Video advertising on YouTube is different from other platforms like Google or Facebook Ads because of the way a view is counted: You only pay for a view if the user passes the 30-second mark or watches the entire video.
Available intent audience solutions
Let's take a look at the range of intent audience solutions that Google offers
Connect with people who are actively researching or intending to buy a product or service.
Example: An auto advertiser that wants to reach people who are currently in market for a new car
What is it?
In-market audience segments enable you to reach people who:
Engage with people in the middle of important life milestones and likely to make major purchase decisions.
Example: A mattress company that wants to reach people who are moving
What is it?
With Life Events on YouTube, you can engage people that are in the middle of important milestones and likely to change their brand preferences.
How does it work?
Our system looks at actions across YouTube, Google Search, and Google Maps that indicate someone is about to go through, or has recently gone through, a major life event. We then categorize the person as being pre- or post-event so you can reach them with the right message.
What’s currently available?
The following life event segments are currently available:
Reach people who have turned to Google.com to research products prior to purchase.
Example: A travel company that wants to reach people researching their next vacation
Now you can reach people who are actively researching your product on Google.com to drive action on YouTube. This is significant, as 85% of people who use Google search are also on YouTube!
Here's what you can accomplish with Custom Intent:
Reinforce messaging with people who’ve visited your website already or interacted with your YouTube video or channel.
Example: An electronics company that wants to reach people who watched an unveiling video for their new phone
Re-engage existing customers, find new users, or develop similar audiences based on data such as email, address, phone number, or device ID.
Example: A credit card company that wants to reach existing card users for upgrades
1. In-Market Audiences
Highly qualified consumers ready to make a purchaseConnect with people who are actively researching or intending to buy a product or service.
Example: An auto advertiser that wants to reach people who are currently in market for a new car
What is it?
In-market audience segments enable you to reach people who:
- Are in the right mindset
- Have indicated intent to purchase (for example, by visiting consumer review and price comparison sites)
- Are incremental to those already on a remarketing list (for example, people with an intent to buy, but who may not be familiar with your site)
- Performance advertisers that want to reach customers further down the consideration funnel, who have a higher likelihood of converting
- Advertisers that use remarketing but want to drive new, incremental customers to their site
How does it work?
People are determined to be in-market based on the following factors:
- Google Search and Maps Search signals
- Visits to sites that indicate intent to purchase
- How often and how recently these pages were visited
- Context where other people have clicked on ads related to the product or service and subsequently converted
- Surveys that create a ground truth for our algorithms
2. Life Events
Consumers at important transition points in their livesEngage with people in the middle of important life milestones and likely to make major purchase decisions.
Example: A mattress company that wants to reach people who are moving
What is it?
With Life Events on YouTube, you can engage people that are in the middle of important milestones and likely to change their brand preferences.
How does it work?
Our system looks at actions across YouTube, Google Search, and Google Maps that indicate someone is about to go through, or has recently gone through, a major life event. We then categorize the person as being pre- or post-event so you can reach them with the right message.
What’s currently available?
The following life event segments are currently available:
- Graduation
- Marriage
- Moving
- Purchasing a Home
- Job Change
- Business Creation
- Home Renovation
- Retirement
- New Pet
3. Custom Intent Audiences
Consumers who’ve searched for specific products or servicesReach people who have turned to Google.com to research products prior to purchase.
Example: A travel company that wants to reach people researching their next vacation
Now you can reach people who are actively researching your product on Google.com to drive action on YouTube. This is significant, as 85% of people who use Google search are also on YouTube!
Here's what you can accomplish with Custom Intent:
- Build a customizable audience using search keywords you choose.
- Amplify your search audience with action-oriented video formats.
- Extend reach and capture attention during an active purchase decision.
4. Remarketing
Consumers who’ve interacted with you alreadyReinforce messaging with people who’ve visited your website already or interacted with your YouTube video or channel.
Example: An electronics company that wants to reach people who watched an unveiling video for their new phone
5. Customer Match and Similar Audiences
Consumers that you have CRM data forRe-engage existing customers, find new users, or develop similar audiences based on data such as email, address, phone number, or device ID.
Example: A credit card company that wants to reach existing card users for upgrades
Top takeaways
- Recommend in-market audiences to drive consideration among people who are actively researching and intending to buy products or services you offer.
- Recommend Similar Audiences to reach new users beyond their remarketing lists, who share the same characteristics as your best customers.
- Recommend Custom Intent to drive action on YouTube by reaching people after they search for your keywords on Google.
Types of YouTube Video Ads
There are three key types of video ads in which you can invest on YouTube: TrueView, Preroll, and Bumpers.
- TrueView Ads
TrueView is our skippable in-stream ad format that allows users to choose to engage with the video.
A video ad plays before, during, or after other videos, and after five seconds the viewer has an option to skip the ad.
TrueView formats are distinguished by the bidding method and their ability to align with the marketing objective.
