Last week Google announced the launch of its new Bumper ads – a new 6 second video ad that advertisers pay for on a CPM (cost per thousand impression) basis. According to Google, “Bumper ads are ideal for driving incremental reach and frequency, especially on mobile, where “snackable videos” perform well.”
Research, recently commissioned by YouTube and provided to Mashable, found that people are choosing to watch videos on their smartphones (even whilst watching TV) due to the ease of use and personalisation you get on a mobile phone. Fifty percent of 18-49 year olds turn to their mobile device first to watch a video on YouTube and 74% watch brand channels on YouTube weekly.
Here’s an example of a Bumper ad created by Atlantic Records, an early adopter on the new ad format:
https://youtu.be/0llZBNx8pL4
Google suggests that these new short ads work best when run alongside a TrueView or Google Preferred campaign (where advertisers can reserve inventory from among the top 5% of YouTube’s most popular and/or engaging channels). Advertisers are encouraged to create a six-second, Bumper video ad to complement their existing, longer, more detailed YouTube ads.
Companies like Atlantic Records and early tests found that these (very) short and sweet video ads drove a strong lift in metrics such as recall, awareness and consideration rather than actual sales/enquiries.
It is logical that video ads are getting shorter, as most people are far too busy to sit through a 30 second ad, especially if they are just trying to watch a relatively short YouTube video about how to do something simple. As the ads are so short they are not skippable and are therefore charged on a CPM basis rather than cost per view, which is good for advertisers and makes them ‘cost-efficient’, according to Atlantic Records.
I have mixed feelings about these new ads, on one hand it seems like another way for Google to make money, as advertisers could waste a lot of money on these short ads if not set up correctly, with accurate targeting. On the other hand the short ads are good for brand awareness, as they are like an animated gif banner ad, but better.
All display campaigns should be more focused on creating awareness of the brand and should be measured on impressions and engagement with the brand, rather than direct sales. Obviously some can work to generate sales / enquiries for advertisers, especially remarketing campaigns, but if you don’t see direct sales, concentrate on how many new people could have seen your ads and clocked your brand.
