Anyone who has ever attempted to watch a YouTube video is well aware of the numerous ads that are bound to appear either before, or in the middle of the video. YouTube ads are a means of advertising which has been used for a fairly long period now, and for some different purposes. They show great diversity and have a reach that spans well beyond any geographical limitations. There are also some different ad formats to choose from, depending on the type of content you wish to put out. Below, we list the most frequently used formats so that you can understand what will work best for you.
YouTube has the basic formatting necessary for making some different marketing campaigns, which is essential for identifying the types of ads that you can run, where they can be placed, and other related information. Based on the main goal of your campaign, you can choose from the following for your YouTube video ad:
- Leads and Website Traffic which are the best options when you are driving traffic and aiming to generate good conversions from your YouTube ads.
- Product and Brand Consideration which provides an opportunity to generate more awareness about the brand and for putting your product in front of a good target audience, including influencers who are capable of carrying the marketing forward.
- Brand Awareness and Reach which is typically used to generate brand buzz and includes more options for the types of ads.
After you have made this decision, you begin to focus on the length and the properties of your ad, as well as the amount of viewership you are expecting from it.
TrueView Ads (In-stream or In-display)
These are ads which run before, during, or after the video, and are used primarily for increasing the awareness about a product or a brand. They can usually be skipped after a period of time, and hence, come with the ever useful skip button. The payment for these advertisements is subjective since you are only required to pay if the viewer watches the entire video, and not if it is skipped.
Moreover, it will also increase your viewer count, essentially providing free social proof, since the views are counted per user, and not with respect to the duration of the ad they watch. TrueView discovery ads also appear on YouTube search results near their related videos or the homepage on mobiles. They are ideal when you are in the initial stages of marketing.
In-Stream Ads
These play before the YouTube video. The views are defined as viewers watching a minimum of 30 seconds of the ad. IF the ad video happens to be shorter than 30 seconds, the view is considered only when viewers watch the entire video.
In-display Ads
For these ads, views are registered as soon as viewers click on the video to watch it, irrespective of how long they watch it.
Pre-Roll Ad
These are ads which are non-skippable and which are considered as pay per view. Although certain video publishers have no issues with such advertisements exceeding 30 seconds, it is never a favorable idea to force viewers to watch ad videos, and they should be kept fairly short to retain as much attention as possible. The ideal video length in such cases is 10-20 seconds of eye-catching and attention-grabbing content.
Moreover, because of the pay per click pricing, it is more economical to opt for 15-second pre-rollover the in-stream viewing TrueView videos. It becomes imperative to focus more on clicks when your product includes things whose first step revolves around directing people to your page before they can purchase. These are ideal for ecommerce, online sales, tickets and music sales, etc.
Bumper ads
These are ads whose duration is less than 6 seconds. These don’t have the option of being skipped, but also don’t increase the view count for the videos. The payment for these is by cost for every 1,000 impressions, which is called CPM. This is a great way to begin the launch of a campaign and release small trailers or teasers before you begin releasing full-fledged ads.
This knowledge should be enough to get you started on your endeavor to use this well-known platform to your best advantage for marketing your brand or organization. There is a lot of consumer psychology which will be required for every decision that you choose to make.
Moreover, the type of advertisement you finally choose to keep can greatly impact your entire campaign. Hopefully, your YouTube ad campaign is all geared up for success now. Good luck!