L'Oreal Sponsors Beauty Channel on YouTube

YouTube and L’Oreal Paris have teamed up to create a new video channel that aims to be a one-stop shop for fans of the most popular video bloggers in the beauty space.

The channel, Destination Beauty, is part of a year-long program that will feature content from partners like makeup tutorial phenom Lauren Luke, makeup artist Kandee Johnson, and Seventeen Magazine.

The content is sponsored by L’Oreal, which Google says will put its weight behind getting consumers to the site through ads on YouTube as well as across the Google Display Network, which includes sites like women’s fashion destination Elle.com. Global media agency Universal McCann helped develop the campaign.

Ryan Olohan, Google’s beauty industry head, said the channel was launched in part because of “the explosive growth of online video – especially on YouTube – for beauty.“

YouTube recently surpassed the two-billion-views-a-day mark. And Destination Beauty’s target audience includes any woman 18 to 54 who is watching those videos online, he said.

Google/YouTube does not break down viewership by gender, but it’s still safe to say there’s a substantial audience for beauty video content. In fact, 15 of the most viewed channels in the category on YouTube are tagged as “Beauty.”

What’s more, Lauren Luke’s channel, Panacea81, has nearly 85 million total upload views to date; Kandee Johnson’s channel boasts nearly 51 million total upload views; and Seventeen Magazine’s channel has 38 million total upload views.

“Destination Beauty is a compilation of all this great beauty content that is happening out there, consolidated into this hub,” Olohan said.

Over the course of a year, weekly videos will feature tips on anything related to beauty – from skincare and eye care to imitating celebrity looks. The videos will also include seasonal content.

While L’Oreal products will be featured in the videos, Destination Beauty partners will not be limited exclusively to L’Oreal brands.

“What makes this partnership so special is that (L’Oreal) understands that people are looking for tips regardless of whether they’re L’Oreal products or not,” Olohan said.

For its part, L’Oreal says video bloggers in the beauty space are much more accessible to everyday women than magazines because bloggers actually demonstrate how to put looks together. And while L’Oreal says it has sent products to the content providers, inclusion is at their discretion.

Olohan concedes there are lots of other sites to choose from when looking for beauty content online, but he also says Destination Beauty has one distinct advantage here: The sheer scale of the YouTube audience.