Ads on YouTube have become increasingly important for companies’ digital positioning strategy on social media.
There is no doubt that audiovisual content is the topic of the moment. There are many materials, especially video, created in this format that is on the rise in today’s Digital Marketing environment .
To give you an idea, 51.9% of marketers say that video is the best performing content format.
In this scenario, a platform stands out. It doesn’t take much to know which one we’re talking about, right?
YouTube has more than 1 billion users , which represents almost a third of all people with Internet access in the world. Amazing numbers, don’t you think? But there is much more to say about this expansion of the format. Some of them are:
- more than 300 hours of video uploads are made per minute;
- YouTube receives 30 million visitors a day;
- in total, 3.5 billion hours are watched per month on the platform;
- 6 out of 10 people prefer to watch videos online than on television.
Video consumption on the platform is expected to increase even further, as it shows a 60% growth in hours viewed each year.
Yes, YouTube is excellent for users, it means that it is also excellent for companies. After all, in the digital world you have to adapt to consumer habits and customs .
Ads on YouTube represent a unique opportunity to reach your audience through videos. All with features like cost control, audience segmentation, and results measurement.
But after all, how do they work? What types of ads are available? If you have these doubts, do not despair! In this article, we’ll answer these questions so your business can start its campaigns right now.
How to create ads on YouTube?
First of all, there are a few prerequisites to start advertising on YouTube. They are as follows:
- have a Gmail account ;
- create a YouTube channel ;
- register in Google Adwords .
After that, you just have to accept the terms and conditions, link your Adwords account to YouTube, and start producing your campaigns. Easy right?
How to link my Adwords account to YouTube?
To link your Adwords account to YouTube, there is no great mystery. Just follow the steps below:
- log into your Google Adwords account and copy the customer ID, which is displayed in the upper right corner of the page;
- go to YouTube;
- on the home page, click the top right button (if you put a photo, which is highly recommended, it will appear here);
- click on “Creation Studio”;
- click on “Channel” and new options will open;
- click on “Advanced”;
- below the account information there is a button that says “Link a Google Adwords account”;
- paste the ID copied in step 1 into the open box;
- select your account name;
- click finish.
Ready! Now you are ready to start creating your YouTube campaigns. The Adwords tool itself has a very didactic tutorial, which we will talk about below.
How do I set up my first YouTube ad campaign?
For your YouTube video campaign to be perfect, you need to configure it. Remember to take into account all the details elaborated in the planning, such as the budget, the buyer person and other elements.
The first step for this is to produce your first material . They are usually in video format, so get creative and upload it to the platform.
Next, make sure you are in your Google Adwords account and log into Google Adwords for Videos . Enter the URL of the created video, then choose the title, description, and thumbnail to display .
The next step is to decide if you want the videos to drive traffic to your site or attract people to your YouTube channel. Select the option that best suits your needs and continue.
Later, you will need to determine the budget and audience for your campaign. This last feature is extremely valuable since you can only reach the maximum number of potential buyers of your product or service , avoiding wasted investment.
After all these steps, you will confirm that your campaign will run. But the work does not end here. Next, you must see it and measure its results through Analytics, available in AdWords itself.
If you want to learn more about how this tool works, download our Definitive Guide to Google Adwords .
There are several types of ads on YouTube. However, the creation process will always be through Google Adwords.
To make your choices simpler, we’ll talk more about each of them below.
What are the types of ads on YouTube?
YouTube offers a host of dynamic features for advertisers. The choice of ad types can directly affect the performance of a campaign. Therefore, you must choose wisely.
There is no one better than the other. The type you choose depends on the strategy of each business.
Let’s see what they are:
Mastheads for computers
This type of ad is used mainly by large companies. These are ads that are posted on the YouTube home page and are confused with native videos. That is, the user will hardly recognize them as advertising .
The form of billing is done by days, that is, every 24 hours of delivery of ads, the amount is charged.
This type has some variations related to the size of the ad, which are “main page”, “maximizable” and “lite”.
Mastheads for mobile devices
This type of ad is similar to the one mentioned in the previous topic, but it only works on mobile devices. That is, phones and tablets.
The composition is very simple: title, description, call to action and a video thumbnail, which can be played automatically for up to 20 seconds (after that, the user chooses whether to close it or keep watching).
Custom implementation
Available only on computers, the custom implementation allows the advertiser to create ad units on the YouTube home page, which can be expanded with the click of the user.
The means of payment is through visualizations or clicks.
As it is a resource that requires a good knowledge of HTML techniques , it is necessary to have a professional to execute the campaign. However, the tool itself offers a method to make the process easier. We will talk about him below.
Layout implementation
The design implementation model is very similar to the custom implementation. But instead of advertisers creating their own ads, there are several layouts to choose from.
The purpose of this type of ad is to simplify the process of creating graphic pieces. There are featured video, carousel and image gallery options.
Regular video ads
Video ads are displayed during the playback of content produced by the platform’s channels.
They work on both computers and mobile devices, as well as applications registered with the Adwords platform, smart televisions, video games and players integrated in other sites.
In this format, the ad must be a maximum of 30 seconds long. It can be displayed at the beginning, end or during video playback. Apart from that, they also have “skip” and “impossible to skip” options, each with its own characteristics.
TrueView video discovery
One of the most common models, this type of ad, which can be displayed in thumbnail format, is accompanied by up to three lines of text.
Ads are generally served on YouTube search page or watch pages (i.e. related videos when user is looking at other content).
However, they can also appear on the home page, YouTube app , and sites registered on the display network.
Standard graphics
The default graphics are, as the name implies, the preset templates on the web. They accept GIF, JPG and PNG images and can be displayed in all sections of YouTube except the home page.
They can also be featured in Zagat, a very successful guide to restaurants and entertainment in the United States.
In-video overlay
In-video overlay ads overlap with the video being displayed. They appear in the middle of content consumption at the bottom of the video, without interrupting the viewer’s experience.
The user has the option to click on it or close it. This feature can be charged for both the number of views and the number of clicks.
Live broadcast
Advertising on live broadcasts is an advanced feature as it requires hiring a coding company.
In this format, live videos are streamed on the user’s home page or search page. Lives is a video model that grows by the day. To give you an idea, 81% of users watched more live video in 2016 than in 2015, and the trend is for these numbers to increase.
How to measure the results of my campaign?
The Adwords platform itself provides very detailed reports on video campaigns.
Some of the most relevant data are the number of views, the engagement rate , the average cost per view, clicks and the click-through rate. Other KPIs can be tracked , so you need to define which ones are the most valuable to your business.
It is the responsibility of the advertiser to verify the collected metrics, verify the performance of each of the campaigns and adjust them according to what generates the best results.
There is no doubt that video marketing is the future of business. YouTube ads are a great way to engage your audience and generate new business opportunities.
Therefore, it is time to take advantage of this tool and get ahead of the competition in the search for clients.
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