How Do You Advertise on YouTube?

Learn how to advertise on YouTube.

Read Our 10 Easy Steps to Success (Plus Pro Tips)

As advertisers across the globe look to get the biggest bang for their buck, video marketing – and advertising on YouTube in particular – has become an important option. According to the 2024 Global Digital Report by We Are Social/Meltwater, YouTube is now the largest social media platform (surpassing Facebook at the end of 2023). Users spend a tremendous amount of time on YouTube, with more than 1 billion hours spent watching YouTube videos every day and individual users spending over 20 minutes per visit. YouTube Mobile is the top app in terms of monthly active users and total time spent. YouTube ads reach an impressive 2.49B people per month – or an astounding 30.8% of the total worldwide population and 46.6% of all Internet users. In Canada, the results are even more impressive, with YouTube ads reaching 88.3% of the total 18+ population.

When it comes to driving purchases, according to a Google/Talk Shoppe 2022 survey, viewers say that YouTube is the No. 1 platform they use to research a product or brand before making a purchase decision.

Wondering how far and wide your YouTube Ads can reach?

Ready to Learn How to Advertise on YouTube?

In our beginner’s guide below, we’ll supply you with everything you need to create a profitable advertising campaign on YouTube. Let’s get to it!

Table of Contents 

Why You Should Advertise on YouTube

We outlined a few noteworthy stats above, but additional benefits of advertising on YouTube include:

• Exposure: As of April 2024, YouTube is the second most-visited website in the world.
• Sales: According to a 2020 survey by Google/Talk Shoppe 70% of people bought a product after seeing it in a YouTube ad.

In a similar survey in 2022 (see graphic below), YouTube users also:

• • Spent more on their purchases
  • Were more satisfied with them
  • Returned them less often
  • Became repeat customers
  • Told others about what they bought

It costs about $2,000 on average to accumulate 100,000 views of your YouTube ad.

Most businesses allocate a daily budget of $10-$50 for their YouTube advertising campaigns.

YouTube Ad Types

Most of us are familiar with YouTube’s Skippable in-stream ads, but there are actually many other YouTube ad formats that can help achieve your marketing and advertising goals.

To help improve viewer experiences and optimize for higher-performing ad formats across both desktop and mobile devices, YouTube regularly adds or removes options. Currently, there are six YouTube ad formats.

On desktop devices, they look like this:

On mobile devices, they look like this:

YouTube Ad Formats

• Skippable in-stream ads: These ads CAN be skipped after five seconds. Use skippable in-stream ads when you want to promote video content before, during, or after other videos on YouTube and across websites and apps running on Google video partner sites.
• Non-skippable in-stream ads: These ads CAN’T be skipped and are between 15-30 seconds long. Use non-skippable in-stream ads when you have video content you’d like to promote before, during, or after other videos on YouTube and across websites and apps running on Google video partner sites.
• In-feed ads: In-feed video ads consist of a thumbnail image from your video along with text. Use In-feed video ads to help your target market discover your video content by including placements next to related YouTube videos, as part of YouTube search results, or on the YouTube Mobile homepage.
• Bumper ads: Bumper ads play before, during, or after other videos. They CAN’T be skipped and are six seconds or less in length.
• Outstream ads: These mobile-only ads appear on Google video partner sites, NOT on YouTube.
• Masthead ads: Use YouTube Masthead ads to showcase your brand, product, or service in a native video-based ad format that appears in the YouTube Home feed across all devices.YouTube Masthead ads are ideal for advertisers who want to:
• • Show off their brand or product in a premium placement that puts all eyes on them.
  • Drive massive reach and awareness.
  • Plan their buys in advance so they don’t have to deal with bids and auctions.

Key Considerations for Choosing Your YouTube Ad Format

• Length: Your YouTube video ad can be any length, but generally, a “view” is only counted at the 30-second mark or the end of the video, whichever comes first.
• Skippability: Skippable In-stream YouTube ads are great for longer messages. And because viewers can skip your ad after 5 seconds, those who watch are likely highly interested prospects.
• Network: Video ads that are served within the YouTube video player are known as In-stream ads. When a video ad plays on other sites (for example, within a display ad slot on one of Google’s partner websites), it’s called an Outstream ad.
• Sound: Sound can be an important communicator of your ad message, and while 95% of YouTube videos are viewed with the sound on (versus 15% on Facebook), advertisers should create YouTube Video ads that can speak for themselves even if the sound is turned off. For example, both Outstream and Masthead ads start with sound off by default. When you create your video ads, simple tactics such as adding captions, logos and displaying products can help communicate your message, even in silence.

Does advertising on YouTube already feel too complex for you to handle on your own? Why not leave it to the experts? Contact Search Engine People and let us do the heavy lifting for you.

Understanding YouTube Advertising Metrics

Views and Impressions are NOT the same on YouTube.

Views. Views are essential for measuring interest in your content. Think of a “view” as similar to a “click” on a display ad – as a sign of engagement.

Skippable in-stream, In-feed and Outstream YouTube video ads all use Views as a measurement of their success, with a View counted only at the 30-second mark or the end of the ad, whichever comes first.

