Video killed the radio star, right? I tried my best to avoid this 80s song (I wanted to include “Hearts on Fire” from Rocky IV, but you try and post that in a PPC Blog), but video is the new frontier for us Adwords advertisers. And this isn’t only for the search results page, but for YouTube as well. It is safe to say that YouTube is kind of a big deal. With over 400 million users, 3 billion video views daily, and 48 hours of new video uploaded every minute, if you aren’t planning on a video campaign you could be losing out on a significant amount of money (in light of those statistics, it could literally be one meeeeelion dollars). I know video requires a lot of effort, but Google has recently made it a new focus of Adwords, and consequently it has become much easier and more lucrative for us advertisers. In the following paragraphs, the new innovations that Adwords has recently developed will be discussed, as well as the implications for advertisers.
To start, Google has made it easier to research user patterns in YouTube with YouTube Insights for Audience. This allows you the advertiser to define an audience, and then Insights for Audience will display a demographic breakdown of your audience. You can see video likes, dislikes, and YouTube search terms that your audience uses. Also, it will display videos that your audience typically views as well. This tool is helpful much like the keyword tool in the Adwords interface—define your audience, find what they search for, and determine strategy accordingly. In addition, there is also the YouTube Video Targeting Tool. This allows you to search YouTube channels or categories that your audience subscribes to, and then export this data to CSV or PDF for later use. Both these tools allow the user to target specific videos and categories on YouTube, making it easier to control your marketing efforts.
In an effort to maximize relevancy, decrease advertiser cost, and overall increase user experience, Google has also released YouTube TrueView Video ads. This allows a user to choose which ad that gets displayed to them in their YouTube video. So, the user gets to pick an ad that is relevant to their preferences, and you the advertiser get your video displayed to someone who chose it, boosting conversion rate and decreasing wasted impressions. Also, this ad format is based on a CPC model, so you are only charged for a user choosing your ad, instead of on a CPM model. This helps the advertiser to reach a qualified user, and according to Google, this has helped some advertisers reach up to 4 % CTR in their video ad campaigns!
One of the newest innovations Google is rolling out with (in limited beta as of now) are Video Extensions. Basically, this is putting a video below your text ad in the results bar of the search page. So, if your ad is in top position, it has a chance to have a video located directly under the ad. If a user interacts with your ad, you are billed on the usual CPC model, but only if the video is viewed for ten seconds. So, once a user has viewed your ad for that amount of time, you will have a click, and will pay accordingly. This is a good tool for advertisers looking to show trailers, previews, or just product demonstrations. This combines both video advertising, with targeted PPC, helping to engage the user more thoroughly and also cut down on wasted impressions sometimes associated with video campaigns.
And finally, the last innovation Google is unveiling is Media Ads, which is still in limited release. Basically, if your target audience primarily looks for and interacts with your video ads, this is for you. This is a much smaller advertiser audience, but this is still relevant. This technique doesn’t involve any keywords, and is charged on a flat rate. If someone searches for an item that the Google algorithm detects is directly related to your video, Google will place the ad in top position. Then, if a user interacts with the video, it will blur out the rest of the page and display your ad/trailer in the forefront of the Google page, giving a more “movie theater” experience. Yes, this may not apply to most advertisers, but it is worth noting as this may be more widespread in the coming months.
So, in short, Google is expanding more aggressively into video advertising. Not only are they developing tools to expedite this process, but they are also making it easier to target a specific audience and deliver more relevant ads. So, be sure to consider using videos in your ad campaigns, because if not you may be missing out on a significant amount of revenue.
