YouTube Bumper Ads, a great LITTLE addition to the Google offering
By now, we’re all used to those YouTube pre-roll ads that appear before that really important YouTube clip of someone falling over that you just HAVE to see.
For me, the first five seconds are absolutely key as to whether I engage with the rest of the ad or not. If a brand hooks me in within the first five, I’m generally impressed, and more often than not I’ll watch the ad. Sometimes out of intrigue, sometimes because it’s great content and sometimes because I’m genuinely interested in the brand.
So, when Google announced the new YouTube 6 second bumper ad, I was very intrigued.
It seems that there has been a bit of a race to make things shorter over the past few years. The popularity of Vine and Instagram videos really illustrate this.
We’re much more likely to be consuming video ads on our mobile devices these days, in this case, speed and getting to the point quickly is crucial. Who wants to spend 90 seconds of their train journey watching a promo ad for a new Ed Sheeran song when in reality all you need to know is that... "it's out, open Spotify or Apple Music and stream it".
According to YouTube, early tests have driven strong lift in upper funnel metrics like recall, awareness and consideration, with early testers including Audi and Atlantic Records.
Mercedes have also utilised the format, cleverly playing up to the novelty of it's short length.
For me, bumper ads could be a powerful new tool for driving brand awareness of new products from existing brands, and also for creating intrigue or amusement as part of a wider digital mix showing off brand personality.
Time will tell, but the new format certainly looks like a positive step from Google, and opens out another high impact ad format for brands to play with.
Want to see what YouTube advertising can do for your business? Why not get in touch and see how we can help you achieve your business goals.
