In-stream ads allow marketers a TV-style ad product

Why you need TrueView?

Whether you like funny videos or moving speeches, we both enjoy spending our time on YouTube and so do 800 million visitors all over the world. That makes YouTube an extremely attractive medium for online advertisers and marketing agency campaigns. If you are not taking advantages of such huge volumes of traffic to advertise your business, it might leave you behind in the market.

Three types of TrueView ads

In-stream ads. 

In-stream ads play like a TV-style ad before or during another video from a YouTube partner. Five seconds into an ad, viewers have the option to skip or keep watching it. Sponsors pay only for ads that are viewed at least 30 seconds or to the end of the video if the video is less than 30 seconds.

Takeaways: If your goal is to get exposure and branding views, In-stream ad formats can be very cost-effective. When you do it the right way, In-stream ads can provide some of the highest view-through-rates of all TrueView ad formats. According to research from Google, 8 out of 10 viewers prefer TrueView to standard In-stream ads. However, in order to grab attention, the first five seconds of your video should have a pulling affect because ‘curiosity’ is the top reason consumers choose to view an ad. Don’t forget to build in a call-to-action if you aim for direct responses.

In-search ads.

In-search ads appear above or to the right of regular result on the search results page when the viewer’s search is related to the ads keywords. The advertiser is charged when the viewers chooses to watch your video.

Takeaways: In-search ads can be very effective for products that are easy to showcase and detail with video when it comes to converting a potential customer from the research stages towards purchase. Just as with traditional search ads, this format can allow you to be reached by level of intent and using keyword targeting method will be very helpful. Brand channels are expected to direct In-search ads to the channel page and feature a CTA banner at the top of the page.

In-display ads.

In-display ads include the following legacy formats: YouTube promoted videos overlay, promoted videos suggestions and related videos, and the Google Click. You can choose whether the video plays within the ad space or when a viewer clicks the unit to watch the video on its YouTube Watch page. Sponsors will only be charged when viewers choose to watch the ad.

Takeaways: With this ad format, even though you will get to write description line within 35 characters, it will not be displayed on the YouTube watch page. A headline with a maximum of 25 characters will be the only thing to drive viewers in, so the role of headline is critical. The tips below for In-search ads apply here as well.

In-slate ads.

In-slate ads show before YouTube partner videos that are 10 minutes or longer. Viewers choose to watch one of three video ads from advertisers, or see regular commercial breaks during their video instead. Sponsors pay only when viewers choose to watch your video.

Staring June 1st, the TrueView In-Slate ad format is no longer available.

Tips in general

1. Make sure to set your maximum daily spend.

To help make up for low-traffic days, the AdWords system may deliver up to 20% over your daily budget on high traffic days within the same calendar month. By doing so, it could easily go over your budget. In order to prevent this, you can set your maximum daily spend to a total that is lower than your budget.

2. Great opportunity for small or local businesses.  

TrueView ads are particularly beneficial for small businesses looking to be on the same playing field as the large players. The average price for TrueView ads are $0.4, and they allow small business to showcase their products to an audience of their choosing. Most importantly, the ads also appear on YouTube mobile apps which means it will possibly reach a larger audience.