About TrueView video ad formats

TrueView video ads give viewers control over which advertisers' messages they want to see and
when.

Each TrueView ad format appears in a different context, so viewers can interact with each format
in a different way. Here's what you need to know:

TrueView in-stream ads

When to use this ad format: Use this format when you want your video ad to appear
before, during, or after other videos on YouTube and the Display Network.

How you're charged: You pay when a viewer watches 30 seconds of your video (or the
duration if it's shorter than 30 seconds) or engages in other video interactions, such as
clicks on the call-to-action overlays (CTAs), cards, and companion banners.

Where the ads appear: TrueView in-stream ads can appear on videos across YouTube
and on video publisher sites, games, and apps on the Display Network.

TrueView video discovery ads

When to use this ad format: For an ad (of any length) when people are searching on
YouTube or browsing videos on YouTube and across the web.

How you're charged: Youll be charged when a viewer clicks your ad and begins
watching your video.

Where the ads appear: TrueView video discovery ads can appear next to YouTube
videos, on YouTube search results, on video plays on YouTube channels and Watch
pages, and on publisher sites across the Display Network.

Different types of youtube accnts:

Use your Google Account

A Google Account is specific to just one person, so it uses one name and identity across all
Google services, including on any YouTube channel that is connected.

If you connect your YouTube channel to your Google Account:

 Who can manage the channel: Only you can access the YouTube channel and you have
to use your Google Account.

What name and photo show: The YouTube channel uses the same name and photo as
your Google Account (and rest of your Google services, like Gmail or Google Docs).

Use a Brand Account

A YouTube channel connected to a Brand Account can be shared across multiple accounts.

If you connect your YouTube channel to a Brand Account:

Who can manage and own the channel: Multiple Google Accounts can manage and
own a Brand Account, and any of those managers and owners can also access YouTube
channel connected to the Brand Account.

What name and photo show: The YouTube channel can have a different name and
photo from your Google Account and any manager Google Accounts.

Use Brand Accounts managed by your Google Account

You can use one Google Account to manage multiple Brand Accounts connected to YouTube
channels.

If you connect your YouTube channel to a Brand Account that's managed only by your Google
Account:
 Who can manage the channel: If you have multiple YouTube channels connected to
Brand Accounts, you can manage them all through one Google Account without signing
out. Learn how to switch between channels you manage.

What name and photo show: The YouTube channel can have a different name and
photo from your Google Account and any of the Brand Accounts it manages.

Language Targeting
About Language PreferencesThe language preference set on the YouTube
homepage determines in which language a user prefers to view YouTube. In
addition, other signals such as the users browser language, location, and viewing
history are also used to determine which languages the user is familiar with. Based
on these, YouTube will display ads that are targeted to these languages
.Remember that Google won't translate your ad for you.If you wish to target more
than one language or location, it's important to organize your campaigns and ad
groups in a way that supports this strategy. Consider organizing and naming your
campaigns by country (such as "Spain") and your ad groups within each campaign
by product lines (such as "coffee products" and "tea products").
Then, tailor your keywords and ads to the intended audience. Make sure that your
keyword list and ads for each ad group is in one language. This ensures that the ad
appears in the same language in which the keyword was entered. For example, if a
user enters a keyword in Spanish, the ad will appear in Spanish, regardless of what
language preferences the user has selected. Learn more about changing your
language targeting.

Location Targeting
Location based targeting, or geo-targeting, functions exactly the same way for YouTube as with a
normal AdWords campaign. For each YouTube campaign, you can select the countries or regions
for your campaign in the campaign Settings tab.

YouTube ad formats
YouTube supports a wide range of ad formats and targeting options. Advertisers don't have to
have video inventory to advertise on YouTube.

Display Assets

o Standard banner/Multi Purpose Unit (MPU)

o InVideo
 Video Assets

o Standard In-stream

o TrueView

Other Assets

o Homepage Masthead and Expandable

o Rich Media

Average view frequency

The typical number of times that someone viewed your ad over a given time period.

Use this metric to better understand if your video ad is engaging enough to

viewers.

