What are YouTube Ads? Overview of YouTube Ads for Marketers

YouTube Ads mean advertising on Youtube, an online video-sharing platform, promoting video content or related search terms in Youtube Search. Since YouTube is under Google, it can be done through Google Ads.

This is a way of promoting video content on YouTube or in search results to maximise user reach. There are two common forms of advertising: videos that will play before a user watches other people’s videos or show up in YouTube’s search results.

1. Advantages of Youtube Ads

The importance of video in online marketing is growing, and investing in quality online video ads will yield more results for any online advertising campaign. Therefore, Youtube Ads will create many opportunities for companies to expand their online marketing strategy.

1.1. Cost savings

YouTube ads provide essential data, making it easy for advertisers to reach the right audiences. At the same time, YouTube Ads also have formats such as Skippable Video Ads that help save advertising costs significantly.

1.2. Easily target the target audience

Targeting the right audience is critical to a successful campaign. YouTube Ads provide a wealth of information and options to help advertisers narrow their ads. With YouTube’s targeting options, advertisers can target a particular group of users or more general groups based on product type.

1.3. Great reach

According to Google, YouTube has more than two billion monthly logged-in users, with 500 hours of video content uploaded to the platform every minute. Google reports that the average visitor spends 11 minutes and 24 seconds on YouTube every day, and each YouTube visit, on average, leads to 6.5 page views. From the data, it can be seen that YouTube has many users on the platform.

2. How to charge YouTube Ads

In addition, YouTube Ads apply different options for how costs are calculated. The platform also applies several other metrics to ensure the needs and intent of the advertiser/business when starting a campaign.

YouTube offers four basic options:

CPC – Cost Per Click: this is a paid advertising term in which the advertiser pays the provider a cost for each click on the ad from the viewer.
CPA – Cost Per Action: this is a form of charging advertisers only for a specific action taken by a potential customer. All the actions mentioned are related to some conversion, from newsletter signups to link or store clicks.
CPM – Cost Per Mille: is the total amount an advertiser pays for 1,000 impressions of their ad video.
CPV – Cost Per View: this is a method of charging video ads based on the number of views or interactions an ad receives.

3. Different types of ads on YouTube Ads

This video platform provides two main types of advertising: video ads and display ads. Depending on the display format on different devices, YouTube will allocate appropriate ads. On desktop format, YouTube will display both video ads and display ads. In mobile format, only video ads are displayed. Currently, YouTube Ads provides advertisers/businesses with some basic types of advertising, such as:

3.1. Skippable Video Ads (Skippable In-Stream Ads)

Description: it can skip promotional videos after 5s
Video length: 12s – 6p
Bidding method: CPM, CPV, CPA
Display Position: before, during, and after the video.
Suitable format: Mobile phone, computer, TV.
Goal: Increase brand awareness, Increase conversions
Why use Skippable Video Ads?
Low Risk: An advertiser is only charged when a viewer chooses to watch the entire ad for at least 30 seconds or engage with it.
No time limit: you can experiment with different ad formats, such as product demos, testimonials, or how-to videos.

This is YouTube’s primary ad format, as it allows viewers to control the ads they see. Advertisers only pay for ads when a user watches for at least 30 seconds, watches an entire short video, or interacts with the ad. At the same time, this is also a cost-saving as viewers can choose the ads they want to see and skip the ones they don’t. Skippable Video Ads have two smaller formats: in-stream ads and discovery ads.

In-stream Ads: will pre-play the video selected by the viewer. This ad also has a small countdown timer and a link to the advertised website in the lower left corner of the screen. Furthermore, Instream ads with accompanying banner ads are displayed in the right sidebar above the list of suggested videos.

Discovery ads: appear in YouTube search results and the right sidebar of watch pages above the list of suggested videos. This ad includes an image thumbnail and up to three lines of text.

3.2. Non-Skippable Video Ads (Non-Skippable Video Ads)

Description: it cannot skip the promotional video
Video length: Up to 15s (for Vietnam region)
Bidding method: CPM
Display Position: before, during, and after the video.
Suitable format: Mobile phone, computer, TV.
Objective: Increase brand awareness

Non-skippable video ads are an ad format that viewers have no control over, like the Skippable Video Ads format. Many studies show that up to 76% of viewers automatically skip ads. This is a considerable number that affects the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. Therefore, Non-Skippable Video Ads will help advertisers ensure that many people know the brand image.

3.3. Bumper Ad (Bumper Ad)

Description: it cannot skip the promotional video
Bidding method: PPC
Display Position: before, during, and after the video.
Suitable format: Mobile phone, computer, TV…
Goal: Increase conversions

Bumper Ad is also a non-skippable ad like Non-Skippable Video Ads but shorter in length. Most of these YouTube ads are great for retargeting with solid calls to action and for recycling longer ads. Businesses or advertisers must ensure that the 6s Bumper Ad must provide an accurate and clear message about the advertising content.

3.4. Sponsored Cards

Description: promotional card
Bidding method: PPC
Display Position: before, during, and after the video.
Suitable format: Mobile phone, computer, TV…
Goal: Increase brand awareness

Sponsored card ads will display video-related content. It could be products, events, or other promotions that appear in the video. The little ‘i’ icon that pops up in the upper right corner of the video is a tag that shows this video has an ad tag. When a viewer clicks on that icon, a sponsored card will appear.

3.5. Display Ad

Description: Advertising image
Bidding method: PPC
Display Position: before, during, and after the video.
Suitable format: Computer
Goal: Increase brand awareness and conversion rates

Display Ads are images that appear above or below video recommendations and to the right of featured videos. Usually, this image has been around for a while. It shows up in the right sidebar above the list of suggested videos.

3.6. Overlay Ad (Banner Ads)

Description: banner or advertising frame.
Bidding method: PPC
Display Position: before, during, and after the video.
Suitable format: Computer
Goal: Increase brand awareness and conversion rates

This is the simplest form of YouTube Ads when just banners appear throughout the video. Overlay Ad has two primary forms: banner images or text. This type of ad will appear in the video as a pop-up that the user can remove. If it cannot remove, the ad will stay until it disappears.

3.7. Masthead ads (Ads on the homepage)

Description: The video appears on the YouTube homepage.
Bidding method: CPM – CPD
Suitable format: Computer, mobile phone, and TV
Goal: Increase brand awareness

This is a form of advertising that appears 24 hours an on a country’s YouTube homepage. In particular, masthead ads are only available for one ad in a day, depending on the needs of the business/advertiser. This advertising is costly when it can cost more than $10,000/day. Unlike other ads on the same three formats as TV, computer, and phone of YouTube Ads, masthead ads will have slight differences between each format.

4. Guide to advertising on YouTube Ads

Sign in to your Google Ads account. Click “All Campaigns” and then tap the blue ‘+’ icon to get started.
Choose the right campaign type (in this case, video) and confirm a goal that reflects your business goal—for example, website traffic, brand awareness, etc.
A general definition of the new campaign. Choose a campaign name, set a daily budget, and confirm where the ads run.
Choose a bidding strategy.
Define the target audience. Based on Demographics, Interests, Content, or even upload first-party data to create “Custom Audiences.”
Choose an ad format. Upload ad content. Advertisers will also need to add the destination URL and any necessary headlines and ad copy.

5. Summary

Many businesses/advertisers are investing in high-quality video content and promoting it on YouTube Ads as product marketing. YouTube Ads will be a helpful tool to help advertisers reach their target market.

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