, it wouldn't have allowed people like Zoe to have the audience and exposure to create the best selling book. The platform YouTube has given online creators has permitted the beauty industry to expand with a lot of new and exciting brand, including collaborations with major brands such as Morphe and Colourpop!

"Every month YouTube registers more than 700 million views of beauty-related content" - Digital Surgeons

Back in the day before YouTube launched in 2005 the marketing of a beauty product was entirely based on TV advertising and print, but now YouTube has allowed audiences to visually see makeup products being tested and reviewed and seeing this incorporated into someone's everyday routine. Customers can interact with the creators allowing them to get advice and someones personal opinion about a product or brand; this has enabled brands to get fresh and authentic content which can later lead to paid promotions and brand partnerships.

As the beauty industry is a massive aspect on YouTube, it's challenging for creators and brands to get their paid content out there, as it's a very crowded market. Marketers have to work extra hard to aim for the right audiences and uploads times for their partnerships and advertisements to get seen, so as you can imagine this can also be a costly job.

Nowadays, YouTube is the learning hub for people to gain knowledge and information about how to apply makeup, how to learn about new techniques and what makeup to buy. This has allowed customers to be easily influenced by purchasing habits due to the content they see online, which is increasing the demand and market value within this ever-changing industry.

YouTube and monetisation is a mind field with how this is applied, in 2006 when Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion that's when YouTube introduced two methods of income for creators, one being subscription and paywalls, and display advertising. Adding in-video ads was a vast development for YouTube and did bring some negativity from a consumers perspective; most advertisements tend to be around 30 seconds or offer a "skip ad" function. However, one person found a 38-minute video ad while listening to a six-hour mix of Mozart’s classical music which is unacceptable and something that no-one is going to sit through.

Overall, YouTube has massively changed in more recent years but still to do this day plays a significant impact on the beauty industry both positively and negatively. I wonder how this type of content is going to change over the years, and whether people naturally develop into different aspects of the industry.

What are your thoughts on YouTube impacting the beauty industry?