Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

By the time Katy Perry rode in on an animatronic lion to start her Super Bowl halftime extravaganza, Harley Morenstein and a cast of YouTube stars were already doing a chemistry demonstration on their own intermission show.

The Google Inc.-owned video site hosted its first Super Bowl halftime show ever, targeting a fan base that can run into the millions for celebrities like Morenstein, who leads the food-stunt group Epic Meal Time. The point wasn’t to compete with the NBC telecast, but to give teenagers something to watch on their phones while Perry pranced in a bathing suit, and to demonstrate the advertising value of YouTube.

“I don’t view it as an alternate,” said Rhett McLaughlin, a YouTube personality who appeared on the show. “We’re not trying to compete.”

The show was part of a package on YouTube’s Ad Blitz channel, where the site was also promoting the Super Bowl ads that aired on the NBC telecast. Some advertisers put their spots on YouTube well before the game, and viewers will be able to vote on their favorites for the next week.

“We all get to watch this on our phones or computers, so everyone wins,” Morenstein said at the show’s conclusion.

The halftime show featured science tricks, a dunk tank and a roving correspondent interviewing people who ended up getting a bucket of water poured on their heads. Morenstein, guests Freddie Wong, Toby Turner and McLaughlin made fake ads to go with the real ones.

Freshman Outing

The halftime program bore the signs of a first effort, including an opening montage dedicated entirely to the show’s newness. Morenstein veered off script and teased the producers when one video clip was different than what he expected. The show ran long, ending partway through the third quarter. By then the Seattle Seahawks had already scored a field goal.

While the show’s viewer stats won’t arrive until later this week, YouTube has already succeeded in one regard. The Ad Blitz promotion brought more attention to spots airing on the site.

As of Sunday night, people had spent triple the time watching Super Bowl ads on YouTube as they had at the same point last year, said Jamie Byrne, YouTube’s head of content strategy. Advertisers provided 80 percent more content related to their campaigns.

“We can’t deny the power of the Super Bowl as a marketing event, and we’re a great complement,” Byrne said. “It’s no longer about one day, one stop.”