YouTube targets TV users with new advertising services

Google’s YouTube has unveiled plans to increase the value of its presence on connected TVs, enabling advertisers to target TV viewers of the video-sharing platform and adding YouTube TV to its Google Preferred programme that enables advertisers to pay to place ads on high-performing videos.

In a blog posting, Debbie Weinstein, managing director, YouTube TV/video global solutions said that the platform would add TV screens to its AdWords and DoubleClick Bid Manager platforms in the coming months, enabling advertisers globally to tailor their ad campaigns for TV by using alternative creative.

YouTube has also introduced a new segment in Ad Words called ‘light TV viewers’, the purpose of which is to enable advertisers to better reach cord cutters and people who consume most of their TV and video content online.

According to YouTube, citing Nielsen statistics, TV screens are now the video platform’s fast-growing screen type, accounting for over 150 million hours of viewing time each day. The video site said that Ipsos Lab Experiments had shown that YouTube ads shown on TV drove a significant lift in ad recall and purchase intent, with an average lift of 47% and 35% respectively.

YouTube is also adding the YouTube TV live TV offering it launched in the US last year to Google Preferred, its programme to enable advertisers to buy slots placed against specific high-performing videos.

For the upcoming TV season, advertisers will be able to access full-length TV programmes in Google Preferred. Content from some US cable networks will be part of Google Preferred line-ups, enabling brands to target audiences across all platforms and to include both popular YouTube content and traditional TV in a single campaign. The option to target ads will be available through dynamic ad insertion.

YouTube has rolled YouTube TV across the US progressively, providing a cloud DVR service and a range of channels for US$35 a month.

YouTube’s extension of its TV drive comes after a tightening up of rules governing advertising on the site in the wake of controversies surrounding YouTube celebrities Logan Paul and PewDiePie.

YouTube changed the rules to ensure that site users would need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time within the past 12 months to be eligible for ads, while content for Google Preferred would be manually reviewed.