ARCHIVES: This is legacy content from before Marketing Dive acquired Mobile Marketer in early 2017. Some information, such as publication dates, may not have migrated over. Check out the new Marketing Dive site for the latest marketing news.

Disney, Red Bull leverage Coub?s growing audience to drive engagement

Disney, Red Bull and Mini Cooper are among brands building engagement by leveraging Coub, the video re-mixing site and application which allows users to create and share looping videos up to 10 seconds long.

Twelve percent of Coub?s 50 million monthly users come from its mobile-optimized Web site and tablets, giving brands an opportunity to engage with consumers who watch or share looped videos from sites such as YouTube, Vimeo or their own files. The brands? use of Coub?s Web site for special projects that app users also can see points to marketers? acknowledgement of the power of social and mobile to drive engagement.

?If you have a bunch of content to promote, and have enough courage to make it with the help of user generated content, Coub is the place to go,? said Nastya Popova, the site?s head of marketing. ?The Coub audience is easily engaged into creating content from any footage around the Web. 

?So if you want your content go viral, just let them make Coubs,? she said. 

500-700 downloads
Coub?s iOS app is downloaded 500 to 700 times a day, according to Ms. Popova, and attracts 10,000 unique daily users. A typical day can see 12,000 to 14,000 user sessions.

Besides being able to make a looping video from any video in their own library or other sites, Coub users also can add music from their iTunes library to further customize their Coub. Coubs are shareable in any social network and embeddable, whether from the app or the mobile Web.
 
Coub features hundreds of channels organized by theme and topic, including movies, sports, cartoons, TV, art and music.  

Adding iTunes music to shared videos.

Disney has used Coub to share a short looping video promoting its Guardians of the Galaxy film, made by Marvel Studios and released Aug. 1. 

The movie follows a group of criminals who must save the galaxy from an evil enemy. Disney?s looping video can be viewed here

Brands with an abundance of video content have also used Coub as a social media platform. Red Bull?s use of the platform can be viewed here.

Mini Cooper also has had video on Coub.

?We don?t use banners or any other media formats that annoy users,? Ms. Popova said. ?We suggest brands give out their content, such as ads and movie trailers, to let our users make coubs from it. 

?Coub users are very loyal to the platform, very competitive and they fight for acknowledgement,? she said. ?If a brand is willing to give some content to them, users will make many viral coubs from it. That?s how brands get a very high rate of engagement and viral content.? 

Teaser format
Although the app is ad-free, all content created for special projects is user-generated content and is shown within the app. 

Driving engagement through social and mobile.

?Every coub has a link to the source video,? Ms. Popova said.
?One viral coub can generate hundreds of thousands of views to the original video. 

?Also, coubs have an iTunes button. If you hear a track that you like, you can go to iTunes and buy it. 

?We increase the sales for the artists/music labels,? she said. 

Coub?s appeal is its teaser format. ?For content owners Coub is the best way to distribute video and get the engaged audience,? Ms. Popova said. ?Coub?s audience is very engaged, and coubs easily get viral.

?Coub can be used by consumers, businesses and publishers to provide a new way of engaging with audiences,? she said.?

Final Take
Michael Barris is staff reporter with Mobile Marketer, New York.