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With cord-cutting on the rise, brands have been looking for new ways to connect with an important part of their audience that are harder than ever to reach. According to fresh Nielsen data, more than half of 18 to 49 year-olds in the US are either light viewers of TV or do not subscribe to TV; but over 90 percent of these people watch YouTube.1 Today we’re introducing a new set of opportunities on YouTube to help brands reach these viewers across content and devices.


YouTube audiences on TV screens
We’re amidst the second major shift in how people watch video on YouTube. In the past few years, we witnessed mobile viewership exceed desktop, marking the first major shift in how people interacted with YouTube. Now, in 2018, viewers are returning to that original, purpose-built device for video viewing – the television set.

At YouTube we’ve brought people back to the big screen by building a rich YouTube experience for set-top boxes, gaming consoles, streaming devices and smart TVs of all stripes. And now TV screens are our fastest growing screen, counting over 150 million hours of watch time per day.2

We heard from advertisers that they want in, so we have been working to make it easy for you to find your most engaged, valuable audience while they are watching YouTube on a TV set, with the new TV screens device type. In the coming months, we’ll add TV screens – joining computers, mobile phones and tablets – to AdWords and DoubleClick Bid Manager, so advertisers globally can tailor their campaigns for this environment – for example, by using a different creative.

We’ve already seen that people react positively to ads on the TV screen – based on Ipsos Lab Experiments, YouTube ads shown on TV drove a significant lift in ad recall and purchase intent, with an average lift of 47 percent and 35 percent respectively.3


YouTube audiences on every screen

And for brands who want help reaching cord cutters, we now offer a new segment in AdWords and DoubleClick Bid Manager called “light TV viewers.” Advertisers will be able to reach people who consume most of their television and video content online and might be harder to reach via traditional media. This audience is reachable on YouTube across computers, mobile, tablets, and TV screens.


Welcoming YouTube TV to Google Preferred

Last year we launched YouTube TV, a new way to enjoy cable-free live TV. Now a year in, YouTube TV continues to gain momentum – we’ve recently added new networks to our service, expanded availability to over 85 percent of US households in nearly 100 TV markets, and announced partnerships with major sports leagues. For the first time, this upcoming broadcast season advertisers will be able to access full length TV inventory in Google Preferred.

Content from some cable networks in the US will be part of Google Preferred lineups so that brands can continue to engage their audience across all platforms. This means advertisers will be able to get both the most popular YouTube content and traditional TV content in a single campaign – plus, we’ll dynamically insert these ads, giving advertisers the ability to show relevant ads to the right audiences, rather than just showing everyone the same ad as they might on traditional TV.

As marketers continue to break the silos and think of holistic media plans, we’re excited to enable the opportunity. Because while TV screen viewing is big and growing fast, video is everywhere and the key is connecting with viewers wherever they watch.

Posted by Debbie Weinstein, Managing Director, YouTube/Video Global Solutions 

1. Google commissioned Nielsen custom fusion study. Desktop, mobile and TV fusion. TV measurement of television distribution sources and total minutes viewed. Reach among persons 18-49. Light TV viewers represent the bottom tercile of total TV watchers based on total minutes viewed. October 2017.
2. YouTube Internal Data, Global, Accurate as of Jan 2018. Based on seven day average of watch time for TV screen devices, which include smart TVs, Roku/Apple TV and game consoles.
3. Google/Ipsos Lab Experiment, US, March 2018 (32 ads, 800 US residents 18-64 y/o).


Over the last year, we've been working on a way to extend the reach of your video campaigns to people beyond YouTube, especially as they spend more and more time interacting with apps and sites on their mobile devices. Starting today, you can use outstream video ads, a new format built exclusively for mobile environments, to reach more potential customers with your video creative.

Outstream ads drive incremental, cost-efficient and viewable reach beyond YouTube. Ads show on Google video partners, which are high-quality publisher websites and mobile apps where you can show video ads, including TrueView in-stream and Bumper ads. When outstream video ads come into view on a mobile screen, they begin to play with sound off. After that, a user can tap the ad to turn sound on and restart the video from the beginning, or simply keep scrolling.

In every context, an ad needs the opportunity to be seen in order to drive impact, which is why our outstream video ads are charged on viewable CPM. This means that every impression you pay for has been on screen and viewable (as measured by MRC standards). In addition to Active View and unique reach reporting, you can use brand interest lift to measure incremental interest in your brand or product as assessed by an increase in organic searches on Google.com or YouTube.

Outstream video ads complement our efficient reach solutions for YouTube: TrueView for reach and Bumper ads. Now, you can reach even more of your audience across the mobile web and apps with a video ad designed for the ways people read, play, swipe and scroll on mobile.



Advertisers like Hong Kong Tourism board are already using outstream video ads to increase awareness and cost-efficient reach. Tina Chao, General Manager, Marketing, says, "To build awareness for Hong Kong as a travel destination, the Hong Kong Tourism Board used outstream video ads to reach a broad set of potential travelers across Asia. Outstream video ads delivered strong results for our global brand campaign: 30% incremental reach with a 40% lower cost per completed video view and 85% lower CPM." 











