Youtube Advertising – Be The Early Bird And You’ll Catch The Worm!

If you’re like most online advertisers, you probably started with some basic search advertising before branching out to the content network, Adcenter, Yahoo and, if you’re really on the ball, the likes of Youtube, iPhone-targeting and display advertising on the Google content network.

I’d be prepared to wager a small sum that that’s the order of expansion for most Adwords clients – but should it be?

How Can I Advertise On Youtube?

Our work is revealing an increasing ROI for Youtube advertising, which comes in 4 forms:

1. In-ad overlay advertisements (text or flash ads)
2. Sponsored video listings
3. Youtube-targeted display advertising
4. Pre-roll and post-roll clickable ads (before/after targeted videos)

Is It Better Than The Content Network?

For many clients the answer is ‘yes’. We’re seeing some interesting results and we believe the early success of Youtube advertising is down to 2 factors:

1. Youtube content commands greater focus and engagement than text content. Ads placed before, during or after this content correspondingly achieve a great share of the user’s attention.
2. Youtube is still massively underadopted as an advertising platform and uses a CPC model for what should really be a CPM form of advertising. In other words, clicks are still relatively cheap and the branding opportunity is not to be ignored.

So Should I Be Advertising On Youtube?

If you already have seen success on the Content Network or you have a B2C offering that can support either yours or someone else’s video content – go for it! We have to put in a shameless plug for our own optimisation services, but if you’d like this service managed or just need some more advice, contact us now.

Youtube advertising is here to stay and click prices will only go up in the foreseeable future so be the early bird and catch this worm!