For example, if your video ads average view frequency is 1.49, it means that
someone viewed your ad about one and a half times during a specific period.
Ideally, the average view frequency should be closer to 1

View rate
A ratio showing the number of paid views of a video ad to the number of impressions.

For example, if you had 5 clicks and 1000 impressions, then your view rate would be 0.5%.
Here's how it's calculated:

View rate is similar to click-through rate (CTR), but instead of measuring

clicks, it counts people who viewed your video ad after seeing it on YouTube
or the Display Network.

You can use View rate to track the value of your video campaigns on YouTube
and the Display Network.

Companion banner
A clickable thumbnail image that accompanies a TrueView in-stream ad. On a YouTube page, it
appears next to the ad, in the top right corner (on a desktop computer).
A companion banner provides continued brand presence after a video ends, and the viewer can
click on it anytime.

There are two kinds of companion banners: image and video wall.

Companion banners are optional. Theyre also displayed only in certain cases, for example, in
the context of a YouTube watch page. They dont show on embedded players, connected TVs, or
game consoles.

A click on a companion banner:

can direct to an external URL or a YouTube channel

counts as a view, even if the viewer hasnt watched 30 seconds of the ad

Measuring reach and frequency (IMP)

By analyzing reach and frequency data, you can estimate how many people saw your ads and
how many times they saw them over a certain period of time.

As a basis for estimating reach, we start with cookies. Cookies enable us to estimate reach
because they can be used to distinguish individual browsers. When we count reach, we're really
counting the number of browsers that have been served an ad or recorded a click on an ad. This
measure is an estimate, because some people use more than one browser or computer, and some
people share browsers, but it enables us to get a consistent picture of how widely an
advertisement has been seen.

In AdWords, you can see your video campaigns under All campaigns alongside any other
campaigns you may be running. By selecting Video campaigns from this drop-down menu, you
can view a summary of only your video campaigns performance. In this view, only the columns
and features related to video campaign performance will automatically populate with
performance data.

Some key metrics for your video campaigns include:

Core performance:

o Views show you the number of times people watched or engaged with
your video ad. Note: TrueView video ads views will also count towards
your video's public YouTube view count only if a video is longer than 11
seconds.

o View rate shows you the number of views or engagements your video
ad receives divided by the number of times your ad is shown (video
and thumbnail impressions).
 o Avg. CPV is the average amount you pay when a viewer watches 30
seconds of your video (or the duration if it's shorter than 30 seconds)
or engages with your video, whichever comes first. Note that your
average CPV may not be the same as your maximum CPV. Your
maximum CPV is the most youre willing to pay for an ad view.

Click performance:

o Clicks show you the number of times people clicked on your video.
Clicks can help you understand how well your ad is appealing to people
who see it. Engaging ads are more likely to receive clicks.

o Clickthrough rate (CTR) is the number of clicks that your ad receives

divided by the number of times your ad is shown, expressed as a
percentage.

Engagement performance:

o Engagements show you the number of clicks on interactive elements

such as teasers or icons to expand any cards that may be on your
video.

o Engagement rate is the number of engagements that your ad

receives (for example, clicks on card teasers and icons) divided by the
number of times your ad is shown, expressed as a percentage
(engagements impressions = engagement rate).

Reach and frequency:

o Unique cookies is the number of cookies (which store preferences

and other information thats used on webpages that they visit) specific
to an individual browser on people's computers.

o Unique viewers by cookie is the number of times your video ad was

viewed by a unique cookie over a given time period.

o Avg. impr. freq. per cookie is the average number of times your
video ad is shown to a unique cookie over a given time period.

o Avg. view freq. per cookie is the average number of times that a
unique cookie viewed your video over a given time period.

Video viewership (also known as "quartile reporting")

o Video played to: 25% shows how often a video is played to 25% of
its length.
 o Video played to: 50% shows how often a video is played until the
middle of its view length.

o Video played to: 75% shows how often a video is played to 75% of
its length.

o Video played to: 100% shows how often a video is played to its
completion.

