More ways to reach your audience with YouTube mobile ads

Editor's Note: As of December 1st, 2011, you will start to see Promoted Videos referred to as TrueView in-search and TrueView in-display.

There’s no debate that the world is going mobile. Mobile web searches have grown five times over the past two years. YouTube mobile now gets more than 400 million views a day, representing 13 percent of our total daily views.

For advertisers, this opens up more opportunities to reach customers. And in some cases, it can amplify existing campaigns. In a recent study conducted with Nielsen research, we found that promotions perform better together when displayed across multiple screens. In fact, brand recall jumps dramatically to 74 percent for people who saw ads across TV, PC, smartphone and tablets, up from 50 percent for those who saw ads only on TV.

Here are a few ways you can extend your mobile reach with YouTube:

YouTube’s Promoted Video ads on mobile

Do you use Promoted Video ads to reach viewers searching for relevant products and potential customers browsing videos on YouTube.com? You can also use Promoted Videos to reach viewers on the go. Promoted Videos are featured at the top of the video search results on m.youtube.com, YouTube’s mobile platform.

Advertisers pay only when the viewer chooses to watch the video, and all mobile and desktop view counts are summarized into one complete view count on your channel page. Mobile Promoted Video ads are auction-based campaigns that can be managed in your Google AdWords account. All Google AdWords campaigns are opted into “all devices” by default, but creating separate mobile campaigns helps optimize your mobile advertising efforts and the performance of your brand channel.

A Promoted Video ad on m.youtube.com includes an ad thumbnail, title and channel name; similar to the organic video results.

Promoted Video ads have recently joined YouTube’s family of TrueView ad formats. Soon, your Promoted Video ads will become TrueView in-search ads and TrueView in-display ads. TrueView in-search ads show up in display ad units against search results on YouTube, whereas TrueView in-display ads show up in display ad units against suggested videos on YouTube and across website content on the Google Display Network. These TrueView video ads can be set up and managed in any Google AdWords for video account and purchased on a cost-per-view basis.

YouTube mobile in-stream ads

YouTube mobile in-stream ads are 15-second pre-roll ads that appear before the video begins to play. Similar to your desktop experience, mobile in-stream ads may show before videos produced by YouTube partners. In addition to the Android YouTube app, in-stream ads are also available to viewers accessing m.youtube.com from their iPhone.

You can optimize your mobile in-stream ads to reach specific audiences, locations and content. In-stream ads are priced on a CPM basis and can be arranged via ad reservation through your Google sales representative.

Animal Planet used mobile in-stream ads to promote the new season of River Monsters.

YouTube mobile roadblocks

YouTube Mobile roadblocks give brands 100% share of voice on the YouTube home, browse and search pages on m.youtube.com. According to recent Nielsen data, these roadblocks add 17 percent incremental impressions for advertisers.

adidas used mobile roadblocks to complement their homepage masthead ad. Using multiple mobile tactics in addition to roadblocks, channel views jumped 26x over the span of their “adidas is all in” brand campaign.

Mobile brand channels extend your online presence


Many advertisers use banners, background images and gadgets to customize their YouTube brand channels. Extend your brand presence to mobile users by creating a customized mobile brand channel. Accessed through m.youtube.com, mobile channels offer the same high level of customization, including the use of gadgets. You can drive traffic to your YouTube mobile brand channel by running ads on the AdMob network or on m.youtube.com.

YouTube’s AdBlitz brand channel features custom-designed elements which engage our growing mobile audience.

For more information about YouTube mobile ads, connect with your Google sales representative or visit www.youtube.com/advertise/mobile.html.

Posted by Nicky Crane, Product Manager

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YouTube’s Promoted Videos hits one billion video views

Editor's Note: As of December 1st, 2011, you will start to see Promoted Videos referred to as TrueView in-search and TrueView in-display.

