YouTube advertising is a great platform with tons of options to share your product or service to just the right audience. Once you’ve created that awesome piece of video, get it to YouTube, and with all of these options and YouTube ad targeting, you will get that awesome ad in front of just the right viewers.
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What Makes YouTube Advertising So Unique?
A brief statistical overview
YouTube ads are a world of marketing all on their own. Yes, it’s social media, but very different than Facebook or Instagram. YouTube is not only social media, but it’s also a search engine. This means that tons of people visit YouTube on a daily and monthly basis.
According to an article on Oberlo.com,
- YouTube has over 2 billion users around the world
- nearly eight out of ten (78.8 percent) of marketers consider it to be the most effective platform for video marketing
- YouTube is the second most popular social media platform on the Internet (second to Facebook)
- at least 90 percent of U.S. internet users aged 18 to 44 years accessed Youtube and 51 percent of people over the age of 75 who are on the internet are also using YouTube
- YouTube is the most popular channel among US digital video viewers and over half of all businesses use YouTube to share content and advertise
- 720,000 hours of video uploaded every day to YouTube, and that is 500 hours of video uploaded per minute
These numbers clearly show that people are watching YouTube and that it covers a wide array of demographics. It’s hard to argue that it’s not a great place to advertise. Your audience is there, and with YouTube ad targeting, you can easily reach them.
YouTube Advertising Targeting and The Rise of Video
Through advertising on YouTube, you have a wide variety of targeting options. From when you place your ad to who you air it to, you can be assured to hit your target audience. And video marketing is hot right now. In fact, according to this article on Bunny Studio, video marketing is not only big, it’s king, with 81% of businesses now using it. By 2022, it is expected that 82% of all internet traffic will be video.
Types of YouTube Ad Targeting
It may sound easy – advertise on YouTube. Well, it is, but there is more to it. YouTube is hands down the best way to advertise with your marketing videos. The reach is enormous. In fact, it’s so big that you really do have to pinpoint your audience. But the different options make it pretty easy to do this. Remember, video is big right now. People love to watch video. And even if they aren’t actively watching, they can still be taking it in.
Here’s an example, a potential customer is working from home. They have a YouTube playlist playing in the background. Then your video ad comes on. They may or may not skip the ad (if it’s an option), but even if they do, they’ll hear some of it. And plenty of people don’t skip. They continue to listen while they work and they’ll remember that ad even if they didn’t watch. So it’s not just active watching you’re getting with a YouTube ad.
So let’s look at some of the types of ads you can choose from on YouTube. There are six main options for your YouTube ad targeting; let’s take a look:
Search-Based Targeting
This type of ad targeting takes a user’s search history into account. YouTube will place your video ads based on a user’s YouTube and/or Google search history. So if you are selling organic dog biscuits, even if your audience is listening to a One Direction playlist but has searched dog treats before, your ad can pop into that One Direction playlist. This type of ad targeting is effective because it personalizes the ads for particular users. They’ll see the things they’ve been searching for without even searching.
Competitor Channel Marketing
As odd as this one sounds, it’s pretty effective. Think about this one. This article shares an example of the Kinetic Sand company marketing on Play-Doh videos. Pretty smart, eh? Part of this depends on if your competitor is allowing monetization during their videos. This will allow you to place ads. It’s a smart way to get your content and video ads in front of your target audience.
In-Stream or Skippable Ads
These are also referred to as True View because you pay when the viewer actually watches the entire ad or a certain amount of it, usually 30 seconds. If they click on something on your ad, you’ll pay as well. If they skip after the 5 seconds you don’t pay. So you pay when you have engagement and not when you don’t. These are the ads that often play before a video begins, when it ends, or in the middle of it.
This type of ad choice also uses affinity audiences.
An affinity audience revolves around the interests or habits of a group of people. A few examples can include users interested in dining out, do-it-yourself (DIY) projects, or healthy living.
YouTube offers over 100 affinity audiences to choose from ranging from more general to quite specific.
Customer Match Advertising
This form of advertising lets you target the potential customers who have a real interest or value in your business. It allows businesses to look at email lists to target the users who have an interest in the product or service.
Demographics
Targeting the right demographic is crucial for effective advertising. With YouTube ad targeting, you can reach your demographic, whether it’s through location, age, gender, household income, even parental status. You don’t want to waste time advertising environmentally friendly diapers on the crowd without babies, do you? And when you can find your true demographic and target there, you’ll start great engagement and conversions.
Interest Targeting
This one goes beyond the demographics and takes a more inward look at individuals. Interest target relies on things like values and attitudes, interests and hobbies, and lifestyle. For instance, if you know someone is interested in crafting and DIY, hit them up with your craft organizational products. But you probably don’t need to show that product to the more rugged, outdoor lovers on YouTube. This can also go as far as political leanings and social beliefs.
Formats for Ads
YouTube also has different formats for ads. While you’re figuring out your YouTube ad targeting basics, think about how you want your ads to appear on YouTube. For instance, we mentioned skippable ads. Those roll before, after, or during a video, and the viewer can skip them after 5 seconds if they aren’t interested. These are great for both mobile display and desktop. There are a couple of other types as well.
Display ads – These appear to the right of the video and above the suggested list. They are for desktop formats.
Overlay ads – These semitransparent ads cover the bottom portion of the screen. They lay over the video yet you can still the video through it. Like display ads, these are primarily for a desktop platform.
Non-skippable ads – These are like skippable ads and play before, after, or during the video. However, they cannot be skipped and must be watched in the entirety before the video will play. Like Skippable, they are great for a mobile platform.
Bumper ads and sponsor cards are two other formats for YouTube advertising.
You can see that part of your deciding factor on your YouTube ad targeting will overlap. For instance, if you are marketing to the 20 something crowd, you need an ad that works on a mobile platform. That’s probably where they’ll see it. However, if you’re trying to reach the over 65 crowd, a desktop-only platform may be ok.
How Will YouTube Advertising Fit Your Budget
Just like advertising options, YouTube advertising cost can be pretty flexible. An average YouTube ad budget is around $10 a day, according to webfx.com. A lot of this has to do with the cost per click we talked about. When someone watches your full ad or a set amount of it, you’ll pay. Normally the cost is about $0.10-0.30 per click. You can also set your daily budget which is great for staying within it.
So if you want to stay around $5 per day, set your cost per view (CPV) accordingly. A great thing about YouTube advertising is that you can always change your budget if you think you need to.
Create Compelling Ads
Whatever format you decide to use on YouTube, make sure your video ad is compelling. You’ve seen them, the ones that get your emotions. The stories, the funny moments, the ones that make us laugh or even cry are the good ones. Those are the ones you remember and they are the ones your target audience will remember. Tell real-life credible stories, make them visually pleasing, and make them shareable. Be honest and real in your advertising efforts. When you can get your audience talking about your ads, you’ve hit the jackpot.
The Bottom Line on YouTube Ad Targeting
YouYube is a hot place to advertise. Especially right now with lots of people watching lots of videos. The opportunities you have here to hit your target audience are huge, you can narrow them down so your time and money aren’t wasted; you’ll be reaching the right viewers. It may take a little research or investigating, but once you hit it right, you’ll know it.
Create compelling, genuine video and get it in front of those who will be wanting to see it. If you need help creating video, let us know. One of our professionals at BunnyStudio can help create the perfect ad. And with the perfect placement on YouTube, you’ll be targeting just the right audience.
