Take your brand promotion a little further and advertise your video ads on YouTube. As the second largest search engine in the world, YouTube will help you to increase the ads reach and strengthen your brand.
Take your brand promotion a little further and advertise your video ads on YouTube. As the second largest search engine in the world, YouTube will help you to increase the ads reach and strengthen your brand.
In this article, you’ll learn how to set up these campaigns correctly or what creative and format to choose to achieve your goals. Video campaigns will come in handy if you need to reach a broad and relevant audience thanks to neat targeting on YouTube. With a video campaign, you can increase ad reach and brand awareness, get relevant users to your website, and ultimately boost sales.
First you need to link Google Ads to your YouTube account and upload all the videos you want to promote to your YouTube channel. Create a new Google Ads account for your video campaigns, do not mix them with other campaign types. This allows you to track all conversion types separately.
Set up tracking based on your goals. As a video campaign is primarily a brand thing, it’s important to measure micro conversions. These are, for example, website visits, product details views, adding a product in a cart, and other steps leading to purchase.
You need to understand what your campaign’s goal is. Do not underestimate the choice of the correct video format. Some of them are good for raising brand awareness, some for increasing the number of conversions, others for lifting brand interest.
In-stream Ads are skippable video ads inserted before, during, or after the main video on YouTube & video partner sites and apps on the Display Network. Viewers can choose to skip the video ad after 5 seconds. Create videos at least 12 seconds long – if your ad is shorter, you won’t be able to collect cookies to create remarketing audiences.
The pricing model for this ad format is cost per view (CPV) – usually from 0.13 to 0.4 CZK. You are charged when the viewer engages with the video ad (e.g. clicks on the call to action) or watches 30 seconds of the video ad (or the duration if it’s shorter than 30 seconds), whichever comes first.
Nowadays, most viewers watch YouTube on mobile devices, so take advantage of a 9:16 vertical video format that covers a large part of the mobile screen.
Choose In-stream Ads when your goal is to get the widest ad reach and thus increase brand awareness.
These ads are very similar to standard in-stream ads with the difference that they are made up of more call to actions (CTAs), which motivate viewers to convert, e.g. a headline text overlays, an end screen to your video ad or prominent call-to-action buttons.
To create this format, use the “Leads”, “Sales” or “Website Traffic” goal when you set up the campaign.
Choose TrueView for action ad format when you want to encourage customers to take actions valuable to your business, i.e. get more conversions. As a targeting, Google recommends using Custom Intent Audiences. TrueView for Action delivers 30% more conversions than conventional formats.
One of our clients managed to achieve 562% more conversions with a 86% reduction in cost per conversion compared to standard in-stream video ad over the same time period. The downside is that the view rate was about 18% lower compared to the standard in-stream video ad. Therefore, it is important to set your goal correctly right from the start – if you prefer performance (conversions), use TrueView for Action ads; if it’s a brand campaign, where you strive for a high view rate, then use standard In-stream Ads.
If you manage e-commerce projects and look for an effective way to scale the promos of your products, TrueView for Shopping is right for you. Link your Google Ads account to Google Merchant Center account to get your product feed into the campaign – up to 6 shopping cards may appear on a video ad at a time. And what is more, you can select the products that can show – we recommend the best-selling products or the ones in your video. It makes it easier to convince your customer to make a purchase. That’s why this format is suitable for e-commerce projects, when you want to increase sales.
These ads can appear before, during, or after the main video. Non-skippable ads must be watched before your video can be viewed. The maximum length of this video ad is 15 seconds. The pricing model is cost per mile (CPM) – usually from 75.1 to 95.6 CZK.
The advantage is that the viewer must see the entire message. On the other hand, the viewer may be bothered by the impossibility of skipping the ad and will associate your brand with that. Therefore, we recommend that you set the frequency cap to limit the number of impressions or/and views. Use non-skippable advertising especially to increase brand awareness.
