Insights

Posted August 29, 2019
By Cody Hanson |

Looking to drive impressions and overall brand awareness? Creating a video campaign is one of the best options available. 

Why consider video ads? 

• Video campaigns are inexpensive
• Video campaigns effectively communicate your message
• Video campaigns are highly customizable

Just like any Google Ad campaign, video campaigns require on-going optimization to succeed, which is why we’ve put together a list of optimization tactics to help you get the most from your video campaign

Before we dive in, let’s quickly recap the various Google Video Ads. 

What are In-Stream Ads? 

Google In-Stream ads run before, during, or after other videos on YouTube or across Display Network sites, games, or apps. With in-stream ads, the viewer can skip the ad after 5 seconds. By selecting cost per view, you will only be charged when someone views the entire video or takes an action on your video.

What are Video Discovery Ads?

Google video discovery ads only appear on YouTube and reach users discovering content on various websites. Depending on the ad sizes and ad formats that content publishers support, discovery ads can vary in appearance. When a viewer clicks on your ad, the viewer will be directed to YouTube where your video will play. 

What are Outstream Ads?

Google Outstream ads appear on Google partner sites. Outstream ads are only available on mobile and tablet and are geared to help users tap to play your video.

What are Non-Skippable In-Stream Ads?

Google non-skippable in-stream ads are just that, a non-skippable ad format designed to help you reach customers and share your message. Non-skippable in-stream ads are 15 seconds or less, and viewers can't skip the ad.

What are Bumper Ads?

Google bumper ads are a short video ad format that allows you to increase awareness about your brand by using a short, memorable message. Bumper ads are 6 seconds or less, and viewers can’t skip the ad.

Where do you begin?

1. Create a video that leaves a lasting impression.

With any video, you want to make sure you cover the basics. Viewers will need to know, who you are, what you do and what action they need to make. Depending on which type of ad you choose, this will need to be communicated quickly. At the very least, you’ll want to let viewers know who you are. For in-stream ads, adding your logo in the first five seconds of the ad will ensure that every impression has the opportunity to see your brand, even if they skip your ad.

2. Look at video ad placements

Finding placements that perform well will depend on your brand and your message. It’s important to test placements to see which perform the best. If you have a theory, test it. If a client insists on placing their video on a particular site or YouTube channel, test it. Nothing speaks louder than data and more often than not, you may be surprised by the results. In most instances, there are correlations between your brand and top-performing placements that may not be obvious upon first glance.

While we always recommend testing placements to see how they perform, there are certain categories to avoid. The following placements will often produce a high volume of clicks with no conversions. 

3. Avoid some ad placements

Children Videos

Being a parent, this became painfully evident after watching children shows with my son on YouTube. The moment an ad popped up is when he lost it and immediately started tapping on the screen to turn his show back on. The next day I came into the office and compiled a list of children’s YouTube channels to add to our exclusion list in Google Ads. Unless you have a unique client that may benefit from promoting on these channels, we recommend removing them from your targeted placements.

To make this process easier, we've created a list of children's shows to exclude from your campaign. 

In-App Placements

Before I dig in, I’ll start by mentioning, not all in-app placements are bad. With that said, the moment I see a 90% click-through-rate from Candy Crush, I get suspicious. The problem with in-app placements is when the ads pop-up. More often than not, an ad will pop-up when you least expect it, which can result in users clicking on your ad by mistake. Like I mentioned, not all in-app placements are bad. If you can identify apps that have produced conversions, keep them! For the rest, monitor these placements carefully.

Content Exclusions

Upon setting up your video ad, you have a few options for determining the type of placements you want to exclude. The first option is inventory type. Inventory type tells Google the type of content that’s suitable for your brand. For example, if you have sensitive content you would choose limited or standard inventory to reduce the risk of showing your ads on sites or channels with excessive profanity, violence, and sexual content.

4. Set up additional targeting measures 

Selecting placements is a great way to tell Google where you want your ads to show. To narrow your audience even further, we recommend identifying your target audience demographics, location and if possible, device preference. This will help ensure your ads are shown to the most relevant viewers.

 Finally, after running your video ads for a few weeks, check the ad schedule to see if you can identify days or times where viewers were more engaged. If you do, adding bid modifiers will tell Google to bid more aggressively during these times.

 Now that you’re familiar with video ads, test one out! Managed correctly, Google Video Ads can be a great way to communicate your brand’s message. If you have a question or need help with your campaign, reach out to us!

Tags

• Google Ads
• Video Ads
• Cost Per View
• digital marketing