Advertising is about building strong brand awareness by tapping into the right moment with the right message. In 2022, 86% of advertisers turned to video marketing and 88% chose YouTube as their preferred platform to advertise their brand.
The prime reason why advertisers are inclined to the video-based platform YouTube has a large audience that brands utilize. Apart from this, a study has found that:
- 70% of the audience is acquainted with new brands through YouTube.
- 4x viewers rely on YouTube to learn about brands, products, or services.
- 2x viewers agreed they would engage with a brand they saw on YouTube.
Videos have a long-lasting impression on the audience’s mind, and it is predicted that in 2023, video advertising will take up 82.5% of the total web traffic.
YouTube is the second largest video-sharing platform with 2.5 billion active users. From funny baby videos to gaining information about specific topics, YouTube is the platform every individual relies on. This allows advertisers to reach the desired and potential audience easily. YouTube ads mark up 10.5% of Google’s total revenue by generating $29.24 billion.
But how can advertisers leverage the platform?
Advertisers can make the most out of the platform as it offers various ad formats based on the goal of the advertisers.
- Display Ad: These ads appear in the suggested video section usually with clickable images or animation. These ads don’t interfere with the viewing experience and are best to generate interest among viewers.
- Overlay Ads: These are semi-transparent ads that appear in the lower portion of the video taking up 20% of the video. These are clickable images or text appearing specifically on desktops.
- Skippable In-Stream Ads: Ads that viewers can skip after a few seconds. The goal of the advertiser is to promote the brand before, during, or after the video.
- Non-Skippable In-Stream Ads: Ads that viewers cannot skip and must watch in full before the video content. The aim of the advertiser is the same as skippable ads.
- Bumper Ads: Short ads that play before the video content. In this format, the audience has to view the ad for up to 6 seconds before they skip the ad. If this ad is in the non-skippable format then the total ad length is of 6 seconds.
- In-Feeds Video Ads: Video ads that appear within social media feeds or websites. The goal of these ads is to persuade viewers to like, share or subscribe to the brand.
- Masthead Ads: Large banner ads that appear at the top of a website or app’s homepage. The purpose of these ads is to drive massive reach and spread awareness.
- Responsive Display Ads: Advertisements that adapt themselves automatically to fit different ad places in terms of size, look, and format. When a video ad’s performance is the main objective, these commercials work best.
How Contextual Video Advertising will Enhance YouTube Ads?
Choosing the right ad format isn’t sufficient. YouTube has 122 million visitors every day, who consume 1 billion hours of videos.
Advertisers can easily have high ROIs and build strong brand recognition by optimizing their ad campaigns. YouTube allows advertisers to monitor their ad campaigns based on a variety of metrics like views, impressions, conversions, engagement rate, and view rate. The key factors that advertisers must consider while planning their campaign are:
Compelling ads: Make sure the ad is compelling so that it triggers the viewer to engage. This can be achieved by simply answering ” What is my audience interested in viewing?”
Right Keyword: To make sure your ad reaches the right audience, the right keywords are necessary to use. Keywords are the words and phrases your audience is searching for so to reach your target audience utilization of the right keywords is necessary.
When advertisers combine the right keyword with a compelling ad they are likely to get the desired results. However, targeting is another point that advertisers must look into.
Earlier, the audience was targeted based on behavioral targeting. With the help of third-party cookies, advertisers were able to track their search history, and by analyzing the provided personalized ad experience to the viewer. However, this took a toll on advertisers as the viewer felt followed which resulted in less user engagement.
This turmoil led to the implementation of strict privacy guidelines by GDPR and the rise of contextual targeting. Unlike behavior patterns, contextual advertising uses contextual triggers, logos, faces, actions, objects, and scenes.
For example, there is a from the series, “Office” showing John Krasinski with the NBC logo.
The triggers we can extract would be “John Krasinski” as the face and NBC as the logo trigger. Based on these triggers through contextual targeting on YouTube advertisers can place relevant ads.
According to a study, 79% of the viewers are comfortable seeing a relevant ad. Matching ads with the content people consume increases the likelihood of engagement.
Another benefit of inclining towards contextual advertising is that it ensures brand safety. Advertisers have been looking for alternatives where wrong ad placement led to irreparable damage to the brand’s reputation. Contextual targeting uses a custom block list to prevent ad placement next to undesirable content.
Final Take
Over the years, YouTube has gained popularity as an advertising platform among the audience and advertisers. In the end, we advise advertisers to leverage the power of the advertising platform by selecting the right ad format and relying on contextual video advertising.
