That Skippable Ad and Beyond: Does Youtube Beat TV?
From that skippable ad most Youtube viewers prefer instead of the long ones they’re obliged to watch, to the big question “How to reach a million viewers on Youtube” which brands, YouTubers, and individuals curious about this platform would like to know more about, does Youtube beat TV from an advertising perspective?
While TV was the most popular medium for advertising in 2014, an influx of different screen types entered the market. In that same year, the three types of channels on Youtube were standard user channels (for individuals or companies free of charge), brand channels (free/ for corporate branding), and custom brand channels (not free and cost around 200,000$ per year).
Before digging into types of ads, users search for “successful” ads. Google specifies the ad types succeeding through the words “audible” and “viewable”, saying that 95% of ads on YouTube are audible, and 93% are viewable. According to BusinessofApps, what would make a difference in Youtube ads’ success rate is a model employing both visual and audible content. As the diagram shows, audible and viewable YouTube ads see brand recall nearly four times higher than only audible ads, and 1.6 times high than ads that are only viewable.
There are two types of ads on Youtube, “Skippable” (our favorite TrueView ad), and the one trying to mimic TV ads, “non-skippable” (available before, during, or after videos, and purchased on a CPM basis). TrueView ad format could be in-stream or a discovery ad (very popular and might appear in Youtube search results along with other videos).
What’s interesting about TrueView Video ads is that there’s no need to pay for views if people did not interact with your ad (watching your full video or 30 seconds or longer for the In-Stream TrueView format). For Discovery ads, however, you are charged if someone clicks on your ad.
This diagram by Ipsos reveals that paid mobile Youtube ads, not just Youtube ads receive the most attention (83%) compared to only 54% of TV ads.
If the power of TV ads was totally gone, then why would Nielsen announce that they are working on a cross-platform audience measurement? What about the legacy ads which might live more on TV than they do on Youtube?
The following ad is one of the most popular in the Arab world in the month of Ramadan, and it is shown on TV year after another, achieving millions of views. On Youtube, it only reached 25,942 views.
In conclusion, a million views on Youtube is not a magical trick, yet what’s required is pushing your brand through investing in ads correctly, and sticking to one successful model, based on your target audience’s presence (online or in front of the TV), in addition to several other factors.
Meanwhile, YouTube said in an update to its terms of service that it will put ads on non-partner videos but won’t pay the creators. Would brands still prefer Youtube ads after this decision? Let’s wait and see.