YouTube’s Promoted Videos recently passed the one billion mark in the number of video views delivered to advertisers. Promoted Videos allow you to promote your video against search results on YouTube, against related videos on YouTube, or across the Google Display Network. Promoted Videos help you bring your business to life—letting your customers see you, hear you, and connect with you online.

You can set up Promoted Video campaigns using your Google AdWords account. Similar to pay-per-click search ads, with Promoted Videos you can specify how much you would be willing to pay for a video view and set a maximum budget. Thousands of advertisers have promoted their videos against branded keywords and against videos that their customers are watching to increase brand awareness and drive sales.

We would like to highlight a few changes to Promoted Videos:

Placement on Google Video search results. We're expanding Promoted Video ads to show up on the Google.com Video search results page in the US only. This change gives you more opportunity to connect with potential viewers when they're actively seeking out video content. If you also have search ads set up in your account, we'll serve either your Promoted Video ad or your Google AdWords search ad, not both, based on a range of factors including your bid and Quality Score. To make sure you can take advantage of this increase in your potential audience, please opt into "Search partners" in your campaign.

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When users enter your search terms (A) on video.google.com (B), they could see your Promoted Video ad above or to the right (C) of the organic search results (D).

Introduction on YouTube Mobile. Soon, your Promoted Video ads will be able to show up on our mobile destination, m.youtube.com, which can be easily viewed on web browsers across any mobile and tablet devices. New Google AdWords campaigns are opted into "All devices" by default, but you can opt your ads out of showing on mobile devices by navigating to "Settings" on the Campaigns tab. For existing campaigns, you may wish to verify that your device settings include or exclude mobile.

(click for full-size image)

The mobile Promoted Video ad on m.youtube.com will include your ad thumbnail, title, and channel name, similar to organic video results.

Inclusion in TrueView video ads. We recently moved Promoted Videos from a cost-per-click to cost-per-view pricing model, focusing on the value of video views. In the coming months, Promoted Videos will join our TrueView family of ad formats, which provide viewers with choice and advertisers with engaged, opted-in views. Stay tuned for more updates!

We hope these changes give you more and better resources to grow your business with online video ads.

Posted by Jonathan Goldman, YouTube Software Engineer

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Promoted Video pricing change: Focusing on the value of views

Editor's Note: As of December 1st, 2011, you will start to see Promoted Videos referred to as TrueView in-search and TrueView in-display.

Promoted Videos have proven to be an effective and popular way for advertisers to drive traffic to video content on YouTube. This format allows you to promote videos on YouTube when users are searching for or watching videos. Until now, Promoted Videos have been priced on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis; similar to AdWords search ads, you were charged every time a user clicked on a Promoted Video ad.

Beginning on May 25th, we’re changing the pricing structure of this format to a cost-per-view (CPV) model, shifting the focus to actual viewership. This change means you’ll be charged only when a user clicks on a Promoted Video ad and starts to watch your video content. This pricing model ensures that your advertising costs are more closely connected to your goal of driving trackable video viewership.

How Bids Work

When you create your Promoted Video ad, you'll be asked to set a maximum CPV, which is the maximum amount you're willing to pay for a video view. Promoted Videos use the AdWords discounter to automatically reduce your costs. As always, we’ll only charge you one cent more than the next advertiser on the page competing for the same or similar keywords/placements, ensuring auction-driven efficiencies.

What You’ll See

As before, Promoted Video campaigns can be set up and managed right in AdWords or via ads.youtube.com. As of May 25th, billing terms from all Promoted Videos campaigns will officially convert from CPC to CPV and will be reflected in your advertising dashboards in both systems. If you’re using AdWords to purchase Promoted Videos on YouTube, you may continue to see mentions of CPCs in your campaign dashboard as we introduce additional CPV formats and adjust verbiage in the system.

Please visit the Help Center for more details and FAQs. Our hope is that this change in the pricing model aligns Promoted Videos more closely with your goals, driving the right results for your business.

Posted by Baljeet Singh, Senior Product Manager, YouTube

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