How Youtube "TrueView for Action" Works
According to Google, 47% of U.S. adults aged 18 to 54 say YouTube helps them at least once a month when making a decision about buying something – that’s an estimated 70 million people going to YouTube every month for help with a purchase.
With over 4 billion views every single day, YouTube is quickly becoming the new revenue stream for retailers to advertise and promote their products, along with other forms of social commerce including Facebook and Instagram.
Thanks to the introduction of advertising efforts such as TrueView and Google Shopping Ads on YouTube (available through the AdWords interface), retailers are just beginning to scrape the surface on video advertising.
In the following post, we’ll take an in-depth look at the latest video ad feature (now officially out of beta) “TrueView for Action“ and how it is expected to impact retailers and advertisers in 2018.
What is TrueView for Action?
According to Google, TrueView for action (also referred to as YouTube for Performance) helps drive leads and conversions by adding prominent CTAs (calls-to-action) and headline text overlays to your video ads.
Using this video campaign subtype, you can encourage customers to explore your product or service, share their contact information, and take other actions valuable to your business.
How Will TrueView for action impact retailers?
The big takeaway for retailers is that YouTube now offers an ad format which is specifically designed to drive people to site.
‘Historically, YouTube advertising has performed better as a brand awareness driving rather than direct response medium,” Josh Brisco, Sr. Manager, Retail Search Operations at CPC Strategy said.
“However, over the last few years, YouTube has made steady updates to targeting capabilities and ad units with direct response in mind. TrueView for Action is the latest, and arguably largest, ad unit update, as there is now a direct call to action to drive users to site and drive conversions.”
“TrueView for Action has the potential to make YouTube a much more appealing option for ROI-focused retailers.”
How TrueView for action campaigns work:
TrueView for action campaigns are available for video campaigns on YouTube and are made up of CTAs (calls-to-action) and a headline.
Here’s some additional facts retailers and advertisers should know about TrueView for Action including:
- TrueView for actions campaigns can only run on the in-stream ad format. This means that they play before, during, or after another video on YouTube. These ads also give viewers the option to skip the ad after 5 seconds.
- Headlines can contain up to 15 characters and is the primary line of text next to your video ad.
- Headlines promotes your product or service.
- CTAs can contain up to 10 characters and appears alongside your headline.
- CTAs direct people to the website you specify as your final URL.
- TrueView for action campaign ads can increase viewer engagement and encourage people to take action after your video plays.
Relationship Between YouTube Advertising & AdWords
In mid-2015, Google announced the integration of AdWords for video into AdWords to improve the YouTube advertising experience.
Some of the key benefits of this integration include:
- A simpler, more unified AdWords that integrates TrueView video campaigns with Search Network and Display Network campaigns, enabling a more streamlined, consistent buying and reporting experience across all campaign types.
- Powerful tools available for TrueView video campaigns, including bulk management solutions and reporting features in the video campaigns shared library.
- Advertisers now have access to an upgrade center where they can upgrade their AdWords for video account, including any or all of their existing TrueView video campaigns, to the new functionality.
- Advertisers can also create test TrueView campaigns in AdWords.
The Fundamentals of YouTube Advertising
It’s important to understand the relationship among the three components that make YouTube a successful channel for viewers, creators as well as advertisers.
Viewers, come to YouTube to be entertained, learn, and join an interactive community. They also provide the eyeballs required to help creators, advertisers, and YouTube make money.
Creators, come to YouTube to express themselves, share their creativity, and potentially make some money from it -if they can. As a creator, you can keep making great videos so viewers come back for more and make visiting your channel a habit.
Advertisers, look at YouTube as way to reach and target audiences. If your audience is really engaged, and if they’re a demographic that brands really want to reach, advertisers may be willing to pay to run ads on channels creators make.
The key to successful monetization with ads is an engaged audience. Advertisers want to place their products in front of “high traffic, far reach, and unique or targeted demographics”.
It’s recommended that creators invest in growing their audience before monetizing their channel.
Want to learn more about YouTube Advertising for Retailers?
Check out our recent blog post, which covers everything from available ad formats to targeting and expert insight.
Got questions about YouTube advertising? Email [email protected]
You Might Be Interested In
