How To Get Ads On YouTube: Everything You Need To Know

Did you know that YouTube alone has over 2 billion users? And every day, those users watch over a billion hours of video, generating billions and billions of views—that’s a lot of billions!

What’s more, YouTube via iPhones and other smartphones alone reaches more 18-49 year-old consumers than any cable network in the United States. So with that being said, it’s no wonder that video marketing through this social media platform is on the rise. 

If you’re interested in knowing how to tap into the incredible power of video marketing—this article is for you! Keep reading to learn everything you need to know to get ads to your demographic on this monster platform and use Youtube to take your brand to the next level. 

Are you ready?

What Is YouTube Advertising?

Done through Google Ads, YouTube advertising is an effective method of advertising your video content on YouTube—or in search engine results—so you can maximize your consumer reach. This could be your Youtube video ad playing before a consumer views another video or showing up in the YouTube search results for consumers to watch in full. 

Different Types Of YouTube Ads

Did you know that there are six different types of YouTube ads, some of which you can monetize? They are as follows:

• TrueView ads
• Non-skippable instream ads
• Bumper instream ads
• Sponsored card ads
• Overlay ads
• Display ads

Before you start creating your first marketing campaign, it’s wise to understand each YouTube ad type. That way, you can tailor your advertisement for the format you plan on using. 

Let’s walk through each one of these ad types and review the details. 

TrueView Ad

This is the main advertising format found on YouTube. 

TrueView ads give consumers the most control over the ads they see. Because of this, Google reports that 8 out of every 10 viewers prefer TrueView advertisements to other in-stream video ad formats. But TrueView ads are great for businesses too. 

Marketers only pay for these types of ads when viewers watch for at least thirty seconds or watch the entire short video, as well as if the viewers interact with an advertisement in some way, such as clicking on a call-to-action (CTA). 

And since users can skip the ads they don’t want to watch and view the ones they do, advertisers save quite a bit of money while also reaching more interested viewers. YouTube states that the max length a TrueView video ad can be is six minutes, with the minimum being twelve seconds. 

Now, there are two main types of YouTube TrueView ads: in-stream ads and discovery ads.

TrueView in-stream ads play before a user’s chosen video. They feature a small countdown timer and a link to the advertised site in the bottom left of the screen. 

TrueView discovery ads, on the other hand, appear within the YouTube search results, in the right-hand sidebar of ‘watch pages’ above the list of suggested videos. This type of ad consists of an image thumbnail and up to three lines of text.  

Non-Skippable In-Stream Ad

A non-skippable in-stream ad is essentially the same thing as TrueView in-stream ads, except users are not able to skip them. Since users have less control over these ads, they are not considered ‘TrueView.’ 

Non-skippable in-stream ads are not popular by any means. In fact, YouTube put a stop to the thirty-second unskippable ad format, and today, these types of ads can be no longer than twenty seconds. 

Bumper Ad

The bumper ads on YouTube are the third type of video ad available to marketers on YouTube. These non-skippable video ads play right before a user’s chosen video and must be less than six seconds long. 

Many brands use bumper ads as part of a larger YouTube advertising campaign featuring other ad formats because obviously, they aren’t an ideal format for testimonials, product demos, or stories. But still, the six-second time limit can be a wonderful catalyst for creativity. 

Sponsored Card Ad

YouTube sponsored cards can be found within videos as small CTA (call-to-action) pop-ups. These types of ads are a very unobtrusive form of YouTube advertising. A tiny ‘i’ symbol pops up in the upper right corner of a video, and when a user clicks on it, the card expands. 

Overlay Ad

Perhaps the simplest form of YouTube advertising, overlay ads are banner ads that appear along the bottom of videos. 

Display Ad

Another simple form of YouTube advertising, display ads have been around for quite some time and appear in the upper right-hand sidebar above the suggested videos list. 

How To Advertise On YouTube

Okay, now let’s get into the nitty-gritty! First, your video ad will live on YouTube, so it’s important to start by uploading the video file to your YouTube channel. Make sure you make your video public, or if you don’t want it popping up in your Youtube account, you can make it unlisted. 

Create Your Campaign

1. First, sign in to your Google Ads account and select ‘New Campaign.’ Choose your campaign goal based on your company’s marketing objectives:

• Leads
• Sales
• Website traffic
• Brand awareness and reach
• Product and brand consideration

2. You will need to select your campaign type. Currently, Google provides five options:

• Search
• Display
• Shopping
• Video
• Universal App

3. Once you’ve clicked “video,” you will need to select your video campaign goals and subtypes. 

Define Your Campaign Parameters

Now, let’s configure your campaign. 

1. Select your bid strategy. For the most part, your marketing campaign type will determine this: do you want clicks, impressions, or conversions?
2. Enter in your budget by day or as the total amount you are willing to spend on the campaign. Also, enter the dates your ad will run. Then, you’ll select where your ads will show up. There are three options:

• YouTube search results: Ads can appear next to the YouTube search results. 
• Video partners on the display network: This means that your YouTube ad will also appear to users across Google’s other advertising avenues. 
• YouTube videos: Ads will appear on not only YouTube videos but also channel pages and the YouTube homepage. 

3.  Next, you will select your audience’s location and language. You can pick to show your ads all over the world, or you can pick to target by country. 

4. Choose how “sensitive” your brand’s safety guidelines are. In simpler terms—choose how much violence, profanity, or sexually suggestive content you are willing to have your ads run alongside.  

Target Your Audience

Advertisements allow you to define who you want to reach by options such as their age, gender, parental status, etc. Take the time to really get to know your audience to make sure you are targeting the right people and using the right keywords to get the ad revenue that you’re looking for. 

Set Your Campaign to Live

Enter the link to your ad, and hit the Create Campaign button to make your campaign live, and voila—you just set up your first YouTube advertising campaign!

A Final Word

At first, YouTube ads can feel a bit overwhelming. But YouTube’s diverse advertising formats provide people with a powerful suite of tools to reach their target audience, which can lead to monetization. What’s more, with video content expected to claim 84 percent of all web traffic within the next two years, this marketing channel is well-worth getting to grips with. 

Not really YouTube savvy? Don’t worry, there are amazing advertising agencies like MuteSix that can handle your marketing campaign for you. 

MuteSix is a remarkable award-winning advertising agency that provides intelligent ad solutions to help grow distributor brands into enterprise market leaders. 

Are you ready to take your business to the next level? If so, MuteSix can help!

Sources:

https://www.businessofapps.com/data/youtube-statistics/

https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-kills-unskippable-30-second-ads-2017-2

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/video/trueview-search/#:~:text=8%20out%20of%2010%20viewers,is%20key%20to%20driving%20viewership.

https://truefilmproduction.com/study-predicts-84-internet-traffic-will-video-2020/