TrueView Video Advertising

What is TrueView Video Advertising?

TrueView ads are a group of video ad formats that are available within Google AdWords.

TrueView ads are available across all devices and allow the user to watch ads they find interesting, and skip ads they find less relevant to them.  This also gives the advertiser more control; you can show your ad online, but you only pay for the ads watched – so as your video view-count increases on YouTube – you know you’re reaching an audience that are truly engaged with your message.

Why use AdWords for Video with TrueView?

• You can reach users on YouTube and the Google Display Network.
• YouTube is the largest video site on the internet and has over a billion users!
• Video ads are more engaging than text or static images.
• It’s pay-per-view advertising so you can control a budget that you’re comfortable with.
• You can use analytics to track performance.

How Does It Work?

Once the advertiser’s video content is uploaded to their YouTube account, they can then bid for video views in a similar manner to bidding on keywords within a Google AdWords search campaign.

Available Ad Formats:

TrueView in-stream video ads

TrueView in-stream videos can appear on YouTube watch pages and on video partner sites and apps in the Google Display Network. You pay when a viewer watches 30 seconds of your video (or the duration if it’s shorter than 30 seconds) or engages with your video, whichever comes first.

TrueView in-display video ads

Use this format to promote a video next to YouTube videos, as part of a YouTube search result, or within other website content across the Google Display Network. You’ll be charged only when viewers choose to watch your ad by clicking a thumbnail.

TrueView video ads are available across all devices – mobile, tablets or desktop and laptop machines. You can layer in targeting options such as demographic, geographic, keywords or interest-based targeting. You can also select YouTube videos, channels or websites – these are called placements – that you would like to target your video ad against. Finally, the opt-in nature of TrueView video ads provides an element of natural targeting by eliminating viewers who have already seen your ad or who are not receptive to the message that you are broadcasting.

Reviewing Performance

As with any PPC advertising, a real benefit is the level of transparency and reporting available to the advertiser. You can really see where every penny of your advertising budget is being spent and how your target audience is interacting with the content that you are supplying.

We have detailed some of the available reporting metrics below:

• Number of views – how users have viewed your video ad.
• Interaction rate – how users are interacting with the ad.
• Quartile viewing – the % of your video people have watched before skipping.
• Average cost-per-view – how much is each view costing you?
• Website clicks – how many users are visiting your website via the video ad?

Even more analytical data is available by linking your AdWords and YouTube accounts, there is more information on how to do this here

Benefits Summary

• TrueView Ads reach a highly engaged audience with online video.
• If your TrueView ads are skipped – this won’t cost you a penny.
• Total control of your budget and real reporting transparency
• Grow your YouTube video views & YouTube channel subscribers.
• Use Google AdWords remarketing to target and re-engage with this interested audience.

 Conclusion

TrueView video ads are a great extension to your current online advertising and give you the opportunity to reach one of the largest audiences on the web – YouTube viewers – with over 1 billion users. You can reach potential customers when they are most engaged and control your advertising costs with pay-per-view bidding and daily budget limits. Remember, you only pay when a user chooses to watch your video content and any resulting clicks to your website are free of charge – why not give it a go today!

Here at Circus, we think that Video Advertising should be a part of every advertiser’s digital marketing strategy, and we hope that this article has given you some inspiration for interacting further with your potential customers via TrueView video ads.

If you would like a helping hand with YouTube, TrueView Video Ads or any other element of PPC advertising then please contact us for a free, no obligation PPC review and consultation with one of our PPC Experts.

Written by Simon Wells PPC Account Manager at Circus PPC Agency