How to find the right mix f YouTube ad formats for your awareness goals
How to find your YouTube ad mix
For Awareness
Between all the possible screens to reach viewers from, advertisers have to be much more intentional about managing ads across devices and formats. In fact, based on a Nielsen meta-analysis, advertisers saw up to 2X higher YouTube ROIs by optimizing format mix and product mix.*
Increasing options
Pressure to prove performance
The increasingly digital world we live in puts more pressure on marketers to prove performance and ROI. With so many ways to tackle brand awareness, having a proven formula to drive results is crucial.
*Google commissioned Nielsen meta analysis of yearly US MMM results across 24 distinct CPG brand/year combinations spanning 2017-2019
Every day, people watch over a billion hours of video and generate billions of views on YouTube* by…
Watching their favorite artist perform on the TV screen
Source: *Google data, Global, June 2019
Listening to a recap of last night’s game on their commute
Following a new dinner recipe in the kitchen
With this guide, you’ll...
Learn about our top 3 YouTube ad mixes for maximizing awareness
Identify a YouTube ads mix for your particular upper funnel goals
See how other brands are using these mixes
YouTube ad formats
Skippable CPM ads: �Play before, during, or after other videos. After 5 seconds, the viewer has an option to skip the ad.
Non-skippable ads: �15 seconds (or shorter) and play before, during, or after other videos. Viewers don't have the option to skip the ad.
Bumper ads: �6 seconds (or shorter) and play before, during, or after another video. Viewers don't have the option to skip the ad.
Masthead: �Only available on a reservation basis through a Google sales representative. A featured video autoplays without the sound for up to 30 seconds at the top of the YouTube Home feed.
Reach formats include:
Ad formats
In-feed video: �Appears on YouTube's personalized feeds. Click-to-play on the video's thumbnail, or let it autoplay when on the YouTube Home feed.
*currently in alpha/beta
How
to Plan
Outline a plan with Reach Planner
Before setting up your campaign, make sure you plan ahead in order to maximize your results.
Reach Planner uses real-time YouTube data to show you the expected reach based on your campaign settings: audience, budget, ad types, and more.
Tweak your inputs to see how they’ll affect your campaign’s projected reach and frequency by audience.
Mixing formats
When it comes to driving brand awareness, studies have shown that the best method is to mix ad formats because it:
Why mix?
Drives higher brand awareness lift
Increases ad recall
Boosts ROI
Solutions
Increases reach
Leads to more efficient CPMs
Find your mix
Solutions
Goals
Formats
Efficient Reach
Efficient Awareness
Popular Reach
Skippable CPM ads & Bumpers
Skippable CPM ads + non-skips
Masthead + non-skips on popular content
Drives maximum reach on a minimum budget
Drives maximum reach and video completions
Drives maximum reach on popular content
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Efficient Reach: Skippable CPM Ads + Bumpers
Efficient Reach
The Efficient Reach mix is our recommendation for advertisers who want to achieve the most unique reach per dollar.
Skippable CPM ads reach the most unique users, while bumpers are budget efficient — in fact, it’s the least costly CPM of all our in-stream formats.
(Google Brand Lift, Global, Jan 2019 - May 2020).
Advertisers combining Skippable CPM and Bumpers have seen higher lifts in Ad Recall than advertisers who bought either format on its own.
Tip No. 1: Don’t have any bumper ads? Use Bumper Machine to easily turn one of your longer ads into a six-second one without the need to edit.
Tip No. 2: To deliver the most reach at the lowest CPM, put your skippable CPM ads and bumpers in a single Video reach campaign. That way, your budget will be auto-optimized.
KPIs to look out for:
Pro Tip
Efficient Reach
Challenge: PepsiCo is always looking out for innovative media solutions, and wanted to see if YouTube could be a key pillar of their strategy in addition to TV.
Approach: Lipton tested out a Video reach campaign that combined their skippable CPM ads and Bumpers.
Lipton reaches nearly 50% of their audience
49%
of audience reached of women aged 25-49
33%
YouTube exclusive share
Efficient Reach
Efficient Awareness: Skippable CPM Ads + Non-skips
As skippable CPM ads optimize towards unique reach and non-skippable ads bring the highest video completion rates, the Efficient Awareness mix is perfect for maximizing both reach and video completions.
Efficient Awareness
Advertisers combining Skippable CPM and Non-Skip Auction Ads have seen higher lifts in Brand Awareness than advertisers who used Skippable CPM on its own.
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(Google Brand Lift, Global, Jan 2019 - May 2020).
Ask your Google representative about the Video Reach Campaign mix for efficient completions (beta). The campaign will auto-optimize the budget so you’ll get the most video completions at the lowest possible cost per completion.
KPIs to look out for:
Pro Tip
Efficient Awareness
Challenge:
When Volkswagen released its revolutionary all-electric ID.3 model, the company knew it needed a campaign that would make a splash and maximize awareness.
Approach:
The marketing team decided to test out the Video Reach Campaign Awareness beta against a Non-skip campaign.
Volkswagen doubles their Awareness Lift
7%
more completed views
88%
completion rate on the beta vs 84% on Non-skip
Efficient Awareness
The masthead is the most prominent placement for a YouTube ad. Used alongside non-skips on popular content or YouTube Select, you’ll be able to get the widest reach on the most popular content.
Popular Reach
Popular Reach: Masthead + Auction Non-skips on popular content
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Tip No. 1: To show your non-skipppable ad alongside popular auction inventory, apply ‘Popular Content’ to your placement targeting in your campaign.
Tip No. 2: Use the Insights Finder (beta) to understand what YouTube content is most popular among your specific audience.
KPIs to look out for:
Pro Tip
Popular Reach
Challenge:
Netflix Indonesia was planning a livestream with the cast of its marquee program, Ali & Ratu Ratu Queens, an event that required maximizing both awareness and views.
Approach:
The Netflix team tested the Livestream CPM Masthead on its core audience and used audience targeting as well as managed frequency.
Netflix increases targeted reach
17%
better CTR at 1.69% against market benchmark of 1.44%
11%
Increased precision in audience targeting vs. avg. CPD masthead.
Popular Reach
How to measure
Measure your impact with video experiments
When creating a video experiment, make
one arm your new media mix and one arm your original strategy.
Compare measurements between the two to see what the differences are.
Measurement
Beginner
Single format campaigns:
Arm 1 (Experiment):
2 CPM formats
Arm 2 (Control):
Current buying strategy
Advanced
Video reach campaign automation:
Arm 1 (Experiment):
VRC mixes
Arm 2 (Control):
Two formats in each in their own campaign
Measurement
Use the Measurement Scorecard below to record your KPIs and compare your results.
Measurement Scorecard
At this time, video experiments cannot be used with the masthead. Instead, measure your impact through masthead reporting on unique reach.
EFFICIENT
REACH
KPIs
EFFICIENT
AWARENESS
KPIs
ALL
AWARENESS
CAMPAIGN KPIs
REACH
CPM
CPMU
VIDEO COMPLETIONS
COST/COMPLETIONS
AD RECALL
CPLU
AWARENESS
CPLU
ARM 1
ARM 2
To learn about more YouTube ads strategies, visit the