There’s over 2 billion users on YouTube. Those people watch billions of hours of video, and many of those videos will have your ad at the start. If you get your targeting and budget right you can reach your ideal customers and grow your sales. But first, how do you get started with YouTube Ads?

If you’re searching for the answer, you’re in the right place. We’ll guide you through everything about YouTube Ads. The different types of ads, how to measure them, and how to set up your first campaign.

Let’s dive in. 

Why advertise on YouTube?

So you’ve heard about this video platform called YouTube. It’s a big deal. But why should your business advertise on it instead of Google Ads, or Facebook Ads? Good question, let’s answer it.

Just a quick disclaimer, we’re a huge fan of marketing on multiple different channels. So, you shouldn’t just invest in YouTube Ads. It’s always good to have a mix. But, here’s why you should dedicate some of your marketing budget to YouTube.

• It’s the second-largest search engine in the world. Yes, you read that right. YouTube is a search engine. Billions of people search for answers, products, instructions, and more on YouTube. Your ad can show up in search results, AND in the content itself. Which is a huge advantage over conventional Google ads.
• 70% of people say they have purchased a product after seeing it in a YouTube ad. It’s a hugely influential platform, with many brands seeing direct sales from YouTube.
• YouTube videos are the perfect place to express your brand personality and create unique brand experiences. With YouTube Ads, you can get your brand in front of your target audience and build connections.
• Data in YouTube Studio is incredibly powerful. You’ll find a wealth of data that can help you optimise your campaigns. For example, you’ll be able to see the exact point at which your viewers stopped watching. There’s a lot of stuff here that you won’t find in Google Ads analytics.
• Ever wanted to send a targeted ad to someone who left an item in their cart, watched your videos, or interacted with your brand in other ways? Now you can. That’s the power of remarketing. With YouTube Ads you can deploy a variety of retargeting campaigns to remarket to your audience, bringing them back for more.

Types of YouTube Ads

YouTube Ads have multiple options that allow you to customise them to suit your campaign. To start with you’ve got 7 different types of ads: TrueView, Discovery, Non-skippable, Bumper Instream, Sponsored card, Overlay, and Display. Each ad type has its pros and cons. Let’s dive in:

• TrueView: These are YouTube classic. The OG ad type. You’ll find them everywhere on YouTube because they are extremely popular. Businesses like them because it gets their brand in front of more people, and users like them because they can skip ads that don’t land after 5 seconds. Of course, that is the con of the ad. You’ve got 5 seconds to hook the viewer in, but if they skip you don’t pay for the slot. You also get a companion banner with the video.
• Discovery: TrueView discovery ads appear within YouTube search results. They are a thumbnail image and three lines of text. Clicking on the video will take the user to the video’s watch page.
• Non-skippable: These ads, as the name suggests, can’t be skipped. Viewers are forced to watch the ad, which makes them unpopular. Of course, to counteract the loss of control, these ads can only be 20 seconds long. For this, you’ll pay a cost per thousand views so it’s really important to get your target audience right. The most effective use for these ads is brand awareness campaigns, rather than converting prospects.
• Bumper ads: You take the non-skippable format and bring it right down to 5 seconds max. You’ll still pay per thousand views. But this time, the ads are less annoying. Which means people are less likely to tune out. Of course, having only 5 seconds can be restrictive and requires creativity to use effectively.
• Sponsored card: The most unobtrusive YouTube Ad style, these appear in small CTA popups in the top corner of the video. A user presses the small ‘i’ icon in the top corner of the video to expand the card and read more.
• Overlay: This simple ad is essentially a banner advertisement that appears at the bottom of a video. They can be text-based or image-based.
• Display: A display ad is an ad that appears on Google partner websites. These are websites that request to display ads on their site in exchange for money. YouTube hosts display ads in the recommended video section of the website. Your display ads will show up on YouTube and other partner websites.

YouTube Ads: Metrics you can measure

There’s a few caveats to measuring YouTube Ads. Views and impressions are major metrics you will use to determine your ads’ success. Each has a significant distinction.