Impressions. In the case of non-skippable ads such as non-skippable in-stream or Bumper ads – because users can’t choose whether they engage or not, Google ad metrics show only Impressions for these formats.

REMEMBER THIS WHEN BUILDING YOUR YOUTUBE ADS STRATEGY!

Only those users who View your YouTube video ad are eligible to be added to your YouTube remarketing audience lists,

You aren’t allowed to remarket to users who see Non-skippable in-stream or Bumper ads, only to audiences who have scored a View on your Skippable in-stream, In-feed or Outstream ads.

Four Additional Underrated YouTube Metrics to Explore

Don’t forget to monitor these four underrated YouTube metrics:

• Video Played To
  This metric lets you know how many users watched your video up to the following four milestones: the 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% marks.
• View-Through + Cross-Device Conversions
  The “View-through conversions” column tells you when customers see but don’t interact with your ad and then later complete a conversion on your site. It’s different from the data in your other conversion columns, which record when customers interact with an ad and then complete a conversion on your site.The ‘Cross-device conversions‘ (‘Cross-device conv.’ column) reports the total number of cross-device conversions across all of your conversion actions. Cross-device conversions start with a click on an ad on one device and end with a conversion on another (or in a different web browser on the same device).
• Audience Performance
  YouTube’s audience reporting shows you how various types of Audiences are performing. This includes by campaign, ad group, and account-level performance metrics on demographics, audience segments and exclusions. You can also easily manage your audience targeting and retargeting in the Audience report.
• Earned Actions
  Earned actions metrics let you track how many users performed actions such as liking or sharing your video, subscribing to your channel, or adding your video to one of their playlists.

How to Advertise on YouTube in 10 Easy Steps

Before launching your YouTube campaign, you’ll need to decide on a goal for your campaign – i.e. whether you want to build brand awareness, drive consideration or notch actual conversions – as each of these goals will impact both the video ad format(s) you’ll use and which bid strategy you’ll enact.

For example, if your goal is to build awareness, you might opt for an ad format that gives you premium placement and helps you rack up as many impressions as possible, and you’ll bid that way as well. If your goal is to drive conversions such as online sales, while ad type and placement are still important, you’ll bid and pay only when users complete the action you specify.

We’ll cover this in greater detail later. For more information on Video strategy, read our blog: Tease, Launch, Sustain.

Right now, let’s go through the steps to create a killer YouTube Video advertising campaign.

1. Create a New Campaign

First, you’ll need to open up your Google Ads Manager and select New Campaign. When prompted regarding your campaign’s objective, you can select the option reflecting your campaign goals or choose “Create a campaign without a goal’s guidance,” You can identify your goals later in the setup process.

For your campaign type, select “Video.”

 

 Choose Your Campaign Subtype

The “Campaign subtype” step lets you choose options based on your campaign goal and preferred ad format. If you’re unsure what to do, simply select “Custom video campaign” or “Drive Conversions.” NOTE: If, at any point, you want to return to this area and change the setting you selected, you can do that as well.

 

Select which subtype of campaign you want to run for your YouTube Ads

Set Your Bid Strategy

Depending on which campaign subtype you choose; you’ll have one or two bidding options. In the example above, because you chose a “Custom video campaign,” the bid options are Maximum CPV (cost-per-view) or Target CPM (cost-per-thousand-impressions). If you’re unsure of what each bid strategy is all about, hover over a selection, and you’ll see notes on the right side of the screen designed to help you out.

When setting up your YouTube Ads, set your bid strategy.

Bidding

If you’ve ever run a Google Ads campaign, you know that bidding scenarios can be convoluted and complicated. In YouTube ad bidding, there’s added complexity, as each format has its own bidding options and requirements.

The potential options are:

Choose Your Network(s)

The Google Display Network is comprised of various Google properties such as YouTube, Google Finance, Gmail and other Google-owned options that offer display advertising. It also includes a network of millions of partner sites and mobile apps on which you can place your ads. You may want to de-select various Network options depending on your campaign goals. NOTE: With certain campaign subtypes or even certain bid strategies, you may NOT be allowed to de-select various options.

Determine Your Content Exclusions

Most advertisers run their video ads on what Google defines as “Standard inventory.” If you want to lessen the chance that your ad appears next to potentially sensitive content, you can choose “Limited inventory.”

If you’re NOT worried about where your ads might appear, choose “Expanded inventory.” This will open up additional placements that could cost less due to decreased competition.

Additional Context Exclusions

Even if you choose “Standard inventory,” you can exclude additional types of content.

For example, because you have little control of the content, it’s often a good idea to exclude your ad from appearing in “Live streaming videos.” Also, instead of choosing “Embedded YouTube videos,” you can upload your videos directly to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn so they autoplay when viewers scroll down your feed. This can create substantially more views than embedded YouTube links that do not autoplay, but the choice is a personal one versus a best practice.

Again, if you’re concerned about brand protection, you may also want to exclude “Content not yet labelled,” “DL-MA” (aka content designed for Mature audiences) and even “DL-T” (aka content designed for teen and older audiences).