Bumper ad is a short memorable message to remind your potential customer of your product / brand. Therefore, it is great for remarketing. It is a non-skippable ad and can be a maximum of 6 seconds long. The bumper ad appears to the viewer before, during, or after the video, and you pay per thousand impressions (CPM) which is around 28 – 33 CZK.
This format is useful if you are building a brand, to boost reach and increase brand awareness.
Discovery Ads appear on YouTube search results, to the right of the feature video, and on the YouTube homepage on mobile device.The ad unit consists of an image thumbnail and up to three lines of text.
The length of this video ad is at least 12 seconds, otherwise there is no possibility to collect remarketing audiences. You are charged when the viewer clicks on the image thumbnail. The pricing model is cost per mile (CPV) – usually from 0.23 to 0.4 CZK.
This ad format is appropriate when the viewer is considering the product / brand. The discovery ad can help a potential customer to make decisions. You can also use it for DIY tutorials such as “How to make …”
The Masthead is a premium ad format that appears at the top of the YouTube homepage across all devices. It provides a massive reach, thus you can get several million impressions per day.
Masthead ads are only available on a reservation basis through a Google sales representative. You are charged for 24 hours, the price ranges from 160 000 to 180 000 CZK per day. The video ad plays automatically and cannot be skipped. This is the most expensive video format, so arrange the time period which works best for your digital strategy – it should be based on the seasonality of your product. You can also use various holidays or important days that are associated with your product (Mother’s Day, Coffee Day, Games Day, etc.).
The main goal of the format is to increase brand awareness. Thanks to the high visibility of the video ad, people remember the brand very well.
Out-stream videos are mobile-only ads that appear on partner sites and apps outside of YouTube. Ads play automatically on mute when they appear on screen, and can be unmuted whenever the user is interested. You’re charged based on viewable cost-per-thousand impressions (vCPM) – when 50% of the ad screen space is visible for two seconds or more of continuous video play – usually from 9.8 to 15.9 CZK.
Choose out-stream ads to increase the reach of your video ad on mobile devices and thus increase your brand awareness.
Video ad sequences tell your product or brand story by showing people a series of videos in the order that you define. It’s important to use videos that create a story and gradually reveal its end. Thus advertising content will be more appealing to the viewer.
You can add different ad formats to the video ad sequence:
Use video ad sequences if you need to encourage brand interest.
Proper campaign setup is important, but the main success of video campaigns is a strong and engaging video creative. This is the only way to ensure that the viewer can remember the ad and you will achieve your goals.
The first 5 seconds of video are the most important. At this time, you must convince the viewer to watch the video to the end. If the main message arrives after that, the viewer simply skips the ad and learns nothing. Each time place the brand / product at the beginning, both audio and visual. Make sure the viewer knows immediately what brand / product it is. Everything has to naturally fit together, which is never an easy task.
Never overdo it with the length of the video. People get bored with long ads and the video viewership is very low.
The video must be both visually and audibly pleasing. For a spoken word, choose a person with a pleasant voice and clear pronunciation. Always remember to mention your brand and product in your video. According to Google, videos with the mentioned brand have a 20% higher brand lift.
A good video creative is based not only on the idea, but also on the correct product placement. As viewers watch YouTube mostly on their mobile phones, they need to see the product well. You must also adapt your video creative to mobile formats. Create video creatives for computers and for mobile devices separately and always make sure your product is easy to see.
According to Google, about 93% of YouTube viewers pay most attention to “How to” videos (tutorials, manuals,…). They come to YouTube to learn something. Include this type of video creative into your ads. It helps viewers to start the relationship with your brand.
Bet on the details. Focus on actors’ faces, your product and brand. This makes your audience more emotional and your brand more memorable.
Nowadays stories work very well. The video is more appealing and affects the viewer’s feelings and emotions. If your brand is behind a strong story, be sure to use it in your video creative.