YouTube engagement: Earned actions happen when a viewer watches a

video ad and then takes a related action on YouTube. The following are
different types of earned actions:

o Earned views increment if a YouTube viewer watches subsequent

videos on your YouTube channel or Watch pages. This type of earned
action increments whether or not someone chooses to watch the same
video again or any other video on your channel.

o Earned subscribes happen when a viewer subscribes to your

channel. This type of earned action provides unique value because the
content from these YouTube channels and the channel avatars
themselves may be viewed on the YouTube home page.

o Earned playlist additions happen when a viewer adds the video to a

playlist.

o Earned likes happen when a viewer likes the video.

o Earned shares happen when a viewer shares the video.

Many of the robust reporting features available for Search and Display campaigns are also
available for video campaigns, such as:

Advanced filtering - Filter your account statistics to search for the data that
interests you the most, for example, "YouTube earned actions" or "Max. CPV."
You can either filter by label or create your own filter. Once you've created a
filter, you can save it for easy access in the future.

Segments - Use segments to split your data into rows based on the options
that matter most to you, such as format, network, device, etc. This makes it
easier to view the data by isolating exactly what you want to see. You can
also segment by view type to split out your performance by in-stream views
versus video discovery views. Your segment choices vary, depending on the
tab of your AdWords account that you're viewing.

Automated reporting - You can find specific performance data about your
video campaigns that interest you, by customizing the statistics tables of
your AdWords account using columns, segments, and filters. Once the tables
 look exactly how you want, you can download them as reports in a variety of
formats and save them. You can also set up reports to run at specific
intervals, and schedule them to be emailed to you or other people who have
access to your account.

My Change History - The My Change History tool lists the changes you've
made to your account. It shows each change within a timeline, mapped to
your account data. You can view all changes for a particular time period, filter
the results by the type of change (such as budget adjustments or ad group
edits), or see changes for a particular video campaign. By comparing your
changes with the timeline of performance data, you can find out which
changes may have contributed to changes in your performance.

Modifying columns - When you're viewing your AdWords account from the
"All campaigns" view, some columns might be pre-populated with information
not relevant to your video campaigns. You can add and remove columns on
any tab, by clicking Modify columns on the "Columns" drop-down menu.
Whatever you unselect will be hidden the next time you sign in to your
AdWords account. When you select "Video campaigns" on the campaign type
drop-down menu, you'll see the following predefined types of columns:

o Views - Use these columns to monitor your video views and audience
engagement.

o Audience - These metrics help you track the growth of your YouTube
audience.

o Branding - See how well your video ads are building brand awareness.

o Conversions - Analyze clicks and conversions on your website.

Note

To create a video ad, your video content must be hosted on YouTube. This means views of your
video ads will increase your video's view counts on YouTube (on the video's Watch page and
within your YouTube account reporting).

The "Ad groups" tab

Use the "Ad groups" tab to see the overall results of your video ad groups within a specific date
range for metrics like impressions, clicks, viewthrough rate (VTR), cost-per-view (CPV), etc.
For specific definitions of each metric, click the ? tooltip icon in each column header.

Keep in mind

An ad group contains video ads with common targeting criteria and bids.
 An ad group is defined by a specific video ad format and can contain only
video ads of that format. However, in your video campaigns, you can run
multiple ad groups--some with in-stream ads and some with video discovery
ads. That is, a single ad group can contain only in-stream ads or only video
discovery ads, but it can't contain both ad formats.

Tips

On the "Ad groups" tab, click Modify columns on the "Columns" drop-down
menu to add the "Ad group type" column. This column will show you which ad
groups are in-stream ads vs. video discovery ads.

When viewing a specific ad group, you'll be taken to the "Ads" tab where you
can see the ads assigned to that specific ad group. When this happens, the
"Ad groups" tab disappears, but the other tabs remain.

You can navigate back to an ad group by clicking the name of an ad group in

the left navigation pane of AdWords.

You can also segment your performance on the Ad Groups tab by ad format
using the View Type segment.

Once you've created a new ad group, you'll most likely want to fill it out with more ads and the
right targeting to reach consumers at moments that matter. You can do this by clicking your ad
group's name, and then click its Ads tab or Video targeting tab.

