YouTube Ad Formats And Their Use

YouTube Ad Formats, YouTube video ads are becoming an essential part of almost any business’s marketing strategy. For Youtube advertising to be successful, you need to know, among other things, the various video ad formats that will help you achieve your marketing goals. 

YouTube is, without a doubt, the most popular video portal in the world. It is visited by more than two billion logged-in users each month, who watch more than a billion hours of videos a day. YouTube is also one of the top video portals in all over world. According to the latest available statistics, YouTube has 2.9 million viewers per month, who watch more than 532 million videos. For many, especially the younger generation, YouTube is even a replacement for television.

But people don’t go to YouTube just for fun. More and more people are using him as a purchasing consultant. Customers come to YouTube to discover new products or get inspired. Alternatively, they have solved a problem or made sure they have chosen the right product or service. And video is a great help for them. We can say that people use YouTube at all stages of their purchasing decisions.

Your goal should be to leverage their activity at every stage of their purchasing process and skillfully link it to your marketing goals: awareness, buying consideration, and action.

To effectively reach your customers with video ads at every stage of their shopping journey, you need to choose the appropriate metrics ( KPIs ) for each marketing goal. It’s also important not to forget the correct bid, reach the right audience, and choose the valid ad format. And we’ll take a closer look at the different YouTube ad formats and usages.

1. Microspot / Bumper

A microspot, or bumper, is a short six-second non-skippable video that plays before, during, or after another video. An accompanying banner can supplement it.

Objective: Awareness

Payment: You pay for 1000 impressions

This format is helpful if you want to increase your reach, frequency, and brand awareness. Of all the formats, microspots have the lowest CPM and are displayed mainly on mobile phones. As they last only six seconds, the advertising message must be concise and engaging. They are the basis for any successful advertising campaigns on YouTube, and if they are combined with a longer format creative, e.g., with in-stream advertising, they increase brand impact and expand reach.

2. TrueView Skippable Ads

TrueView ads are specific in that the user can decide for themselves whether to view the ad. This includes in-stream advertisements that appear before, during, or after another video, and viewers can skip them after five seconds. An accompanying banner can also supplement this format. This also includes click-to-play Discovery ads.

Objective: Awareness (TrueView for Reach) / Purchasing Consideration (TrueView in-stream, Discovery) / Action (TrueView for Action)

TrueView ads offer four key formats, which differ mainly in how they are offered and their relevance to the marketing goal.

TrueView at your fingertips

Choose this format if your goal is to get the most out of your ad and increase your brand awareness. Optimization is focused on impressions. You pay per thousand impressions.

TrueView in-stream

The most popular video ad format on YouTube. It encourages people to choose your brand, and you pay for it when the viewer acts, e.g., Click to visit your site or view the entire ad, or at least thirty seconds of the ad. These ads are charged per view (CPM or CPV).

TrueView Discovery

They appear on the YouTube mobile homepage, search results, and related YouTube videos. Discovery ads differ from in-stream formats in that the user initiates the video by clicking on the video thumbnail, which also gives a form of charging. This format is suitable for use in the decision-making phase of a customer’s purchasing path considering a product or brand. For example, you can offer a review of your product or instructions on how to prepare it.

TrueView for actions

These are skippable ads that support multiple possible call-to-action (other call-to-action buttons, title, final screen) compared to other TrueView formats. Your campaign can be optimized for target CPA or maximum conversions, but you pay per thousand impressions. Choose this format to get clicks or modifications on the web. A call to action is displayed while the ad is playing, and a final call-to-action screen appears for more than five seconds when the video ad ends.

3. Non-skippable in-stream ads

This ad format is very similar to TV ads – the user does not have the option to skip it. These ads last fifteen seconds or less. A 20-second version is also available in some markets. They play before, during, or after another video.

Objective: Awareness

Payment: You pay for 1000 impressions

Use this ad when you want viewers to see your message or story as a whole, without the option to skip it. Creativity is essential in this format. Your advertising message must be strong and visually appealing. Google itself recommends using the ABCD framework when creating video ads. This means that non-skippable ads can be a powerful tool for raising brand awareness.

4. Video ads out-stream

Out-of-stream ads are for mobile devices only and appear outside of YouTube on Google’s partner sites and applications.

Objective: Awareness

Payment: You pay for 1000 impressions

Your ad appears on a variety of mobile placements and runs without audio. If the viewer is interested in the video, clicking on the ad will turn on the video. The main goal of this format is to increase the impact of video advertising on mobile devices and thus increase brand awareness.

5. Reklamy masthead

This premium format is displayed on the YouTube homepage and is only available upon booking through a Google sales representative.

Objective: Awareness

Payment: Pay per day, 1000 impressions possible

This format is effective for those advertisers who want to reach a massive audience in a short time and increase brand, service, or product awareness. This is the most expensive video ad format, and the price per day can climb to several thousand euros.

Conclusion

We’ve come up with various YouTube ad formats that primarily help increase brand awareness ( microspots, TrueView for reach, non-skippable In-stream ads, Out-stream video ads, Masthead ) and encourage people to choose that brand or product ( TrueView in-stream ads). Stream, Discovery ), and finally, they encourage people to take action ( TrueView for actions ).

In addition to choosing the correct format for each marketing goal, you need to measure the effectiveness of your video ads according to the right metrics, such as impressions, reach, frequency, views, and engagements. Furthermore, it can be the number of clicks or even the ratings I like, the shares, and the number of subscribers gained. You should set specific goals before launching the video campaign itself.

It is also essential to choose the proper targeting, whether according to interests, shopping intentions, demographics, or you can remind a potential customer with remarketing audiences. We’ll discuss the various targeting options in a separate article. Don’t forget to create creatives that should be tailored to your audience and campaign.

I believe this article has helped you navigate the available YouTube ad formats and made it easier for you to decide on the suitable format when you run your next video campaign.

Also Read : Visual Content Marketing