As Youtube continues to grow in size and value, the Google-owned company is consistently testing new ways to help brands reach their target audience through advertising. Youtube advertising has become one of the largest centers for digital ads right after Facebook and Amazon, with reported ad revenue of $20 billion last year alone. In order to accommodate the growing popularity of advertising within the platform, Youtube has new features in the works to help advertisers reach their goals and take campaigns even farther than traditional video ads.
Youtube Shorts, comparable to TikTok and Instagram Reels, is a Youtube app beta feature that enables users to create and watch 15- to 60-second videos with musical overlays. The beta feature was released in the U.S in March of 2021 and surpassed 6.5 billion daily views. This short-form video feature provides advertisers with a convenient way to enhance their existing video marketing strategy. Youtube Shorts also provides the flexibility to alternate between bite-sized pieces of content and long-form videos. Unlike the niche audiences found on other video apps, Youtube’s already vast audience makes reaching an array of age groups and industries easily attainable.
Next on the docket for the future of Youtube advertising is an interactive feature called Brand Extensions that will aim to expand the video streaming app further into e-commerce. Brand Extensions will allow advertisers to highlight a call-to-action in their connected TV video ads, where the viewer can click the option “send to phone.” This will deliver that promotion or URL directly to their mobile device without interrupting their viewing experience. Advertisers will be able to strategically reach their target audience by serving ads on content that is relevant to their brand. For example, a cooking video may feature a brand extension ad that depicts an air fryer.
Along with new features from Shorts to Brand Extensions, we can expect to see a few of the following trends in 2022:
- Youtube ads performing more successfully than TV and radio commercials with over 3 billion views per day
- Video content becoming a standard for businesses of all sizes
- YouTube continuing to grow as a platform for video marketing, with more people watching videos on their phones
- Youtube housing more content than any other site by 2022 with more than 400 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute
As the fastest growing viewership channel, it’s likely that Youtube will continue to see positive trends and introduce more innovative features in the new year. Youtube advertising continues to evolve and produce opportunities for brands and creators to grow, connect in new ways, and enhance the overall shopping experience.
Sources:
https://www.reelnreel.com/youtube-marketing-trends-guide/
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/video/youtube-products-turn-viewers-into-online-shoppers/
https://www.marketingdive.com/news/youtube-builds-on-ctv-momentum-with-new-commerce-content-curation-offering/599573/
