Reaching Consumers on YouTube: Where to Begin

Back to Blog 04/01/2020 - by Kyle Malone

Nielsen has reported that over the past three weeks, video streaming on television was up 85% when comparing it to the same there week period in 2019 – that’s over 400 billion minutes of video watching (these numbers are only reporting streaming to television – they do not include mobile or PC streaming). As Americans are staying home, they’re watching more and more videos on platforms like Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. And advertisers need to and have already begun to respond to this. IAB reported that more than a third (+35%) of advertisers are adjusting their tactics to CTV and OTT device targeting.

YouTube holds the #2 spot for most minutes streamed on television, only falling short to Netflix. It is no surprise that YouTube is one of the most important advertising channels for marketers to invest in during the current coronavirus outbreak. New to YouTube advertising? Below, you’ll find a guide to help you get started with the platform.

YouTube is a medium where online users are familiarizing themselves with new brands, researching product quality before initiating a purchase and enjoying entertainment from various verticals. While these online users are fully engaged with the content they have personally selected to view, you have the opportunity to capture user attention with a precisely targeted pre-roll or mid-roll advertisement.

Why YouTube?

YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine and second most visited site after Google.
Over 1 billion hours of YouTube videos are watched each day, more than Netflix and Facebook video combined.
The average mobile viewing session lasts more than 40 minutes.

Who will your advertisements be reaching?

Over 90% of 18-44-year-old Americans watch videos on YouTube.
46% of Millennials have increased their YouTube usage since 2019.
56% of Generation Z has increased their YouTube usage since 2019
Over 50% of Americans ages 65 and above, watch videos on YouTube.

The Bidding Process

Similar to other platforms, YouTube has an internal automated bidding process to decipher which advertisements will be shown. Bids are based on the advertiser’s campaign budget and targeting choices. The advertiser willing to pay the most, will have their ad shown, while all other ads that get out-bid in the internal process will not be charged nor have their ads shown.

Create Engaging Ads

Most Youtube advertisements have the option to skip the video within the first 5 seconds and an interaction is accounted for when a viewer does not click the skip button. The interaction rate is measured by the number of users who watched your full advertisement divided by those who had the opportunity to however, chose to skip it after those 5 seconds.

This short window of opportunity is crucial to captivate your target audience. Deliver an advertisement with quality sound and image & provide a clear call-to-action for the user to take next steps. Unclear call-to-actions can lead to confusing potential customers, making it difficult to persuade users to convert.

Avoid Click-bait

If you ask most Youtube watchers what they enjoy most about the platform, you will find that a majority of these users will describe their viewing experience as both personalized and transparent.

While creating click-bait advertisements may result in an improved click-through and engagement rate, the advertiser is sacrificing user value on the platform, consumer trust and the overall goal, conversion rate.

Compare Results

Each campaign will have an individual recipe for success. Comparing results from both ads groups and ads will help determine the content that is best fit for your target audience and the best way to continue to move forward with Youtube advertising.