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Research Outline
Prepared for Austin I. | Delivered April 27, 2021
YouTube Advertising Best Practices
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Goals
To obtain information on the best practices for advertising on YouTube.
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Early Findings
The initial round of research indicates that there is a wealth of information available on this topic. Details on our early findings have been provided below.
Keep it Short
While commercials that are up to two minutes long might work for television, they will not perform well on YouTube. Advertisers on YouTube need to
keep things short
so that they do not hold users captive.
According to Logical Media Group, a Google partner, it is the best practice to keep YouTube ads between
5 to 60 seconds
long.
Metric Theory recommends keeping YouTube "video ads between
15 and 60
seconds". Generally, keeping it below 60 seconds is preferable. Advertisers do not need to worry about their ads being too short. The purpose of YouTube advertising is to
pique interest
.
YouTube ads are not meant to explain the entire business. Therefore, brands should grab people’s attention quickly and fill them in on the
details
when they visit the business's landing page.
Capture Attention, Relate, and Associate
Even more important than keeping the ad length short is how a brand uses the time it has with its YouTube audience. The first thing an ad should do is to
captivate
the audience quickly. This could "mean using
upbeat music
, utilizing a recognizable influencer or celebrity, posing a compelling question, or using
humor
, among many other possible ideas."
An advertiser might have 60 seconds for their video ad, but it is unlikely that users will stay focused on the ad for that long. Users can
skip
a YouTube in-stream ad after
5 seconds
. Therefore, brands have just 5 seconds to convince viewers to continue watching.
It is the best practice to deliver an ad with content that is "
better than
the organic content they intended to watch." Advertisers need to treat the first 5 seconds of their video script as
gold
. Within the first five seconds, advertisers should be sure to
mention
the following: the company, the service or product, what it does, and why people need it.
After capturing the audience's attention, a YouTube ad should
relate
to them. Advertisers should empathize with their pain points and needs. Characters and scenes they are likely to identify with should be used.
Finally, advertisers who leverage YouTube should
associate
their brand as the solution to a pain point or need. This can be done simply by adding a
logo
in the corner of an ad. However, it is important to find a way to creatively place the company's "name or logo more
naturally
in the video – on a package if [it is] a retail brand, or an application interface for software."
Talking Heads
For business-to-business (B2B) brands, YouTube ads can be used to demonstrate thought
leadership and knowledge
. This approach usually "works best as a
Discovery format
" because it gives a brand more time to share its ideas. A YouTube channel can be created to provide tricks and tips, best practices, and any other content that a brand's ideal customers would find useful.
Show Off Products
Video ads are the best way to show a brand's product in action. Through this means, users can get more information within "a
shorter time frame
than they would from a blog post or text-based ad." By leveraging product demos and how-to guides, brands can
build trust
by addressing pain points recommending possible solutions.
This tactic has yielded remarkable results for several brands. For instance, Adobe found that "users who watched demos were
180%
more likely to make a purchase than those that didn’t opt into the video." Also, "Animoto found that
4x
as many customers prefer to watch a video about a product than read an article about it."
Leverage Storytelling
Movie trailers usually attract viewers through storytelling by "offering just enough plot to spark some
curiosity
." By leveraging storytelling ads, brands can achieve a similar result and
stir up interest
in their offerings enough to get their users to visit their website, check out their channel, or share their videos.
Summary
As information was widely available on this topic, the initial research was able to uncover several best practices for creating and running advertising campaigns on Youtube. For a deeper dive, we have suggested paths for further research in our proposals below.
Since YouTube is a global online video platform, our background search had a global focus. We would maintain this geographic scope in our further research. However, if a different approach is desired (for instance, a US focus), this would have to be communicated to us in a reply.
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