• Views: When you have a skippable ad, a view is counted at the 30-second mark, or at the end of the video, depending on whichever comes first. A view is like a click. It’s a sign of engagement.
• Impressions: If you’ve got a non-skippable ad, impressions will be the stat you see. This is because people can’t choose whether to interact with your ad or not. Impressions count the number of people who’ve seen your ad.

Beyond these, you’ll want to look at other metrics like link clicks, traffic from your ads, and conversions. Fortunately, YouTube Ads integrates perfectly with Google Analytics, allowing you to track your ads with the tools you already know and love.

How to get started with YouTube Ads

1. Upload a video to your YouTube account

Before you can begin you need to upload your ad video to your YouTube account. Click the upload icon in the top right of YouTube and click upload. You’ll then be taken to the upload window where you can drag and drop your video and fill out information about the video.

2. Create a new campaign in Google Ads Manager

Now you need to jump over to your Google Ads account. After logging in, click “All campaigns” in the left-hand sidebar. Click the large blue + icon to create your YouTube campaign.

You’ll now need to select a campaign type. There are 5 options: search, display, shopping, video, and universal app. For YouTube ads, select Video.  

3. Choose your YouTube Ads campaign subtype

The next step is to pick a campaign subtype. This should be chosen based on your campaigns’ goals. If you aren’t sure, go for a Custom video campaign or a Drive conversions campaign. You can come back and change this later.

4. Set your bid strategy

This is the complicated bit. YouTube Ads has many different options for campaign bidding based on the format you choose. Potential options include:

• Target CPM: You set a target price per thousand impressions. This is used for non-skippable in-stream ads.
• Viewable CPM: You’ll set a target price per thousand viewable impressions. Outstream Ads use this one.
• Maximum CPV: Set the maximum price you’re willing to pay for each view. This bidding type works with TrueView ads.
• Maximise conversions: Let Google try to get you as many conversions as possible within the budget.
• Target CPA: Set a target price per conversion.

5. Choose your networks

If you don’t want your ads appearing on Video Partners on the Display Network, here’s where you turn that off. You can also select whether you want your ads to appear in search results and YouTube videos. It gives you a touch of customisability, to give you peace of mind around where your brand is being shown.

6. Choose an inventory type

An inventory type is the level of sensitive content you’re willing to let your ad appear near. Some brands may be happy with their ad appearing next to any video, and the lower costs that brings. But most brands will likely stick with the Standard Inventory option. There’s also a Limited Inventory option which further limits where your ads can be seen.

You’ll also find further options to limit specific content types to give you more control over where your ads appear.

7. Target your audience

Before you start this step have a moment to think about your target audience. Who are they? What are their ages, gender, likes and dislikes? Once you’ve got a rough idea it’s time to set your target audience for YouTube Ads.

Start by selecting your demographic. Here you can define your target audience’s gender. Age, parental status, and household income.

In the next section, Google Ads gives you even more options to further define your target audience. You can select their interests and habits, what they are actively researching and planning, as well as how they interact with your business. It’s a smart idea to explore some options here as they allow your ads to become highly targeted.

8. Create your ad

Now for the easy part. Simply copy and paste the link to the video ad uploaded to YouTube earlier.

9. Set your bid

You just need to set how much you’re bidding and your ad is ready to go live!

10. Measure your success

Launching your campaign isn’t the end. Now you need to measure how successful the campaign is and tweak it to maximise its results. Choose a couple of metrics to monitor first and focus on improving them. Pick 1 reach metric (views, impressions, clicks, etc) and 1 efficiency metric (cost per view, view-through rate, click through rate, etc). Adjust your ad to improve those metrics.

We Can Help with YouTube Ads

Advertising on YouTube gives you access to an audience of over a billion people. It’s the perfect way to get in front of your target audience and raise brand awareness. Match it up with the power and data from Google Ads and you can get some epic results.

If you want to get the best results and ensure you’re making the most of your budget, contact the Marketing team at LINK.