The "Ads" tab

The "Ads" tab is where you go to create and manage your ads. Within this tab, you can create,
edit, and preview your video ads. You can also see and customize your ads' statistics, bids, and
more.

The Videos tab

So, youre running your video campaigns and wondering how well theyre doing. By better
understanding how well the YouTube videos in your video ads are performing, youll know what
video content to focus on for your audience, and, in turn, can improve your video campaigns'
performance.

The "Videos" tab shows your video performance in aggregate across all ads. By selecting from
the "Views" drop-down menu, you can see charts that map the performance of all your video ads
based on metric.
The "Video Analytics" page

Discover performance metrics and audience insights for each of your videos by viewing its
"Video Analytics" page. On the "Videos" tab, just click the video title or Analytics in the drop-
down menu next to the video title.

The "Video targeting" tab

The "Video targeting" tab has 2 purposes: to show performance metrics for each targeting
method you're using and to allow you to add and exclude targeting methods directly to ad groups
and campaigns.

Accessing the "Video targeting" tab

You can access the "Video targeting" tab at the all campaigns level, for a single video campaign,
or at an ad-group level.

At the "All campaigns" level, clicking the "Video targeting" tab will show
you performance metrics for each ad group in each campaign.

Within a video campaign, clicking the "Video targeting" tab will show you
performance metrics within each ad group in that campaign.

Within an ad group, clicking the "Video targeting" tab will show you
performance metrics only for that ad group.

To toggle between different ad groups and campaigns, use the left navigation pane or the
"Campaigns" and "Ad groups" tabs.

Reporting, adding, and excluding targeting:

See performance metrics for each targeting type available for video campaigns, similar to what's
available on the "Display targeting" tab. Once you understand how your campaign is performing,
you may want to add or exclude targeting accordingly.

Demographics: Separate sub-tabs report on each demographic targeting

method.

o You can add or exclude specific demographic groups by editing each

line item within the table.
 o A green dot will appear next to the demographic groups that you have
added, and a red dot will appear next to demographic groups that you
have excluded. You can add or exclude demographic groups by
changing the status of the dot.

Interests: This tab lists all affinity audiences and in-market audiences that
you've manually added.

o Add audiences by clicking +INTERESTS and selecting the right ad

group (if you haven't already selected one). You can also exclude an
affinity audience or in-market audience from a specific ad group by
changing its status in the table.

o To exclude an interest from the campaign, use the +EXCLUSIONS

table.

Remarketing lists: This tab shows all remarketing lists that you've manually
added.

o Add a remarketing list by clicking +REMARKETING LIST and selecting

the right ad group (if you haven't already selected one).

o You can also exclude a remarketing list from a specific ad group by

changing its status in the table. Any exclusions you add will appear in
this table.

o To exclude a remarketing list from an entire campaign, use the

+EXCLUSIONS table.

Placements: This tab includes 2 sub-tabs: the "Managed" sub-tab shows

performance metrics for placements and channels youve manually targeted;
the "Where your ads have shown" sub-tab shows performance metrics on all
placements where your ads have served, including managed placements.

o On either tab, you can view either all placements or toggle between
YouTube placements and Display Network placements.

o Placement performance metrics are aggregated at the individual

placement level (video, site, etc.) as well as at the YouTube channel
level or website domain level. For example, if your video ad appeared
on 5 videos within the same YouTube channel, well aggregate your
performance metrics at the "Channel" level.

o View performance metrics for a specific channel or site by clicking the

box next to the channel and selecting Detailed view.

o You can exclude a placement from a specific ad group by changing its

status in the table. Any exclusions you add will appear in this table.
 o To exclude a placement from an entire campaign, click +EXCLUSIONS,
under "Placements exclusions," on the "Managed" sub-tab.

Topics: This tab lists all topics that you've manually added.

o Add topics by clicking +TOPICS and selecting the right ad group (if you
haven't already selected one).

o You can also exclude a topic from a specific ad group by changing its
status in the table. Any exclusions you add will appear in this table.

o To exclude a topic from an entire campaign, use the +EXCLUSIONS

table.

