Why Should a Brand Run YouTube Ads? Four Reasons (Archive, 2021)

Recorded in 2021 during Simon's s.media agency era, with several members of the s.media team presenting. Published as part of a dated historical record; it reflects the platform then, not current advice.

Is your audience actually on YouTube?

One reason your brand should run YouTube ads this year: YouTube is relevant for many different kinds of audience. There are 1.9 billion monthly active users on the platform, meaning your audience is more than likely there as well. If you want to research whether your audience is actually there, there are a few things you can do. First, keyword research — using a tool like Keyword.io to check keywords in your niche and industry. Alternatively, look at influencers or channels in your industry and see who their audience is; those people are more than likely to engage with your content too.

Which type of campaign fits your goal?

Another reason: there are so many different types of campaign, depending on the goal you want to achieve. A short overview: you have in-stream ads, discovery ads and bumper ads. In-stream ads are typically the adverts you see during a video, and these are the longer-form ads. Discovery ads are the ones you see on the search results of YouTube. Bumper ads are the short-form ads at the start of a video.

Depending on what you want to achieve, you choose the campaign. At s.media we tend to advise clients to run in-stream ads, because in-stream is really good for conversions — whereas something like a bumper ad is better if you just want to grow your YouTube channel. YouTube advertising doesn't mean running one type of campaign; you can run different types based on what you're trying to achieve, and that's why it works for so many brands, B2B or B2C.

Why is the YouTube mindset different?

From a brand perspective, a lot of marketers forget this: most people open their smartphones and go into the other social channels to have a nap with their mates and find out what's going on — drifting through the feeds, scrolling. We all waste so much time doing that. YouTube is very different. People go there — I do anyway — to listen to music, to be entertained, to look at car reviews. It is the second biggest search engine, after all. It's an entirely different specimen to Facebook and a lot of the other channels: people arrive with purpose and depth of attention that scrolling doesn't give you. When you're weighing up where to run ads, it's simply got a lot more bang for its buck.

Does your content need to be shiny?

Your YouTube channel, and the content that goes on it, does not need to be completely shiny. Yes, it should be of good quality — but that quality can come from a smartphone or a very low-cost camera and a few quick edits. It's a very authentic platform, and consumers want an authentic experience on there. Production polish should not be the reason you're not on it. Get your smartphone out, test something, and see if it works for you.