If you have recently pulled up anything on YouTube, you have likely had to sit through at least a few seconds of an advertisement before you could watch your video. Sometimes you can click off the advertisement after 10 or 15 seconds, and others, a notice pops up that your video will play after the ad. Either way, you are locked in to the ad for at least a moment or two, and there isn’t much you can do to tune it out while it plays. Analysts estimate that YouTube has over 2 billion users (or almost one-third of the Internet), with 1 billion hours watched daily. With so many people utilizing the platform every day, there is a huge opportunity for business owners and marketers to reach a target audience.
There are several ways to use YouTube to target your audience and help your business. Non-skippable ads, or advertisements that viewers are forced to watch, are 15 to 20 seconds long. In order to watch the desired video content, the viewer has to sit through the ad first. While these ads tend to get better engagement (in part due to their short length), viewers are also more likely to abandon their attempt to watch the video because they cannot skip the ad. If your advertisement is done well, it is likely that you will not only gain engagement and interaction with your business or product, but people will also be more likely to share your advertisement with friends and family and help advertise for you. Skippable ads, or TrueView ads, do not have a length requirement, as viewers are allowed to skip them as soon as they pop up. Some of these advertisements roll before the viewer’s desired content and some roll during the video. In-stream advertisements typically want to be short so viewers do not get frustrated and abandon the video altogether. You can also create small pop-up advertisements that appear in a corner or the bottom of the screen while videos play.
YouTube has billions of users across the globe, and a well-made advertisement that plays before or during a YouTube video can help your business or product gain needed interest and engagement. To learn more about how YouTube advertising can help your business, contact Your Web Pro today!