Reach the right people at the right time with YouTube Ads

YouTube is the second most popular website in Finland. A huge number of Finns watch videos on the platform every day. For advertisers, YouTube Ads is a great way to reach large audiences easily or to target smaller, carefully selected ones. YouTube Ads offers excellent targeting options and the service supports many different ad types.

Advertising on YouTube is also highly measurable. Results can be tracked from video views to purchases or other conversions.

YouTube Ads is a part of the Google Ads system. Read more about Google Ads in practice here.

4 golden rules of YouTube ads 

1. 1. Target your ads correctly
      Think before you target! Knowing your target audience should be your starting point: who do you want to reach and what kind of message would resonate with them? YouTube targeting allows you to choose your audiences based on, for example, age, gender, language, region or interests. You can also target ads to the viewers of specific channels at specific times. Targeting can be further enhanced by combining it with users’ Google search history. You can also select people who have visited your or your competitors’ sites as the audience. With so many targeting options available, your audience can be either very large or very small. The best outcomes can be reached by testing different targeting options and by optimizing them according to the results.
   2. Open with an insightful hook
      When it comes to YouTube ads, content is key. Your creative idea should come through right from the get-go, preferably within the first few seconds. The best ads open with an insightful message or hook, to let the viewer know what the ad is promoting or convince them to keep watching.
   3. Keep it short
      Most people watch YouTube on mobile devices, and want to get to the video as quickly as possible rather than spend time watching ads. That is why the maximum length of your ad should be 15–20 seconds. Even just 5–6 seconds can be enough to make an impression. Use fast cuts and keep things moving so the viewer doesn’t get bored and your key message shines through. If the ad resonates with the target audience, they’re more likely to watch it.
   4. Use subtitles
      Even if your narration is in Finnish, it’s always a good idea to add subtitles, as videos are often viewed without the sounds. On YouTube, most mobile users have sounds disabled as a default setting.

2. Select the right type of YouTube ad

   The types of ads YouTube offers can be roughly divided into three categories:

   1. Skippable in-stream ads
      These ads play either before a video or during or after a longer video. Viewers can choose to skip the ad after 5 seconds. There are no time restrictions for these ads, so they can be over 60 seconds long (although such a long ad rarely works). The advertiser only pays when a viewer watches the entire video (or over 30 seconds of it) or interacts with the video. For in-stream ads, the CTA button is very important. It can be used to drive traffic directly to your campaign page or website.
   2. Non-skippable in-stream ads
      Non-skippable in-stream ads also play before, during or after a video, but the user must watch the ad all the way through before they can get to their video. The maximum length for these ads is 15 seconds, and advertisers pay per impression (CPM). As with skippable in-stream ads, the CTA button is important, as it can be used to drive traffic directly to your campaign page or website.
   3. Bumper ads
      These video ads play before, during or after a video. They can be up to 6 seconds long, and advertisers pay per impression (CPM). The main benefit of bumper ads is their wide reach, but the downside is there is no CTA button. Therefore, driving traffic to your website is not possible. However, bumper ads are good for getting attention and an effective way to reach wide audiences.

   The results of YouTube advertising are reported in real time

   The most important metrics for YouTube ads are reach, number of views, view time and clicks. If correctly set up, web analytics will also reveal what the users arriving via YouTube have done on your website.

   For each ad, we can determine how well it met its goals in terms of audiences, keywords or other demographic data.

   It’s interesting to compare the quality of YouTube traffic to that of other channels. By analysing data, we aim to understand if video ads have an indirect impact on results from other channels. Often, for example, direct traffic and organic search traffic get a boost as a result of a YouTube ad campaign.

   The metrics and reporting of YouTube Ads can be automated so that the results are updated directly into Looker Studio in real time. That way, you will always have up-to-date data that is easy to find and share within the organization, for example. Fast and open communication helps you understand how the campaign is performing. It’s also helpful when making decisions about optimization for your next campaign.