Irritated? I think everyone would answer with a resounding, “yes”. On the other hand, as a viewer, you can skip such videos after five seconds before watching television or your favorite program. That being said, YouTube has a lot to offer businesses.
Research indicates that viewers have been watching less television for a number of years. The number of televisions sold is decreasing, and young people especially are turning to other devices to get information.
This should be a reason for marketers to question whether advertising on television is still the best bet. Therefore, here are five reasons why investing in YouTube advertising can be a great alternative and one of the most successful ways to gain brand awareness and even sales.
1. Huge Reach
YouTube is now the second largest search engine in the world. Looking at the figures, we can say that the pond, where advertisers can fish, is huge:
Throughout the world, YouTube has more than 1 billion unique visitors each month, which accounts for almost one third of the total number of Internet users.
In America, YouTube on mobile devices between the ages of 18-34 and 18-49 reaches more people than all TV networks.
YouTube is located in 88 countries and available in 76 languages.
Daily, YouTube generates one billion hours of views.
2. Specific Targeting
Where advertising on television is often a shot in the dark, YouTube allows you to reach your specific target audience. Specifics include location, interests, age and gender. For example, think of the nice Clearblue ads that I regularly see as a 26 year old young woman; this type of ad will be shown to users by pre-roll prior to relevant videos.
What’s even more beautiful about YouTube advertising is the fact that you can reach entire targeted channels, such as vloggers. Brands have found it more difficult to assert presence in these types of vlogs because of the stricter rules of the Advertising Code Committee. A great way to avoid this obstacle is through pre-rolling ads, specifically on this channel.
Even further, you can target users who have seen your video once or have previously visited your website. This is a powerful tool for advertisers to increase ROI because your video is advertising to people who are already interested in a product or service.
3. Media Budget is Controllable
As with all other AdWords products, you are fully in control of the advertising cost. You set a daily budget and once you’ve reached it, your ad will stop running.
It is also nice to use this form of advertising to pay only per view. A session is counted as a view when someone watches the video for at least thirty seconds. This is important, given that YouTube ads are often skippable which means that, as a viewer, you usually have the option of clicking away after 5 seconds. If your video is shorter than thirty seconds, then it counts as a view only if the user views it until the end. This mechanism ensures that you reach the most relevant target and waste as little money as possible on people who are not interested in you. When advertising on television, you have much less control.
4. YouTube is Cheaper
In addition to the fact that the cost of YouTube is controlled, it’s also a lot cheaper than advertising on TV. Currently, competition is less, causing the cost per view to still be on the cent. Yes, you read correctly, cents!
5. Real-time Results
Finally, you can review and adjust the results of your YouTube campaign at any time of the day, wherever necessary. For example, note that ads run better on mobile, so set a bid adjustment. Or, if you see the bounce rate for 35-45 year olds is very high, simply quit this age group and get the most out of your campaign.