You can check out the AdWords Help Center for more info, and start including outstream video ads in your campaigns with brand awareness and reach goals.

Posted by Armen Mkrtchyan, Product Manager, Video Ads

How many people can I reach on YouTube for $100k? And how much should I spend on TrueView versus Bumpers?

Starting today, we’ve made it easier to answer questions like these by introducing Reach Planner, a new tool in AdWords. Now, for the first time, advertisers can forecast the reach and frequency achievable on YouTube and across Google’s video partners, in over 50 countries. This resource will simplify the planning process by providing unique reach across devices, for all core audiences and video formats.

In our quest to make planners' lives easier, we are going beyond reach curves to introduce a key new feature: product mixes. Planners have been using Google's video formats to reach viewers in different ways, and now we’re giving more insight into which formats work best together. With product mixes, you can give us your marketing objective, ad preferences and budget, and we will recommend the right mix of YouTube’s solutions to achieve your goal. For instance, if you want to maximize reach to drive awareness, and have short creative assets, Reach Planner will recommend the right allocation of spend between TrueView in-stream and Bumpers to achieve that goal.

To access Reach Planner, talk to your Google sales team today.

Posted by Dacheng Zhao, Product Manager, Video Ads

Building brand awareness and increasing market penetration used to be fairly straightforward: find the most popular shows on television, put your ad there and maximize reach among your demographic target.

With a historic amount of content at viewers’ fingertips, it may seem easier than ever to hit your reach target. But today you don’t just want commodity reach – you want reach where people are paying attention. Thanks to its community of creators and their connection with viewers, YouTube delivers this engaged reach. In a recent study with Ipsos, we found that people are 3x more likely to pay attention to online video ads vs. television ads.1 And we’re building solutions to help you tap into YouTube’s differentiated reach.



Reach and intrigue in 6 seconds or less

Our six-second bumper ads were designed to drive more reach among the audiences you care about, especially as they become increasingly on-the-go. They showcase not only the fun of storytelling in six seconds, but also the benefits of adapting to consumer behavior.

We're seeing brands continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in 6 seconds, and it’s paying off: In a new global study, 87% of Bumpers campaigns drove a significant lift in Ad Recall with an average lift across all campaigns measured of over 20%.2

Jim Mollica, SVP Digital Marketing and Media at Under Armour, says, "We’ve been using bumpers for almost two years to drive frequency among consumers who have engaged with us in the past. We use TrueView to drive engaged reach, and rely on bumpers to remind and drive product storytelling. For us, frequency is the core driver of impact, and bumpers consistently enables this with a high degree of efficiency and proven impact."


To build a more personal connection with consumers in India, Uber identified 100 different passions among their target audience and used Director Mix to build 85 different bumper ad variations tailored to each passion. The effort drove 63% more first trips from YouTube at an 18% lower cost per first trip than previous campaigns.
Introducing TrueView for reach

To help you reach more of your audience on YouTube with even more flexibility, we’re introducing a new way to buy TrueView called TrueView for reach. TrueView for reach brings our popular in-stream format built on user choice together with the simplicity of CPM buying. Optimized for efficient reach, this format can help you to raise awareness among a broad set of customers — and do so within our 95% viewable and 95% audible environment.3

In beta testing 84 TrueView for reach campaigns, 9 out of 10 drove a significant lift in Ad Recall, with an average lift of nearly 20%. 
Source: YouTube Internal Data, Global, July 2017



Jay Altschuler, VP of Media at Samsung Electronics America, reflects on being the format’s launch partner: "At Samsung we thrive on innovation and pushing boundaries. We were eager to test and learn as the launch partner of YouTube's new TrueView for reach solution since marketing today is no longer about reach δΈ€ it's about engaged reach. User choice and attention are both critical for building a meaningful connection with consumers and for our flagship phone launch last spring, we were able to reach 50%+ more people at half the CPM using TrueView for reach."





Vanessa Tsangaratos, Digital Marketing Manager at PepsiCo France says, "TrueView for reach not only enabled us to achieve massive on-target reach, but delivered high completion rates on our 10 second video. Moreover, CPMs proved to be more competitive: we saw 30% lower CPMs on average compared to previous campaigns. This ultimately drove lower average costs on incremental reach points: -46% versus TV on specific target audiences."




Reach remains a critical goal for marketers, but it isn’t the only one. TrueView for reach joins TrueView for action as new solutions designed to drive specific marketing outcomes. We’ll continue introducing new approaches that help you adapt to today’s media landscape.

Posted by Ali Miller, Product Manager, Video Ads and Khushbu Rathi, Product Manager, Video Ads



1. Source: Google/Ipsos, Video Mobile Diary, US, 2017, n of 4,381 (saw ads occasions). Online video includes video platforms such as YouTube & Hulu, social platforms such as Facebook & Snapchat and TV Full Episode Players like NBC.com.
2. Source: Google Bumpers Brand Lift Meta Analysis, Global, 2017, across over 2,900 studies.
3. Google and DoubleClick advertising platforms data, Global, May 2017 & Google Internal Data, Global, August 2016