One of the best ways to make your brand presence on YouTube is through YouTube advertising. But to gain the most out of YouTube ads, you need to produce winning ad creatives, while you can spy on Youtube ads of competitors that are performing well on YouTube. And that way, you can bring more success to your business on YouTube.

If you are really good with content creation, there is a chance that you may create some good ad creatives that might help you to draw some traffic to your business website. However, to grow your YouTube advertising exponentially- here is a great idea – spy on YouTube ads of your competitors.

Especially for those who have just stepped freshly into YouTube advertising, there is a lot to learn from expert creators. So, in this blog post, we are showing you how to spy on YouTube ads and gain more insights to create winning ad campaigns.

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But first, you should know:

Why Do You Need To Spy On YouTube Ads?

Nowadays, as we can see, viewers don’t like to watch longer videos as their attention span is shrinking. And because of that, it’s getting more frenzy for creators to come up with new advertising ideas that keep the attention of audiences. Just by spying on YouTube video ads from top creators, you could be able to learn about their best strategies. And by implementing the same in your own marketing, you can leverage the most out of YouTube advertising.

Let’s take an example: Suppose you want to advertise your home decor business on YouTube and looking for some great ideas for your ad creative. By spying on YouTube ads of other creators, you will get a sort of idea about the ad reach, target audiences, their likes/dislikes, etc.

Following the same, you can work on your own ad creative. Moreover, it would also help you discover captions and thumbnail ideas that may turn out to be clickbait for your own YouTube ad success.

Types of YouTube Ads That You Can Spy On

Instream Skippable Ads-

You can view skippable ads when you watch any video on YouTube, and these ad videos will pop up before, in between, or after the end of the video you are viewing. After viewing it for 5 seconds, you can skip this ad and continue watching the original video. With this ad, you have options to bid for CPV or CPM, or CPA or maximize conversions bidding depending on ad impressions.

Instream Non-skippable Ads-

Non-skippable ads may come before, in between, or after the end of the video you are watching. These ads don’t give the option to skip and play for 15 seconds only. This ad uses CPM bidding to target impressions from viewers,  and accordingly, advertisers can pay for the same. Especially if you want to enhance your brand reach and awareness on YouTube, this YouTube ad format may really help you gain good results.

 

In-Feed Video Ads-

As the name suggests, these video ads are visible on your feed, showing a thumbnail with some captions. The size and appearance of in-feed video ads may change according to the ad placements, which invite viewers to click and watch the ad video. Mostly you will find these video ads on your YouTube home page, or you may also see them on your YouTube watch page. Advertisers using in-feed video ads will be charged based on the number of clicks on its thumbnail when people watch these ads.

Bumper Ads-

Just like for instream ads, bumper ads appear before, after, or in between a video played on YouTube. These ads play for 6 seconds only, while they are not skippable. For billing, you have the CPM option and will charge based on the impressions of your bumper ads.

Outstream Ads-

Outstream ads are targeted toward mobile users only. Also, these ads will play without sound. The viewer may have the option to unmute the ad. These ads appear as banners, interstitials, in-feed, etc. The best thing about out-stream ads is cost efficiency. You will be charged based on the cost per thousand impressions on your ads (only count when a viewer plays an out-stream ad for more than 2 seconds).

Masthead Ads-

Masthead ads are only available for those advertisers who get a reserve through Google sales representatives. Viewers can watch masthead ads at the top of their YouTube home feed. Masthead ads may seem a bit different on a different device.

For example, if you are viewing Masthead ads on a computer, it will show like a banner at the top of your screen where you can view the video on the left side and other information with CTA on the right side. If you click on the masthead video, it will take you to the YouTube watch page.

On the other hand, with a mobile view, you can watch the video at the top of your home screen. And below that, you have the information with CTA.

On a smart TV screen, you can view masthead ads you won’t have the option with the CTA button.

Masthead will be charged based on cost per thousand impressions bidding, where you need to connect with Google sales representatives to get an estimation of the ad cost.

Now you know about the types of YouTube ads, you might be ready to spy on YouTube ads of your competitors and other creators.

How To Spy On Youtube Ads Using PowerAdSpy?

PowerAdSpy is an ad intelligence tool that allows you to look into the ads of other creators. It has a huge database containing millions of ads from more than 15 countries on several ad networks, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google, GDN, Quora, Reddit, and Pinterest (Coming soon- Twitter and Linkedin).

To spy on YouTube ads of your competitors, here are the steps you can follow:

• Open the PowerAdSpy application on your browser.
• Login to the dashboard page.

• On the right side of the screen, you can see several ad networks.
• Select YouTube.

• Now, type your niche keyword in the search bar and tap on the explore button.

• Below that, you have the option to filter ads based on Search by, Sort by, Filters, and Lander properties.

• Under the Search by section, you can search for ads based on Brand in images, Object in images, Celebrity in images.

• Next, in the Sort by section, you can sort ads based on the number of Likes, Views, Comments, and Dislikes.

• In the Filter section, you have the option to select Call to action, Country, Ad Type, Ad Position to narrow down your search results.

• Next, under the Landing properties, you can select the eCommerce platform, funnel, marketing platform, and source device to find your targeted ads.

Conclusion:

So, now you are ready to spy on competitors’ YouTube ads. If you are a marketer who newly started advertising on YouTube, then the YouTube ad spy tool can be helpful for you to get innovative ideas. Using your competitors’  names or some niche-based keywords on the YouTube ads spy tool, you can find relevant ads on YouTube. There are also tools like PowerAdSpy, which shares analytical data about competitors’ ad campaigns. And you can also check demographic insights that would help you in ad targeting and improving the visibility of your ad campaign.

Also Read:

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05 Excellent Pointers To Earn More With Google Display Ads Spy Tool