Keywords: This tab includes 2 sub-tabs: the "Keywords" sub-tab shows

performance metrics for keywords you've added. These keywords will target
your video ads to viewers searching on the YouTube Search Network, as well
as to contextually relevant videos and channels on YouTube and across the
web. The "Search terms" sub-tab shows performance metrics on the YouTube
search queries on which youve served your ads (similar to a search query
performance report).

o Add keywords by clicking +KEYWORDS and selecting the right ad

group (if you haven't already selected one).

o You can also exclude keywords from an ad group within the main table.
Any exclusions you add will appear in this table.

o To add negative keywords to your campaign, click +EXCLUSIONS under

"Keywords exclusions."

The Targets tab also shows your video ad performance by targeting group. Select the Ad
segment from this tab to compare the performance of each ad for each targeting group. Add
retention and engagement columns to your statistics table to measure the percentage of your
video that people watched and understand how your ad is driving traffic to your YouTube
channel.

Troubleshooting issues with your data

Differences between view statistics in YouTube vs. AdWords

We can't guarantee that the views you're billed for and your YouTube view count will be equal.
One common cause when looking at periodic view counts is that YouTube aggregates period
statistics based on Pacific Time whereas AdWords aggregates period statistics based on the
advertiser-defined time zone. However, discrepancies do arise, and we attempt to keep the
cumulative numbers approximately equal. While you may be billed for an appropriate amount of
engaged views, some of those views were not eligible for YouTube view counts.
Since YouTube Analytics includes video data for all videos, and AdWords provides data for a
portion of those views (your paid views), there will be differences in video view totals.

Differences in video percentage views and call-to-action clicks in YouTube Insights

vs. AdWords

Presently, video percentage views (quartile data) in AdWords is only for views on paid AdWords
advertisements. This means AdWords cannot present this information for your video if it is
accessed via a free search result listing on Google or YouTube search.

Example

A video you host on YouTube may be found in Google or YouTube search results. If viewers
click on this video through organic search results and interact with the video, you won't be
charged for a video ad view or the viewer's interactions. These interactions will not be included
in the video's performance metrics in AdWords.

See reach and frequency data

You can view reach and frequency data by adding the "Unique cookies" and "Avg. impr. freq. per
cookie" columns to your statistics table, and selecting a specific time period in the dropdown
menu above those columns. These columns are only available on the statistics table for "All
campaigns."

To add these columns to your statistics table:

1. Sign in to your AdWords account.

2. On the Campaigns tab, click the Columns drop-down, then select Modify
columns.

3. Click Reach metrics.

4. Click Add all columns.

5. Click Apply.

How Google calculates reach and frequency

Frequency capping and viewable impressions

Only impressions that were viewable count towards frequency caps. The Avg. impr. freq. per
cookie and other frequency reporting data may look higher than your frequency caps, because it
is temporarily counting both viewable and unviewable impressions.
Adjusting for cookie deletion

We want to make sure that each cookie that's counted represents a unique browser. However,
sometimes users delete their cookies. When they do, a new cookie is created the next time they're
served an ad. In such cases, the same browser might be represented by two different cookies: the
old cookie that got deleted, and the new cookie that was just created.

Avoiding double-counting

We can make sure that each browser we count is unique by only counting mature cookies.
Mature cookies are cookies that were created before the date range for which reach is being
estimated. For example, if you run a report from March 15 to March 31, cookies created through
March 14 are counted as mature cookies. Cookies created on March 15 or after are discarded.

If we only count mature cookies, then we know that each cookie represents a unique browser,
because all of them existed when the reporting period began, and two different cookies can't
represent the same browser at the same time.

Correct the data

To avoid double-counting, all new cookies are discarded, but some new cookies are legitimate.
To estimate reach more accurately, we have to estimate how many of the new cookies were
actually legitimate.

To come up with an estimate, we look at the number of impressions that are associated with
mature cookies, and compare the number of impressions to the number of cookies. Then, based
on the assumption that the ratio of mature cookies to mature impressions is the same as the ratio
of all cookies to all impressions, we calculate a value for the total number of cookies. That value
is what we display as reach.

