Branding YouTube campaigns can now generate income

A new feature has been introduced for Google Ads video campaigns: Advertisers can now showcase their products to all sub-types of video campaigns, including awareness and consideration.

This is great news for YouTube advertisers and it will also help those using videos on other platforms through Google Ads.

The new function opens a Opportunity to test and try to get additional conversions come from campaigns that weren’t initially targeted.

Marketers can also associate product feeds with a Buy CTA in ads placed at the top and center of the funnel.

Just look!

Google’s model shows how the product feed is displayed in videos. To learn How to embed a product feed in your video campaigns.

Get more conversions while promoting the top of the funnel

Just before this update Video campaign and TrueView for shopping Campaigns aimed directly at purchases (at the bottom of the funnel) could be linked to Merchant Center feeds.

In these cases, product feeds were a great addition to video campaigns and a relevant source of conversion for e-commerce.

Shoppable TrueView for Action ads were YouTube’s last attempt at uniting awareness and direct return that was launched last year.

What is changing now is the ability to combine video ads into campaigns that target the top or middle audiences of the funnel with the ability to display product listings.

Also, video campaigns have more placements to run your ads on and can use in-stream video ads, unlike True View for Shopping (launched in 2015) and Buyable True View for action (Start in 2020).

Another update in a series of changes for YouTube advertisers

This is another in a series of relevant video campaign updates. Google has discontinued the True View for Action campaigns and replace with video campaigns since it was introduced last year. And in June of that year, the company announced that TrueView for Action campaigns will no longer be available from early 2022.

True View for Action video campaigns have been a huge hit since their launch in 2016 and are relevant to any PPCer who works with video ads while focusing on conversions, especially lead generation campaigns.

Example of a True View for Action video ad. Source: Martech

Video campaigns persisted, with larger inventories and more opportunities to run ads in different placements, such as: B. in the YouTube start page feed, but with the restriction of Cannot turn off Google Partner. This can be seen as an obstacle by marketers looking for more control over their campaigns.

Ecommerce advertisers, on the other hand, can still rely on the old TrueView for shopping to generate online sales.

Use it to showcase YouTube branding campaigns

As marketers, we know how important it is to not only invest in direct return campaigns, but also to allocate a budget for a branding strategy and to build your company’s brand over the long term.

However, sometimes it can be difficult to convince other stakeholders, like your clients or directors, not to just invest in the lower end of funnel campaigns. This update can be a great way to showcase branding video campaigns for stakeholders who may be reluctant to direct their spending towards video campaigns that aren’t aimed at direct return.

The fact that these campaigns not only strengthen your brand, but also give users the option to buy directly from the ads can be another selling point to allocate part of your online marketing budget to the upper tiers of the funnel.

Set up tests and see what works for your accounts

If you are an ecommerce marketer and your team is using video campaigns, you likely already have Shopping and True View Shopping Campaigns and the budget for these is in line with ROAS (Return on Ad Spend).

However, if you’re also running top of funnel campaigns for your brand on YouTube, adding product feeds to these videos and reviewing the results is an interesting test.

After you’ve served ads for some time, compare your conversions and ROAS against your regular True View for Shopping ads and assess how much this update can actually add to your bottom line.