Marketers have taken note of YouTube’s recent push toward longer-form video.
For UK-based challenger bank Revolut, this has led to a focus on creators based on its Google-owned platform.
“YouTube is typically the main focus,” Fiona Davis, Revolut’s head of growth for the UK, Ireland and Nordics, said when asked about the company’s creator strategy. “When we think about talent, we think first and foremost about YouTube followings. That’s one of the key criteria.”
Part of that is down to an increased number of creators willing to produce longer-form video content for YouTube (Davis said personal finance content tends to have longer watch times) and the fact that YouTube users actually watch that content.
According to Tubular Labs data, the number of videos longer than 20 minutes that creators upload to YouTube each month grew from 1.3 million in July 2022 to 8.5 million in June 2024, as the platform’s algorithm prioritizes longer videos and as more viewers watch YouTube content on internet-connected TVs in their living rooms. According to Nielsen, U.S. viewers spent more time watching TV on YouTube than any other media company or broadcaster between May 2023 and 2024.
“In terms of cultural and long-form resonance, it’s a platform where brands can win,” said Dan Turner, group editorial director at social agency We Are Social, adding that consumers are “inclined to deeper, more niche elements of popular topics.”
It’s not just the four-hour Star Wars hotel review: Revolut is partnering with “micro-influencer” personal finance creators who promote its products (content that can’t easily be accommodated in a short runtime) and British creators such as YouTuber Will Rennie, known as WillNE, and rapper Chunkz, a member of the YouTube creator group Beta Squad, both of whom boast millions of subscribers.
For the latter set, we intersperse related content with promotional segments we’ve made with individual creators. For example, a recent video we made with UK creator Chunkz shows him trying out some of London’s most expensive restaurants. The 23-minute video includes a 60-second section showcasing a feature that makes it easier for diners to split the bill.
Now that Revolut has firmly established itself as a financial brand, Davis said the marketing team wants to aggressively promote the card as a checking account and a way to do everyday banking, rather than what was once thought of as just a “travel card.”
Davis said consumers are more likely to reconsider banking services at major life milestones, such as “when they get their first job, when they get their first paycheck, when they get married, when they get divorced, when they buy their first home.”
And when customers are looking for advice, they’re more likely to go to YouTube than the personal finance pages of a major newspaper. In response, the brand’s creator program aims to ensure “we’re the first thought and first choice” for customers looking to switch banks. Last quarter, Revolut ran 24 influencer activities in the second quarter of the year, though a spokesperson declined to disclose how much it spent on these partnerships.
Many of the influencers it works with, such as personal finance creator Gustaf Eriksson, cover topics like bank account and card features, investment products and overseas card fees, a key angle for Revolut and its fellow challenger banks. In addition to keeping an eye on creators’ audiences, Davis said the team prioritizes creators with ties to the personal finance space.
“At the end of the day, we want people to be passionate about the product,” she said.
In contrast, while TikTok also attracts a younger demographic within Revolut’s target demographic, Davis said it remains a minor channel in the brand’s paid media mix and approach to creators, declining to provide exact budget details.
“TikTok is an area we haven’t solved yet,” she said. Though the platform has made moves to encourage longer-form content, she doesn’t think its users want to see detailed discussions of personal finance. “In terms of content … and attention spans on TikTok, [of personal finance] “That’s where it gets a little tricky,” she explained.
Revolut recently signaled its intention to begin beefing up its marketing operations, promoting Antoine Le Nel, previously vice president of growth, to its first chief marketing officer position and making Davis head of growth for the bank’s three markets.
The restructuring means Davis is holding back on shifting its creator strategy in response to demand for longer-form content. The company’s marketing team will monitor the performance of its longer-form content and decide whether to change its strategy to capitalize on the increase.
“The appetite to continue testing and learning is very strong. We are still learning how to best utilize these channels,” she said.
Davis said the company plans to grow its small in-house marketing team (currently eight people) in the UK, Nordics and Ireland, albeit cautiously. “We want to keep the team very lean,” Davis said, adding that hiring plans will vary by market. “We have plans to hire a couple more people in the Nordics, and from there we’ll look at how we can grow the UK team so that our Irish marketers aren’t going out there alone.”