The exact reach correction formula is displayed below:

(Mature Cookies Mature Impressions) = (Total Cookies Total Impressions)

In this formula:

Total Cookies is the unknown value. It's the same thing as reach, and it's the
value that is displayed in reports.

Mature Impressions are impressions that are associated with mature cookies.

As you can see, the formula is comparing two ratios: the ratio of mature cookies to mature
impressions, and the ratio of total cookies to total impressions. With the data we collect, we can
accurately calculate the first ratio. We then assume that the ratio of cookies to impressions is the
same overall as it is for mature cookies and impressions.

Solving for Total Cookies, we can restate the formula as follows:

Total Cookies = Mature Cookies (Total Impressions Mature Impressions)

Did you know...

You might be surprised to see decimals in your Unique cookies columns, like this: 1,809,601.18

Because the estimated frequency is based on sample group data, the estimation of unique
cookies, and the subsequent clicks associated with those cookies, isn't always a whole number.

Frequency capping
A feature that limits the number of times your ads appear to the same person on the Display
Network.

Frequency is the average number of times a unique user sees your ad in a

position of "1" over a given time period. Use frequency capping to help
control the maximum number of times that you'd like each person to see
your ad on the Display Network.

When you turn on frequency capping for a campaign, you set a limit for the
number of impressions you will allow an individual user to have per day, per
week, or per month. You also choose whether the limit applies to each ad, ad
group, or campaign.

Only impressions that were viewable count towards frequency caps. An ad is

counted as viewable when 50% or more of the ad shows for one second or
longer for display ads and two seconds or longer for video ads.

To get started, select a campaign and go to the Settings tab. Under

"Advanced settings," find the options for "Frequency capping."

TrueView in-stream ads:

When should I use it?

Use this format when you have video content you'd like to promote before other videos
on YouTube and across the Google Display Network.

How does it work?

 Your video ad plays before, during, or after other videos. After 5 seconds, the
viewer has an option to skip the ad.

Where can the ads appear?

TrueView in-stream video ads can appear on YouTube watch pages and on
videos on partner sites and apps in the Display Network.

How will I be charged?

You pay when a viewer watches 30 seconds of your video (or the duration if
it's shorter than 30 seconds) or interacts with your video, whichever comes
first.

TrueView video discovery ads:

This format is formerly known as TrueView in-display ads.

When should I use it?

Use this format to promote a video in places of discovery, including next to

related YouTube videos, as part of a YouTube search result, or on the YouTube
mobile homepage.

How does it work?

Your ad consists of a thumbnail image from your video with some text. While
the exact size and appearance of the ad may vary depending on where it
appears, video discovery ads always invite people to click to watch the video.
The video then plays on the YouTube Watch page or on your channel page.

Where can the ads appear?

On YouTube search results

Alongside related YouTube videos

On the YouTube mobile homepage

How will I be charged?

Youll be charged only when viewers choose to watch your ad by clicking

the thumbnail.

About bumper ads

Bumper ads are a short video ad format designed to allow you reach more customers and
increase awareness about your brand.
When should I use it?

Use this format when youd like to reach viewers broadly with a short,
memorable message.

How does it work?

Your bumper video ad is 6 seconds or shorter and plays before, during, or

after another video. Viewers do not have the option to skip the ad.

Where can the ads appear?

Bumper ads can appear before other videos on YouTube or on partner sites
and apps on the Display Network.

How will I be charged?

You pay based on impressions. Bumper ads use CPM (cost-per-thousand

impressions) bidding, so you pay each time your ad is shown 1,000 times.

Audience targeting methods let you define who you want to reach. These include:

Demographic groups: Choose the age, gender, parental status, or household income of
the audience you want to reach.

Interests: Pick from available audience categories to reach people interested in certain
topics, even when they may be visiting pages about other topics. Learn more about
audiences.

o Affinity audiences: Raise brand awareness and drive consideration with

your video ads by reaching people who already have a strong interest in relevant
topics.

o Custom affinity audiences: With custom affinity audiences, you can create
audiences that are more tailored to your brands, compared to our broad, TV-like
affinity audiences. For example, rather than reaching Sports Fans, a running shoe
company may want to reach Avid Marathon Runners instead.

o In-market audiences: Select from these audiences to find customers who are
researching products and actively considering buying a service or product like
those you offer.

