In this post, we explore the top 10 benefits of YouTube advertising and how businesses can make informed decisions and create successful campaigns that resonate with their target audience.
1. Large Audience Reach
There are more than 245 million active YouTube users in the US. This enormous user base presents a significant opportunity for businesses to reach their target audience. The platform is particularly popular among younger demographics, with 81% of 15–25-year-olds in the US using YouTube. It is an ideal platform for businesses targeting this demographic.
Additionally, YouTube’s algorithm is designed to show ads to users who are most likely to engage with them, increasing the chance of success for advertisers. With the ability to reach such a large and diverse audience, businesses can increase their brand awareness and establish themselves as leaders in their industries.
YouTube’s large audience is also highly engaged, with users spending an average of 40 minutes per session on the platform, providing businesses with a captive audience for their ads. Overall, the large audience on YouTube provides businesses with a unique opportunity to reach more potential customers than ever before.
2. A Range of Targeting Options
There are a variety of targeting options available for YouTube advertising, including:
Demographic
Advertisers can target specific age ranges, genders, parental status, and household income.
Interest-Based
Interest-based targeting allows advertisers to reach audiences based on their interests and habits. This can include YouTube searches and watch history, hobbies, sports, music, and other interests.
Geographic Targeting
Advertisers can target users in specific locations, including countries, regions, cities, and postal codes. You can even target ads by a radius which will show your ads to people who are within a certain distance of a specific location.
Device Targeting
Businesses can target users based on the device they are using to access YouTube, such as desktop, mobile, or tablet. This can be important for advertisers who want to optimize their viewing experience by device, tightly manage the cost of advertising on YouTube, and those wanting to reach an audience that uses a specific device.
Remarketing
Advertisers can target users who have visited their website or used their app. This can be an effective way to reach people who are already in the buying cycle.
Placement
Advertisers can choose or exclude where their ads are shown. Choices include specific channels, videos, or types of videos.
Custom Affinity Audiences
Custom affinity audiences are groups of people who have shown an interest in your brand or products. You can create custom affinity audiences based on people who have visited your website, watched your videos, or used your app.
Customer Match
Customer match is a way for advertisers to reach people who have already interacted with your business. Advertisers upload customer information such as email addresses or phone numbers and can use the list to target their ads.
3. Cost Effective
YouTube advertising rates are cost-effective because advertisers only pay for the views or clicks their ads on YouTube receive. Advertisers can set budgets and bids based on their specific goals and can choose from a variety of ad formats, including:
- Skippable
- Non-Skippable Ads
- Bumper Ads
- Display Ads
Additionally, with the advanced targeting options, you can get your ads in front of more people in your target audience, reducing the likelihood of wasted impressions and keeping your YouTube advertising costs down.
4. Variety of Ad Formats
YouTube advertising options are varied, each with its own benefits, depending on your advertising campaign goals. These formats include:
Skippable In-Stream Ads
The most common type of YouTube ad, these ads are at least 5 seconds long and can be skipped after 5 seconds. They have no maximum length but keeping these videos shorter than 3 minutes is recommended.
There are two ways to pay for skippable in-stream ads. You can pay per view (CPV), which means you only pay when someone watches your ad. You can also pay per impression (CPM), which means you pay every time your ad is shown, regardless of whether or not it is watched.
Non-Skippable In-Stream Ads
These ads are 15-20 seconds long and can’t be skipped, so viewers see your entire message. They are a good option for promoting high-value products or services.
Bumper Ads
These ads are 6 seconds or less and can’t be skipped. They are a good option for raising brand awareness or promoting a singular topic or short message. This ad format is good because it is short and memorable.
Outstream Ads
These ads are displayed alongside other content, such as articles or social media posts. They are a good option for reaching people who are not currently watching a video. There is no maximum length for these ads.
In-Feed Ads
These ads appear alongside other videos in the YouTube search results, watch next, and YouTube app Home Feed. Similar to skippable in-stream ads, they are displayed alongside other videos instead of before or after a video.
Display Ads
If you’d like your ads from a Google Ads Display campaign to show on YouTube, you can edit your placements and have ads appear on specific videos, channels, or all of YouTube.
You can explore the full YouTube advertising specs and YouTube ad standards here.
5. Trackable Results
YouTube’s analytics tools allow businesses to track the performance of their ads and make data-driven decisions. With analytics, you can track a variety of metrics, including:
- Impressions
- Clicks
- Click-Through Rate (CTR)
- Reach
- Views
- Watch Time
- Conversion Rate
6. High Engagement Rates
One of the advantages of video ads is the high engagement of viewers. People go to YouTube to watch videos, so they’re already receptive to video ads. YouTube ads are also highly relevant to the audience they are shown to. YouTube uses a variety of targeting methods to ensure that ads are shown to people who are likely to be interested in them.
7. Mobile Friendly
As the second most popular app in the world, YouTube ads are mobile-friendly. YouTube supports both horizontal and vertical video formats, which are designed specifically for mobile screens and can provide a better viewing experience for users on mobile.
8. Integration with Google Ads
YouTube advertising is integrated with Google Ads, which means that businesses can manage their campaigns alongside their search and display campaigns and take advantage of the same targeting options and analytics tools.
9. Retargeting
With YouTube advertising, you can retarget viewers who have watched an advertiser’s videos, subscribed to their channel, or visited their website, and show them targeted ads to re-engage them and drive conversions. This can be especially effective because it allows businesses to target users who have already shown an interest in their brand, increasing the likelihood they will take action on the ad.
10. Flexibility and Control
YouTube advertising offers businesses flexibility and control over their ad campaigns. They can choose ad format, budget, targeting options, and bidding strategies that best align with their goals, and adjust their campaigns as needed to optimize results.
Get Started with YouTube
By using YouTube advertising, businesses can reach new audiences, engage with customers, and achieve their marketing goals in a cost-effective and measurable way.
From getting started with YouTube advertising to optimizing YouTube channels for greater visibility, New Path Digital can transform your business with our tailored marketing solutions. Explore our services, or schedule a free consultation to start growing your business.
