What are different types of YouTube ads

Have you ever thought that if a product, service, online course etc are advertised on the YouTube platform, it can boost your business growth tremendously?

Creating YouTube ads for any brand is an innovative and creative art and a science. YouTube was born around fifteen years ago and now it has become the second - largest search engine in the world just after Google. YouTube gave the facility of advertising in 2007 on videos. This opened new horizons for marketers as YouTube alone has over 2 billion users per day and billion hours of video are watched online between the age group 1-75 i.e., generating billions of views. That’s a lot of billion, so market your products on YouTube and give growth to your brand.

What is YouTube advertising?

YouTube advertising is done through Google Ads. It is a way by which you advertise your product in front of viewers with video content, it can maximize your user reach. YouTube ads are played before the user views another video or they can be showing up in search results at top.

Every video is divided into three rolls i.e., pre- roll (before start), mid- roll (between) and post- roll (after a video has ended).

Types of YouTube Ads

While watching YouTube videos, you might have encountered different types of advertisements within or around your video. In this article we’ll look at seven different types of YouTube ads you can use to make more sales, increase your reach, and grow your business. YouTube is owned by Google, so all the ads are configured and run in the Google Ads Interface.

There are six types of YouTube ads. Let’s now study each type of Ad one by one −

Skippable in-stream ads

Skippable in-stream ads are played before, during, or after other videos. There is a backward counter of 5 seconds on the video. After 5 seconds, the viewer gets an option to skip the ad. These ads are called skippable because the viewer has the option to skip the ads after watching them for five seconds.

The advantage of skippable video ads is that you have to pay per view instead of per impression. Skipped ads are not paid.

According to 1/3^rd of marketer’s, skippable ads at the pre - roll of the video content were the most effective ad format.

Non-skippable in-stream ad

Like skippable ads, the non-skippable in-stream ads are also played pre, mid and post roll in videos. Unlike skippable ads, viewers have to watch this ad for its full duration, which can be up to fifteen or twenty seconds, depending on the location.

These types of ads make great brand awareness and have the power to reach a large number of audiences as the viewer had to watch the whole video (this has the chance to build interest in the viewer’s mind).

Bumper ads

Bumper ads are a quick, impressive and very creative style of video ads which are made to get you noticed. Bumper ads are six seconds long. They can be pre, mid or post- roll. There’s no option to skip ahead, a viewer had to watch the whole ad and since they’re over so fast, they need to be punchy and memorable.

Since they are only 6 seconds, they’re great for announcing sales, new products, promotions, or special events.

In-feed video ads (Discovery ads)

In - feed ads also known as discovery ads are a way to promote channels in the feed. The in-feed video ad will look like a normal YouTube video listing with a thumbnail and description. When a viewer clicks it, the full video will play. This ad type is indicated with a yellow box saying “ad”.

In - feed video ad is great for building brand awareness, growing YouTube channel, and promoting products that need more explaining. It also helps to gain subscribers and get more video views by appearing as a related YouTube video suggestion.

Masthead ads

Masthead ads can prove to be a powerful tool but are typically limited to big businesses as they need a good sum of money. They’re intended to drive maximum awareness for only a small window of time, making this a good option to announce a sale or new product release.

Masthead ads appear on the very top of the YouTube home feed as the main ad.

Display card ads

Responsive display ad of the most flexible ad types. They are non-video ads. This ad features small i on the right upper side of video. When it is clicked, display cards open. It is on the user to open it or not.

Overlay ads

Overlay ads are like banners, displayed on the bottom side of video without interfering with viewer’s view. These ads can contain images or text. Viewers can interact with them on their will. These in-video overlay ads are excellent at grabbing viewers’ attention without disrupting the user experience.

After reading this article, now it must be clear to all the readers about the different ads displayed while watching YouTube videos as well as their best applications.