There’s just something about an eye-catching video. Most of the time we just can’t explain it. For some reason, beyond our grasp, certain videos just speak to us. Maybe at times we can understand why we’re watching it (I think Chocolate Rain speaks for itself). For the most part though, we can look at these videos, sit back and be entertained but can never truly figure out how it speaks to us as well as 3 billion + other people on the internet. So goes the phenomenon of viral marketing. Yet, it is not in the nature of human beings to look at something and not be peaked with a natural curiosity about how something works. We have to know. Well, maybe not every single person. Truth is, most people probably don’t care about how their feed on YouTube is the way it is and why they can’t seem to stop watching certain videos over and over again, year after year but you’re different. You’re a marketer or at least someone interested in learning about marketing so they can utilize video marketing to their advantage. If that’s the case, then YouTube presents the perfect opportunity for your business to flourish amongst the rapidly growing trend (that already has quite the popularity) of video marketing.
Here’s a few facts to entice you about the opportunities that video marketing on YouTube presents:
YouTube Marketing
• 6 out of 10 people prefer online video platforms to live TV
• YouTube has over 1.9 billion logged in monthly users
• In an average month, 8 out of 10 18-49 year-olds watch YouTube
• On mobile alone, YouTube reaches more 18-49 year-olds than any broadcast or CABLE TV network
• You can navigate YouTube in a total of 80 different languages (covering 95% of the Internet population)
• The platform has launched in over 91 countries
• YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine and second most visited site after Google
• YouTube is the 2nd most popular social media platform with 1.9bn users
• 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
• The time people spend watching YouTube on their TV has more than doubled in the last year
• 81% of US parents use YouTube to find content for their children
• Among millennials, YouTube accounts for two-thirds of the premium online video watched across devices
• Viewers who complete TrueView ads—watched to completion or at least 30 seconds—were 23 times more likely to visit or subscribe to a brand channel, watch more by that brand, or share the brand video
• Viewers who are exposed to TrueView ads but who don’t watch to completion are still 10 times more likely to take one of those actions
• When brands use TrueView, they see views of previously existing content increase by up to 500% after posting new videos
• Searches of “how to” videos on YouTube are growing 70% year over year
Overall, those are some pretty impressive numbers. Knowing this, it makes it even more important that a company should start embracing YouTube video marketing to spread awareness of their brand and bring more potential clients in. The nice part is that YouTube can fit any industry as long as your willing to put in the time to craft a well thought out video. To do that you’re going to need to understand the different kinds of videos so that you can run ads the will best represent your message.
TrueView Video Ads (In-Stream Ads & Discovery Ads)
Depending on if you’ve spent a lot of time on YouTube or not, this is probably one of the most common ad types on there (from my viewing experience). These are the ads you will see in the beginning of a video, in the middle of a video, or at the end. They will give you an option to skip the ad after 5 seconds or so. They only cost when a user chooses to watch the video or offer a cost-per-view option. TrueView ads can be broken down into two types.
TrueView In-Stream Ads
These are what you see at the beginning, middle, or end of a video. Like I said, these are probably the most common ads you’ll see on YouTube. Often times you will get the option to skip them after 5 seconds. You will only be charged when someone has watched more than 30 seconds, someone finishes the video (in the case of shorter ads), or someone has interacted with it. These types of ads are great for brand awareness or to drive viewers to a website.
TrueView Video Discovery Ads
Have you ever noticed when you first go the YouTube homepage that there is an ad right at the top or when you’re watching a video that there is an ad on the right hand side above other related videos? Those are video discovery ads. Not so in your face but they can work well when the campaign you’ve launched doesn’t have a specific directive in mind. These ads are great for brand awareness which is made better by the fact that you only have to pay when someone clicks on the video to watch it. In this way you know someone is interested in learning more so you can either link to your website or get them started down as sales funnel to increase the chances of selling them.
Bumper Ads
Almost along the same lines are bumper ads that play before, during, or after a video. They look similar to TrueView In-Stream Ads with one main difference, they are videos that are six seconds or less that play entirely without giving the ability to skip. The nice part about bumper ads is that for these you are charged on a cost-per-thousand basis so for every 1,000 times a video has been viewed you are charged. This is another great way to really get your brand out there being able to put it squarely in the minds of the billions of viewers on YouTube.
Outstream Ads
These are ads formatted for phones and tablets. They are automatically set on mute until a viewer has clicked on it to view it. For these types of ads you are charged on a viewable-cost-per-thousand, meaning you are charged per 1,000 times the video is viewed for two seconds or longer. Just like bumper ads, outstream ads are great for building brand awareness.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much data on the effectiveness of each ad. You can attribute this to the “fairly” new rise of video ads. Keep in mind there is some data out there but given the fact that you’re probably a marketer yourself (or at least running your marketing for you own business), then you know the best way to figure out what yields the best results is always split testing! By all means, do your research to figure out what other people have tried and what has personally brought them the most conversions. Always take recommendations with a grain of salt being that not all ads will yield the same results for different people. Depending on what kind of campaign you’re running, what your budget is, what your emotional appeal is in your ad, etc., you’re going to find different results. The best solution to this is trying all types of ads out for yourself for a specified amount of time per ad so you can compare all the results together to see what is the most effective.