Video remarketing: Reach viewers based on their past interactions with your videos,
TrueView ads or YouTube channel. If you've linked your YouTube account to your
AdWords account already, we'll create custom lists for you automatically. Learn more
about remarketing lists for YouTube viewers.
Content targeting methods let you define where you want your ads to show. These include:

Placements: Target unique channels, videos, apps, websites, or placements within

websites. For example, you can target an entire high traffic blog or just the homepage of a
popular news site. Placements can include:

o YouTube channels

o YouTube videos

o Websites on the Display Network

o Apps on the Display Network

Note: When you add Display Network placements, your ad may still run in all
eligible locations on YouTube. And when you add YouTube placements, your ad
may still run in all eligible locations across the Display Network.

Topics: Target your video ads to specific topics on YouTube and the Display Network.
Topic targeting lets you reach a broad range of videos, channels, and websites related to
the topics you select. For example, you target to the "Automotive" topic, then your ad
will show on YouTube to people watching videos about cars.

Keywords: Depending on your video ad format, you can show your video ads based on
words or phrases--keywords--related to a YouTube video, YouTube channel, or type of
website that your audience is interested in.

Efficient pricing: The AdWords auction model offers competitive rates that meet your
target ROI. With CPV bidding, you'll pay for video views and other video interactions,
such as clicks on the call-to-action overlays (CTAs), cards, and companion banners.
Flexibility: Website remarketing (also known as "remessaging" or "retargeting") is based
on visitors' actions on a website. You can remarket based on actions specific to your
YouTube videos, including when viewers like, dislike, comment on, and share your
video.

How to start ads on a particular date

If you need your ad approved by a particular date, submit the ad several days in advance. While
most ads are reviewed within 1 business day, sometimes the review process can take longer.

To stop an ad from running as soon as its approved, pause the ad, ad group, or campaign. Paused
ads are reviewed just like active ads. Learn how to pause or resume your ad.

If you're also planning to launch a new webpage at the same time, that webpage will need to be
complete in order for your ad to be approved.
To make sure that the page stays hidden until your launch date:

Don't link to the new page on the rest of your website. If you were to link to
the new page, then search engines might index it, and the page could start
appearing in search results.

Configure your websites "robots.txt" file. In your websites robots.txt file, you
can tell search engines not to index the page. Then once youre ready to launch,
remove the change. Learn more about configuring your robots.txt file.

Buying reservation advertising

Advertising on a reservation basis is best for promoting brand awareness, for

instance, if you're trying to enter a new market, offering a new product or service,
or re-branding a product or service.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

A CPM campaign has to be booked at least six business days in advance, and creative
assets need to be delivered for implementation at least four business days before the
campaign start date.

A CPD campaign has to be booked a couple weeks in advance, and creative assets need
to be delivered nine business days in advance.

Here are the ad formats you can buy on a CPM basis:

Standard in-stream: This is a non-skippable format that plays before a video. It's ideal if
you want to communicate a simple, powerful message and get visibility. It forces the
impression and won't accrue views on the video. Standard in-stream ads can be a
maximum of 15 or 30 seconds. Those that are a maximum of 30 seconds can run only on
long-form videos (10 minutes or longer).

In-stream Select: This skippable ad appears when someone starts a video (pre-roll). It
can be up to 60 seconds long, and it's skippable after 5 seconds. This format increments
the view count on the YouTube video ad. Whether or not the ad is skipped, the advertiser
pays on a CPM basis. Learn more about in-stream video ads.

Here are the ad formats you can buy on a CPD basis:

Desktop custom Masthead: This is a 970 x 250 pixel, in-page unit that spans the full
width of the YouTube homepage below the navigation bar. This unit, which can include a
video, can drive brand relevant activity and an increase in branded search. Learn more
about desktop custom Mastheads.
 Desktop universal video Masthead: This is a 780 x 195 that runs on the YouTube
homepage. It includes a video on one side and an information panel or a flash/image
panel on the other. The flash/image panel can optionally expand/close when someone
clicks on/closes it. Learn more about desktop universal video Mastheads.

