YouTube is a great video marketing platform. And if you are not utilizing YouTube advertising, you may be missing out on a lot of benefits for your brand. With its combined benefits of a search engine and a video social media platform, it draws around 2 billion logged-in visitors a month.

But to appeal to this huge number there are some important questions: How does YouTube advertising work? What do you need to know before starting a YouTube campaign? And how many types of ads are there that you can use?

In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into the basics of YouTube advertising like types of YouTube ads, ad format options, and the benefits of advertising on YouTube.

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YouTube Advertising: The Basics

Advertising on YouTube is somewhat different from other advertising platforms in terms of view counts. You only pay when the user completes a 30-second duration or watches the whole video.

Hence you have to consider a lot of things while starting a YouTube ad campaign. Knowing all the factors about the platform is worth spending time on for a successful ad campaign.

What Are The Types of YouTube Ads?

For an effective YouTube marketing campaign, let us take a look at the types of YouTube ads you should know while advertising on the YouTube platform:

Non-Skippable Video Ads:

Non-skippable video ads are the type that appear before, during, or at the end of the YouTube video. Some long non-skippable ads are even up to 30 seconds in duration.

If your videos are engaging and the landing page is well-designed, You have a higher chance of getting leads.

Every time your ad shows, you need to pay for it. And these types of ads usually require big budgets.

Bumper Ads:

Bumper ads are a type of non-skippable in-stream advertising with a duration of 6 seconds. It can appear as a YouTube pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll. Advertisers can use it for better reach and brand awareness campaigns.

YouTube TrueView Instream Skippable Video Ads:

These kinds of ads can be skipped after 5 seconds and can be displayed before, during, or after the main video. Instream video ads offer the option to watch or skip the ad. If the viewer watches a complete ad, the creator gets paid by the advertisers.

YouTube Display Ads:

Display ads can appear above the suggestion list and on the side of the featured video. It may run in every area of YouTube except for the homepage. If the viewer is interested in your product or services, they might click on the ad.

YouTube Overlay Ads:

Overlay ads appear on the lower portion of the video covering 20% of the area. These ads are transparent and only display on the desktop and computers. The viewer can exit this at any time, and viewers get annoyed by overlay ads. 

YouTube Midroll Ads:

Midroll ads only appear in videos longer than 15 minutes in duration.

These are kind of like TV commercials that appear during the shows.

Viewers can not skip and have to watch the whole ad to continue the main video. For a better viewing experience, advertisers should include this at appropriate intervals.

Discovery ads:

You might be familiar with ads on the search feed of Google. YouTube Discovery ads are also like those ads. It is situated alongside the organic search results, and users can click on it seems relevant. When viewers click on the ad, they are redirected to the video page or YouTube channel.

YouTube Sponsored Cards:

Sponsored Cards show content according to the YouTube video, which is like the products featured in that video. Viewers get a teaser for the card, and they can also click the icon to browse the cards. 

What Are The YouTube Ad Specs?

Before creating ads, it is crucial to know all the specifications for those ads. So, most technical YouTube ad specs are the same as any other YouTube video. 

Pro tip:  You must first upload skippable and non-skippable in-stream video ads as regular YouTube videos.  

Here are all the specs for YouTube ads:

YouTube skippable video ad specs:

• Ad dimensions: The dimensions of the skippable video should be the same as a standard YouTube video.
• Formats: You can only insert a video URL.
• Max animation time: The duration can be 15-20 seconds.
• Max file size: The maximum YouTube ad size for a skippable video ad is 150KB, Depending on the region.
• Audio: Yes.
• The platform it appears on: It appears on all platforms desktop, mobile, TV, and game consoles.

YouTube non-skippable YouTube ad specs:

• Ad dimensions: The dimensions of the skippable video should be the same as a standard YouTube video.
• Formats: You can only insert a video URL.
• Max animation time: The maximum file size of a skippable video ad is 150KB, Depending on the region.
• Audio: Yes
• The platform it appears on: It appears on desktop and mobile.

Bumper Video YouTube ad specs:

• Ad resolution: The dimensions of bumper ads should be 640×360 pixels or 480×360 pixels.
• Formats: You can use AVI, ASF, MP4, MPEG, Quicktime, or Windows Media formats.
• Max animation time: The maximum animation time is up to 6 seconds.
• Max file size: The maximum file size of a bumper ad is 1GB.
• Audio: It supports MP3 or AAC.
• The platform it appears on:  It appears on desktop and mobile.

Sponsored Card Video YouTube  ad specs:

• Aspect ratio: It supports an aspect ratio of 1:1.
• Formats: JPG, GIF, and PNG formats are supported.
• Max animation time: Maximum animation time should be 5 seconds.
• Max file size: Maximum YouTube ads size for sponsored card video is 1GB.
• Audio: It does not support audio.
• The platform it appears on: It appears on desktop and mobile.

YouTube display ad specs:

• Ad dimensions:  The dimensions of display ads should be 300×250 pixels or 300×60 pixels.
• Formats: You can use GIF, JPG, PNG, or HTML5 formats.
• Max animation time: The maximum animation time is 30 seconds.
• Max file size: The maximum YouTube ad size for display video ads is 150KB.
• Audio: Sound enabled, but it will only play when the viewer clicks on it.
• The platform it appears on: It only appears on the desktop.

