There’s a great joke I heard about Youtube advertising:

Two business owners walk into a bar. One uses YouTube ads and the other has chosen to stick with print ads

Which one will be paying for drinks?

The answer is neither of them, if the YouTube advertiser isn’t choosing the right types of ads. 

If you’re a business owner, by now you know advertising on YouTube is one of the smartest marketing investments you can make. But did you know the type of ad format you choose can dictate your ad’s performance and consumer reaction?

SURPRISE.

Before you embark on your magical YouTube advertising adventure, before you even TOUCH that AdWords campaign, you need to decide a few things. First up: which type of Youtube ad format—TrueView in-stream ads, Trueview in-display ads, or bumper ads—is best for your overall objective.

Keep reading below for the breakdown of the YouTube advertising options you have to choose from and what they’re best for.  

Video Ads Vs. YouTube Ad Types

We need to clear something up. There are a few different ways to buy YouTube ads, and a few different types of imagery available.

Static ads (or YouTube display ads) are available on certain places within the YouTube platform, and certain in-display and banner ads can be bought directly through YouTube. While technically these are YouTube ads, that’s not where we’re going with this. What we’re talking about are actual video ads bought in the AdWords auction: TrueView in-stream ads, TrueView in-display ads, and bumper ads.

TrueView In-Stream and TrueView In-Display Ads

What are TrueView YouTube ads? They’re video ads you only pay for if someone watches them.

Imagine this: you’ve spent $10k on a company profile video that is by far the best damn video in the world. Then you spend another $10k on advertising it across the web. When it comes time to evaluate your KPIs of the campaign, you see that very few people watched it past five seconds. Look a little closer and you see that you actually spent a lot of your ad spend on these “trash” views and “maybe-they-saw-it” impressions.

Whoops.

Enter TrueView YouTube Ads. With TrueView video ads, you’re advertising to people who want to watch your video as they’re opt-in. You’re only charged when either someone clicks on the ad (TrueView in-display ads) or watches 30 seconds or to the end of the video (TrueView in-stream ads).

Other benefits of TrueView ads?

• They’re not constricted by length. That means you can experiment with longer ads for more in-depth experiences of your product or brand.
• You’re not annoying. Viewers are only seeing ads they’re curious about, and they have the option not to watch.
• It’s win-win. You’re not annoying, and you get to choose what you want to pay per view. This means the right audience at the right price.
• Wide net. You have an extremely broad reach with TrueView ads, since they can appear on both YouTube and other publisher sites in the display network.

Next we’ll take a look at TrueView in-stream ads and TrueView in-display ads.

TrueView In-Stream Ads

With TrueView in-stream YouTube ads, video ads are shown before or during another video. Viewers see five seconds of your video and then have the choice to keep watching or skip it. You only pay when a viewer watches to the end of the video or for 30 seconds (whichever is shorter), or clicks on a card or other interactive elements of your in-stream video creative.

Good For: These are good for high impressions, high-impact imagery, branding and general awareness campaigns, and top-of-the-funnel objectives.

How You’re Charged: You pay when a viewer interacts with or watches 30 seconds of or the entire video, whichever is shorter.

TrueView Discovery Ads (Formerly TrueView in-display ads)

TrueView in-display (or TrueView discovery ads) are perfect for—what else—discovery. They are shown alongside other YouTube videos, in YouTube search pages, or on websites on the Google Display Network that match your target audience. Similar to CPC campaigns, you pay only when a viewer chooses to watch your video by clicking on the ad.

These have also been referred to as in-search YouTube ads, because one of their placements is in the YouTube search option. Similar to Google, TrueView in-display ads are shown on top of organic video search results.

Good For: In-Display ads are great for non-intrusive ad campaigns, how-to videos, and middle-of-the-funnel content.

How You’re Charged: You pay when someone clicks on your video to watch it.

YouTube Bumper Video Ads

Imagine this: You’re on the subway (or Metro, or Underground, or L-train). You’ve got an issue at the office with your customer service representatives (you’ve been Googling CSR training courses all day), and you just want to watch a stupid video to get your mind off it.

Cue in your standard animal/fail/comedy video. At the end of your Sneezing Panda video is a quick, 6-second video ad for a pretty amazing service called Smart Selling, which guarantees to polish your CSRs till they shine.

Brilliant! Problem solved, and you got to watch a panda sneezing in the process.

YouTube bumper ads were created with these micro-moments in mind. With a time limit of six seconds, they’re perfect for people on-the-go and those who don’t have the time (or attention span) to watch longer videos.

Good For: They’re ideal to drive upper-funnel goals like ad recall and awareness, and are a cost-effective way to reach your target audience and ensure message delivery.

When You’re Charged: You pay per impressions.

Is six seconds long enough to make an impact?

You bet your britches. In fact, Google has something to say about that:

And while Bumpers are short on time, they’re long on impact. We tested over 300 Bumper campaigns this year and found that 9 out of 10 drove a significant lift in ad recall.  – Google

Why Advertise with Video Ads on YouTube?

There are plenty of platforms you can advertise your videos on, so why advertise on YouTube?

Think about your business. Now think about those micro-moments that people experience, those minute-long windows when they are most likely to convert. Imagine if you could advertise your business to those exact people in the exact moment they’re likely to become a customer.

And that’s when advertising on YouTube comes into play.

In moments like these, people are increasingly turning to mobile. On mobile alone, YouTube reaches more 18- to 49-year-olds than any cable network in the U.S., and the average viewing session on a mobile device is more than 40 minutes.  – Google

More and more, people are searching for solutions to problems on YouTube. They’re also following their favorite YouTuber, exploring hobbies and interests, and catching up with their favorite celebrities and news channels.

Blue Corona: Your YouTube Advertising Partner

Our YouTube marketing campaigns are second to none. And that’s not BS, I can prove it: See our video portfolio here.

If you’re not used to advertising on the Google AdWords platform, you may need to call in the experts. Aside from targeting, there are extremely specific parameters you need to set in order to have a successful campaign. Contact us today and we can chat about how best to execute your Youtube ad campaign.