Mobile video Masthead: This unit appears on the homepage of all YouTube mobile and
tablet properties, including the Android native mobile app, the iOS app, and
m.youtube.com for smartphones and tablets. It features a video thumbnail, channel icon,
and customizable headline and description.

Targeting ads

Here are the content and audience targeting options available for
reservation ads purchased on a CPM basis:
Topic targeting
Interest targeting
Affinity segment targeting
Demographic and gender targeting
First position targeting

Evaluating CPV

Cost per view is a valuable signal about the competitiveness of your ad in the auction ecosystem.

Rising CPVs could be a sign of creative fatigue if your ad has been live for a couple of weeks.
Rising CPVs can also be a sign of increased pressure in the auctions that you compete to win.
Conversely, declining CPVs could indicate that there's less competition in the market and that
you may have a chance to gain some views at a lower cost.

Evaluating view rate

View rate is the primary metric for understanding the health of a video ad. A video ad with a high
view rate will generally win more auctions and pay a lower CPV than a video ad with a low view
rate. If you're interested in driving the most views for the lowest cost, you might want to identify
ad assets and targeting methods that can help increase your ad's view rate.

Evaluating CTR

If your goal is to drive more people to your website, YouTube channel, or Watch page with your
video ad, CTR is the right metric to look at and optimize for.

Looking at your CTR over time will tell you how well your video ad is doing to drive
customers from your ad to your website.
 Prevent your ads from showing in certain cases by adding targeting
and placement exclusions
Advanced campaign settings:
You can use the ad delivery setting to specify how often we deliver your
active ads in relation to one another within an ad group. For example, you
can optimize your ads for views, conversions, or rotate them evenly. With the
ad delivery setting, you can also set a frequency cap, which limits the
number of times your ads appear on the Google Display Network to a unique
user. Setting a frequency cap can be helpful if you want to limit the number
of times someone sees your ad, or if you want to focus more on gaining
exposure to new people.
A good benchmark is to try to keep your video to two minutes or less.
Use the Audience retention report to see which parts of videos keep your
users most engaged. Based upon user engagement data, optimize your
video content to keep users watching.
Measuring Ad performance:
Display ad mouseover (at least one second)

See instances where

customers place their cursors over your display ad for a second or more. This can help highlight
ads that may keep customers attention without an actual clickthrough to your website. This
usually demonstrates an ad that needs a stronger call-to-action for the customer.

Display ad interactions

Depending on the type of ad you build with the Ad gallery, there may be additional variations of
customer interactions available in your report.

Video play 25, 50, 75, and 100% (quartiles)

Learn how much of your video ads customers actually see. Video ads with low play rates or early
viewer drop-off may indicate a creative change that needs to take place to keep people engaged
with the video content.
Example
The Playbacks through 50% of the video column, for example, will display the number of
playbacks that reached at least halfway through the video. Keep in mind that because people may
skip to different sections of the video, percent playback numbers won't always decline linearly.

Tip

"Play rate" is synonymous with "interaction rate" for video ads, as well as
"view rate," which is used for video campaigns featuring TrueView video
ad formats.

Since video advertising doesnt always drive immediate conversions, we recommend that
you look at view-through conversion data, which shows the number of online
conversions that happened within 30 days after a viewer saw, but did not click, your
video ad.
Learn more about view-through conversions
Using third-party tracking pixels (standard image ads only)
A tracking pixel is similar to AdWords' conversion tracking code. It's code thats inserted
into the video ad itself (provided by a third-party ad server). This code tracks the IP
address of the viewer. This pixel tracks cases when someone doesnt click on the ad, but
comes back to the website in your final URL later. If you use third-party tracking pixels,
you'll need to use your own external reporting tools to evaluate the data.
For display ads, you can get the same result with a "view-through conversion" (described
in the section above) as opposed to a "click-through conversion."

Impressions:for brand awareness

Customer engagement: If you're focused on branding, you can use
clickthrough rate (CTR)