Add Related Videos

Often overlooked, this part of your YouTube Video campaign setup has components that could be instrumental to the success of your ad campaign.

First, don’t forget to add “RELATED VIDEOS” from your channel to increase engagement. Second, if you have a Google Merchant Center product feed connected to Google Ads, be sure to opt in here as well, so you can show product cards with your YouTube Video ads.

Lastly, if you want to frequency cap your ads or schedule them for certain times of the day, you’ll find those options hiding under “Additional settings.” NOTE: If your business operates only during regular business hours, you can set your ads only to run while your doors are open. That way, you don’t pay for calls or clicks while your business is closed. If your business operates 24 hours a day or is entirely online, consider setting your ads to run anytime. That way, your ads will reach customers no matter when they search.

Set Your Targeting

All the targeting options in Google Ads are also available for YouTube Video ad campaigns. Every type of audience is available to you, and you also have a wide range of contextual options.

When you select your campaign targeting, you’ll notice two main options: people vs. content.

• People: Allows you to set your targeting based on who you want to reach, regardless of what videos they’re watching.You can target people based on:
  • Demographics: Age, gender, parental status, household income and/or any of Google’s audiences
  • Audience segments:
    From “Affinity segments” such as “motorcycle enthusiasts or “Life events” such as “graduating,” “moving homes” or “getting married,” – the targeting is yours to choose.

You can also layer targets together. This can sometimes decrease your reach, but it will show your YouTube Video ads to higher-value prospects. For example, you could target people in the market for Child Car Seats only on content related to Child Car Seats.

Create Your Ad

Now it’s time to create your YouTube Video ad. In order to use a video for your ad, it must be uploaded to YouTube on your brand channel. NOTE: If you DON’T want your ad to be visible on your channel, set it to “Unlisted” instead of “Public.”

Once your video has been uploaded, paste the URL for your YouTube Video ad in this area, and options will appear depending on your campaign subtype. In this example, we can create a Skippable in-stream ad (the kind we’re all used to seeing) or an In-feed video ad (the kind that shows a thumbnail and text description).

Set Your Campaign Dates and Bid

Set the start and end dates for your YouTube Video ad campaign and your bid, and you’re ready to launch! If you need help setting your bid, a Max CPV bid of $0.05 to $0.10 is a great place to start.

Measuring Your YouTube Video Ad Campaign Success

So, how do you pick the right metrics to measure the success of your campaign?

First, it needs to align with your campaign goal. If your YouTube Video ad campaign was set up to generate awareness, measuring success based on the conversion rate doesn’t make sense.

Instead, you might pick one reach metric ( for example, impressions, views, clicks, etc.) and one efficiency metric (for example, cost-per-view, view-through rate, click-through rate, etc.).

If you intend to spend a significant amount of money – as in a six-figure amount each month – you might also want to consider running a Brand Lift study. This is a unique survey that Google can run to evaluate how well your campaign drives key outcomes like brand awareness, ad recall, search lift or purchase intent. It requires a minimum investment over a set time, which varies by location.

That’s a lot of information to take in at one time. Now that you know the basics, why not let Search Engine People show you how the pros make YouTube campaigns profitable? Contact Search Engine People and let us make your YouTube Video ad campaign a profitable top performer.

How to Create Great Video Ads With YouTube’s ABCDs

No matter how well you set up your YouTube Video ad campaign, its performance will be hampered if you don’t focus on developing great creative.

To help advertisers build better YouTube Video ads, Google developed a data-backed framework called ABCD.

According to the latest data, great YouTube Video ads have the following in common:

• They Attract: There are four key elements that are important to include in an ad’s opening moments to hook your audience right from the start. First, if you’re using actors or people in your ad, open with them on screen. Why? Faces attract immediate attention, heighten emotional motivation and increase engagement. You can also attract users’ attention in the first five seconds by using tight framing, fast pacing and surprise elements such as unexpected or highly memorable imagery.
• They Brand: Winning Video ad creative introduces the product or brand within the first five seconds of the ad using the product logo and visuals, as well as sound, colours and text, which reinforce the brand. In addition, having actors in the video mention the brand name is associated with positive ad recall and consideration.
• They Connect: The best YouTube Video ads connect with consumers by balancing functional and emotional messaging while engaging viewers by featuring “people” users can relate to, as well as humour, action or intrigue.
• They Direct: Effective YouTube ads get customers to take action by prompting them with special offers, inspiring a sense of urgency and compelling them to convert with CTAs such as “Act Now,” “Claim Your FREE Gift,” or “Take Our Survey.”

To see a quarterly summary of the ads YouTube users chose to watch in the recent past, check out the YouTube ads leaderboard page. You’ll be inspired and might pick up a few tricks!

How Do You Advertise on YouTube? It’s Easy! Get Started with YouTube Advertising Now!

1. Create A New Campaign
2. Choose Your Campaign Subtype
3. Choose Your Bid Strategy
4. Choose Your Network(s)
5. Determine Your Content Exclusions
6. Add Related Videos
7. Set Your Targeting
8. Create Your Ad
9. Set Your Campaign Dates and Bid
10. Measure Your Success

Want More Pro Tips on How to Advertise on YouTube?

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