YouTube, the video-sharing website owned by Google, is to offer advertisers a new short-form video ad option that lasts just six seconds.
Called Bumper ads, the new video format will be made available via Google’s AdWords auction in May and is aimed at driving reach and frequency, especially on mobile.
Viewers of the new six-second ads will not be able to skip them, unlike YouTube’s longer format ads, and they are targeted at the 50% of 18 to 49-year-olds that Google says use mobile devices to watch videos.
Zach Lupei, product manager for video ads at Google, said in a blog post that “snackable videos” perform well for these users and that Bumper ads work best when combined with a TrueView or Google Preferred campaign.
“Even in the living room, many people prefer to watch on their smartphone – for the control, personalisation and ease it offers,” he said. “And as viewing habits change, we are working to introduce new formats adapted to these habits.”
According to Google, tests have shown Bumper ads to drive strong lift in metrics, such as recall, awareness and consideration and it intends advertisers to use them to complement other ad formats.
“For example, these short Bumper ads could be used to reinforce messages in a longer video aired on YouTube while also reaching more viewers,” Lupei said.
Atlantic Records was among early testers of the new ad feature when it launched British band Rudimental’s second album with Bumpers used to highlight individual guest musicians.
“TrueView and Bumpers were a really important part of the recent Rudimental campaign to tell the story of the band’s second album,” Atlantic Records marketing manager Fiona Byers said. “Through cost-efficient bumpers we could really showcase the plethora of legendary guests featured on the record.
“They each gave a short sharp insight into a featured artist and individual track on the album, with TrueView providing the fuller story around the album and the band.”
M+AD sourced the information for this story from Google and www.warc.com.
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