YouTube skippable in-stream video ads

More and more business owners are planning to expand their campaigns with new channels. YouTube is the first that comes to mind. Video content is becoming more and more popular, and many people are switching from TV to YouTube. So this is, in my opinion, a natural path that should be tested by everyone who has ads in Google Ads. But which ad format should you choose? In this article, I will discuss the most popular one, which is skipping video in-stream ads.

What are skippable in-stream video ads?

Skippable in-stream ads show before, during, or immediately after other YouTube videos, and you can skip the ad up to five seconds after it appears. Please note that this ad format also appears on sites and apps that are part of the Google partner network. Skippable in-stream ads are billed in the CPV (cost per view) model, so we pay for the ad impression. An ad impression is counted when the user views more than 30 seconds of the ad (or the entire ad, if it lasts less than 30 seconds), or when the user interacts with the ad.

Who should use skippable in-stream video ads?

In fact, everyone who has the opportunity to create an advertising video should test it. On YouTube, every industry will now find channels or videos that are directly related to their business. It is worth checking whether the advertisement displayed during such films will not bring us large sales or image benefits.

I also use in-stream video ads when creating startup campaigns. This is a brilliant option because it allows you to present our product in a much more comprehensive way and reach the users who need it. We are not always able to do it with image ads, and that’s when video ads come in handy.

In-stream video ads are also a relatively cheap form of advertising. The average cost of an impression on my clients’ accounts ranges between 3 and 10 cents. This is due to the fact that currently, contrary to appearances, there is still very little competition on YouTube.

Ability to target skippable in-stream ads

The in-stream targeting capabilities are exactly the same as for any other YouTube ad. We can choose demographic targeting, i.e. age, gender, and household income. Interest, topic (video topics), remarketing, locations, languages, devices, and placements (specific videos or channels) targeting.

From my experience, I can recommend placement targeting possibly limited demographic targeting. In such targeting, we can choose before or during which films our advertisement will be shown, or on which channels. We need to spend some time finding channels related to our industry, or the industry whose users will need our products/services. However, it is worth doing, because thanks to this, our ads will reach the users we care about. If we do not want to do it, or there are a lot of such channels, you can try to target specific topics. However, it will be much more targeting.

The second option that it tests frequently is keyword targeting. However, it is worth remembering that in the case of this form of advertising, these are the keywords that are found in the titles or descriptions of the videos.

Since we are already talking about keywords, in-stream video ads can also be targeted at non-standard audience groups that I wrote about in this post: Targeting image ads at people searching for specific terms in the search engine. This is a very interesting targeting option that is definitely worth testing.

Why should you choose this format at the beginning?

Skippable in-stream ads are the ideal format to start your YouTube campaign journey with. Thanks to the fact that it is possible to skip the advertisement, we can save a lot of budgets. When the user clicks Skip Ad after 5 seconds, we won’t pay anything for it. In addition, if our advertisement reaches the uninterested user, he will not have to watch the entire advertisement but will skip it and thus we will not irritate him with our advertisement. This is often an overlooked aspect, but surely each of you has had a situation where you were irritated while watching an advertisement for a company. It certainly has a negative impact on the perception of your brand.

What should an in-stream video ad look like?

First of all, it shouldn’t be too long. I think it should be in the range of 40-60 seconds. For longer formats of advertising films, it is definitely better to choose other ad formats, e.g. Discovery advertising. The advertisement should be built in such a way that in the first 5-8 seconds it attracts the viewer’s attention and presents the product. As a result, the ad view rate will increase significantly. Nobody has the time and the desire to watch an advertisement in which you don’t know what’s going on. It is also worth taking care of quality. Many people I have spoken to about advertising on YouTube have said that the ad format itself is great, but the cost of creating a video ad is very high. This is a very big mistake. In fact, each of us has a phone in our pocket that records movies in fullHD and has quite good image stabilization. With a little creativity and willingness, we can create such an advertisement ourselves, using what we have at hand. Remember that to be able to create an in-stream ad, the advertising video must be added to YouTube.

I hope that with this post I have convinced you that YouTube advertising is worth trying. In my opinion, the sooner you do it, the better because the competition is still very small and with a small budget we can reach a really large audience. In addition, the fact that YouTube in many cases replaces ordinary television means that this form of advertising will soon, in my opinion, be as popular as image ads. So let’s test it and see if it will bring the expected results for our company. It’s a good idea to use skippable in-stream ads for this, as they will save us a lot of budgets and in my opinion will be the best option at the beginning of our journey into the world of YouTube advertising.