YouTube is a great way to promote your business and products. In fact, one in two French internet users visits YouTube every day, and the platform enjoys an excellent reputation, ranking for example as the 2nd favorite brand among French consumers in 2018, according to Users Love.
What's more, and this is the key point for our purposes, the environment is highly conducive to advertising. Viewers are deeply engaged because they come to watch a video and are therefore paying attention to both what they see and what they hear:
- 96% of videos are watched with the sound on.
- 95% viewability (best in the market).
Since YouTube is a powerful advertising channel, what are the different formats available?
- Bumper
This is a 6-second, non-skippable video format. It's important to focus on a single message and be very catchy from the first second, given how short the format is.
The advantages of this format are its high frequency, since it's minimally intrusive, and its low cost. The CPM ranges from 4 to 6 euros. It's particularly well-suited for brand awareness objectives.
- Trueview Instream
This format is especially popular with advertisers because it adapts to your objectives. It can be used for both upper and lower funnel goals. This video format is longer than the Bumper. It's skippable, clickable, and can exceed 30 seconds. The billing model follows two scenarios:
- If the video is under 30 seconds, you only pay if the user watched it in full.
- If the video exceeds 30 seconds, you only pay if the user watched at least 30 seconds.
This format includes 4 sub-categories:
- Trueview for Reach aims to reach as many people as possible.
- Trueview Instream gives you access to the same audiences as on Display (in-market, affinity, custom intent, life events, etc.).
- Trueview for Impact is rarely used but is designed to maximize brand engagement and consideration.
- Trueview for Action is the most commonly used format because the video integrates directly into the conversion loop. It includes a CTA that drives traffic to your e-commerce site, making it especially relevant if you want to sell products with a short conversion cycle.
- Google Preferred
This is a higher-quality format than the ones described above, and therefore comes with a higher CPM, generally between 10 and 15 euros.
It allows you to appear on the top 5% of highest-quality channels on the platform, within the location or categories of your choice.
This is a premium format based on popularity (watch time) and user passion (likes, shares, and subscribers).
- Masthead
This is YouTube's flagship format, the most coveted and also the most expensive.
This format is reserved for a 24-hour window and gives you exclusive placement on the YouTube homepage. Your ad will be seen by everyone for an entire day.
The price varies by country but is around 72,500 euros in France.
This format is often used for special occasions, such as a movie release or a major brand's product launch.
There is also the Reach Optimized Masthead, its junior format. This is a more affordable option (57,000 euros in France) that gives you exclusive desktop placement and 2 to 3 impressions per user on mobile.
- Trueview Discovery
This format is declining in use, but it allows you to appear on the search results page, on the video watch page, or in the suggested videos column on the right-hand side.
Want support with YouTube advertising, or more broadly with your digital marketing strategy? Feel free to reach out!
By Ronan Lecointre
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