YouTube overlay ad specs:

• Ad dimensions: The dimensions of display ads should be 480×60 pixels or 728×90 pixels.
• Formats: You can use Static GIF, PNG, or JPG formats.
• Max animation time: The maximum animation time is 10 seconds.
• Max file size: The maximum YouTube ad size for overlay videos is 150KB.
• Audio: It does not support sound.
• The platform it appears on: It only appears on the desktop.

Why YouTube Is Better For Video Advertising?

Advertising on YouTube can be the best move you can take as a marketer. Here are some of the benefits that you will get from advertising on YouTube:

YouTube Advertising Cost:

YouTube ads are very cost-efficient. YouTube advertisement cost follows a PPC advertising strategy, which means you have to pay only when someone clicks on the ad. You can also choose the amount you are willing to pay per click. It is very profitable and easy to understand. 

Reach interested customers through Highly Targeted YouTube Ads:

For running a successful ad campaign, granular targeting is crucial. YouTube advertising offers to target audiences by demographics, topics, customer match, similar audience, life event, in-market experience, affinity audience, etc.

Better Engagement With Your Audience:

YouTube advertising helps you connect with your audience better. If your content is relevant to them, they might click on the ad and become your customers. The main reason is that they can see the brand in action, see the faces, and understand the value of the company. And there are various ad formats you can choose from to connect with your audience better.

Easy To Measure Advertising Metrics:

It’s not fruitful to run a campaign on YouTube without assessing its success. The campaign performance insights are what will help in curating better-performing ads. With the Google Ads account, you can track views, YouTube ad costs, and budget details related to your YouTube ads.

Gain Faster Results Using YouTube Advertising:

With over 2 billion monthly users, it’s easy to understand why you’ll see such fast results. When you present your ad in front of more people you’ll get more ad clicks, website traffic, and sales over time. YouTube has developed a fantastic advertising platform where you’ll notice results quickly.

Reach Millions Of Potential Clients:

With YouTube, even if you specifically target an audience, you will still get your ads in front of more people simply because YouTube has a much higher number of followers. 

YouTube provides an opportunity for even small businesses to reach more users who will be interested in their business simply.

YouTube Advertising Policy:

Over the years, YouTube has curated its policies to fit the needs of both advertisers and its users. There are several perks of advertising on YouTube but the best is the ease and profitability obtained through YouTube advertising policies. 

Roadmap For Using YouTube Ads Effectively:

Create Brand Awareness:

With the help of YouTube videos, you can create a unique brand image. Consider producing creative and fun videos for your product or service. It will help you develop a brand identity and spread awareness of your business.

Showcase Product Launch:

You can create videos of new products that you launch and showcase with your audience.

Engage With Your Audience:

YouTube is the best platform for interacting with the audience. You can utilize this platform to grow a connection with them.

Optimize with A/B Testing:

Use YouTube’s A/B testing best practices to find the best-performing video content. Test different thumbnails, titles, and descriptions to see what resonates most with your audience.

Provide Customer Help:

If anyone has a problem, they go to Google or YouTube to search for a solution. You can make how-to videos, FAQs, or any videos to resolve the issues of your customers. It is also a great way to engage and increase conversions.

Now that you know all the basics of YouTube advertising, it is time to commence your YouTube ad campaign. And PowerAdSpy can help you get the latest ads that you can use in your campaign. This platform provides multiple social media platforms for marketers YouTube, Facebook, Google, Quora, Reddit, Pinterest, and Instagram to spy on competitors’ ad strategies, tactics, target audiences, and more. 

Here are some of the amazing features:

Combination of Videos and Image Ads:

With the fastest-growing library of image and video ads, you can choose the most suitable YouTube ads for your campaign.

Call to Action Based Sorting:

The call to action is the critical factor behind the success of your ad campaigns. PowerAdSpy can be a helpful YouTube ad spy tool to find the best call to action working in your niche.

Powerful Search Algorithm:

You can easily find the ads by searching for popular keywords or phrases within ads. Also sort them by date, shares, likes, and comments to easily find the best ads to improve your campaign.

GEO-targeted

PowerAdSpy has a huge data center with millions of ads, which can provide precise knowledge about the Geo-targets of your competitors, which can help you to recognize an audience eagerly interested in your product/services.

Read More Blogs:

Track Competitors On Social Media To Ace Your Marketing Game In 2021

Beginner’s catalog of free spy apps for Facebook ads

Steps to Constructively Spy Your Competitor on Instagram

Significance of YouTube Videos For Business Marketing

What Is The Cost Of Advertising On YouTube In 2024

Final Words:

YouTube is a great video advertising platform for your brand and business, where it also provides the double benefits of social media and a search engine. As marketers, you must utilize this incredible platform to track competitors on social media ads out in front of a relevant, engaged audience. 

There are a lot of good reasons why most marketers are moving towards creating engaging video content for their marketing purposes. All you need to do is to find the appropriate monetization strategy for your business and you are set to go. 

If you’re still feeling a bit uncertain about advertising on YouTube, please let me know in the comments. I’d love to help! Also, don’t forget to share your views below!