A video ad plays before, during, or after other videos, and after five seconds the viewer has an option to skip the ad.
TrueView formats are distinguished by the bidding method and their ability to align with the marketing objective.
1. TrueView for reach (CPM) for Awareness
TrueView for reach drives awareness and optimizes for highly efficient reach and is bought on target CPM, using a skippable in-stream format.
It optimizes for impressions instead of views (like TrueView in-stream), and allows you to easily plan, set up, and buy your auction campaign in a familiar currency. It's also available on YouTube and Google Video Partners.
2. TrueView in-stream (CPV and Maximize lift) for Consideration
- Watches 30 seconds of the ad — or to completion if the ad is less than 30 seconds
- Takes action from the video — such as clicking to visit the advertiser's site or downloading their mobile app
3. TrueView discovery (CPV) for Consideration
TrueView discovery works in a slightly different way from TrueView in-stream, as viewers click on an ad to watch it versus being able to skip it after the first five seconds.
Expand reach across YouTube
Be present beyond the watch page pre-roll in key discovery placements across YouTube, including on the YouTube home feed, watch feed, and search results (pictured left to right).
4. TrueView for action (tCPA and Maximize conversions) for Action
TrueView for action ads are skippable in-stream ads that drive website actions, and are bought on target CPA or Maximize conversions.
- TrueView in-stream format includes the companion, customized call-to-action overlay (CTA), and end screen
- Available on YouTube and Google Video Partners (beta)
Top takeaways
- TrueView in-stream is great at driving consideration and user action.
- TrueView for reach offers highly efficient reach to drive awareness at the lowest CPMs.
- TrueView discovery can help capitalize on key moments of discovery.
- TrueView for action allows advertisers to convert attention and intent of YouTube users into action.
- Bumper ads (CPM)
Bumper ads are six-second non-skippable in-stream ads that drive reach, frequency, and brand awareness.
They're the building blocks to any successful YouTube ad campaign, working as both a complement to TrueView in-stream and Google Preferred, while also making an impact as a standalone video solution. They're also designed for a mobile-first world, and deliver more reach than any other ad format.
They're the building blocks to any successful YouTube ad campaign, working as both a complement to TrueView in-stream and Google Preferred, while also making an impact as a standalone video solution. They're also designed for a mobile-first world, and deliver more reach than any other ad format.
- Bumpers are bought on a target cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) through Google Ads (auction or advance buy), Display & Video 360, or Google Preferred.
- They have the lowest CPM among in-stream video formats and serve predominantly on mobile.
- Available on YouTube and Google Video Partners.
- Bumpers are six-second ads that deliver reach and brand impact.
- Bumpers have the lowest CPM among in-stream video formats and serve predominantly on mobile.
- This ad format is best suited for advertisers who want broad reach, low CPMs, and video completion.
- When bumpers are combined with a longer form creative, it helps drive incremental brand lift and reach.
- Drive awareness with mastheads and non-skippable in-stream ads
1. masthead (CPD or CPM)
The masthead runs on the YouTube homepage and home feed — a marquee placement.
- CPD: On the days that matter most to them, advertisers can reach the immense YouTube audience with massive, single-day reach across both desktop and mobile devices.
- CPM: Advertisers can also buy the masthead slot on the home feed on CPM, which enables the use of audience solutions. It's the same powerful creative unit, but advertisers can reserve this premium real estate for the audience members that matter most.
2. non-skippable in-stream ads (CPM)
Non-skippable in-stream ads drive awareness and reach your target audience.
- Available in auction or as a reservation buy
- Industry-standard 15 seconds or less non-skippable video ad (20 seconds or less available in certain markets)
- Most similar to TV ads
- Available on YouTube and Google Video Partners (Google Ads and Display & Video 360)
Top takeaways
- Masthead provides massive reach in a short period of time, typically around a tentpole event or product launch.
- Non-skippable in-stream ads are available on auction and reservation, and offer the ability to share the entire message with the audience.
- Google Video Partners
Google has established partnerships with leading publishers through Google Ad Manager, Google AdMob, and Google AdSense, that extend video reach beyond YouTube.
Video formats bought in Google Ads and Display & Video 360 (DV360) that run on YouTube are also available on GVP:
- TrueView in-stream
- TrueView for reach
- TrueView for action (beta)
- Bumpers
- Non-Skippable in-stream ads (Google Ads and DV360)
Top takeaways
- Google Video Partners (GVP) is a collection of sites and apps from our partner publishers.
- GVP is the perfect complement to YouTube and helps brands reach potential customers when they engage with content outside of YouTube.
- Outstream video ads run outside of a video stream, such as within a news article or before a mobile game, to drive more incremental reach at a cost-efficient price through GVP.
Design effective video ads with Google's ABCDs
- Attract: Hook your audience and get them to tune in
- Brand: Help consumers see and hear your brand
- Connect: Make your audience think or feel something about your brand
- Direct: Get them to take action
