YouTube Advertising Best Practices

Guide


 

TrueView In-Stream Ads: 

  • Advertisements that play before, during, or after a YouTube video has played. 
  • These are skippable ads after five seconds, but you won’t be charged if viewers who opted to skip the ad. Advertisers are only charged when a user watches the entire video or if the viewer engages with your ad by clicking on a link.
  • Best practices include putting your logo, website, and a call-to-action at the end of the video and letting it linger for a few seconds so that users have a chance to decide if they’d like to take further action. Most importantly, make sure your ads are compelling, especially in those first five seconds.
  • Specifications:
    • Video length: The minimum recommended length is 12 seconds, and the maximum is 3 minutes.
    • Timing: Before, during, and after videos.
    • CTA: Optional 10-character long CTA and 15-character headline.
    • Banner: 300×60px companion banner displayed on the right-hand side (optional)
    • Pay for: Full video views or clicks (with CPV-bidding) or impressions (with CPM)
  • TrueView Discovery Ads show up on YouTube search results pages and as related videos on the right-hand sidebar.
    • A great option for how-to or product demonstration videos
    • Specifications:
      Video length: minimum of 12 seconds.
      • Headline: 100 Characters
      • Description: 2x 35 Characters
      • Pay for: Clicks to initiate views (CPC)

 

Pre-Roll:

  • Unskippable ads and advertisers are charged every time they are shown. These ads can play before, in the middle, or after a video, can be up to 20 seconds long, but are usually around 15 seconds. These ads will only play in the middle of a YouTube video if it is 10 minutes or longer. 
  • Best practice for conversion/call-to-action
  • Specifications:
    • Video length: Up to 15 seconds.
    • Timing: Before, during, and after videos.
    • CTA: Optional 10-character long CTA and 15-character headline.
    • Pay for: Impressions (CPM)