YouTube, which started selling a six-second ad format called “bumpers” a year ago, says those small ads are having a large impact.
YouTube is adding the bumpers to its Google Preferred offering during the upcoming upfront.
A number of advertisers pulled their dollars from YouTube after finding their messages running with objectionable content. YouTube calls Google Preferred, featuring its most popular video creators, its safest, most premium content.
In a blog post, the online video giant said it ran 122 bumper campaigns for advertisers in the U.S. last year and 70% of them drove increases in brand awareness, with an average lift of 9%. Ad recall rose for 90% of the campaigns, with the average lift of more than 30%.
Busch used bumpers after a campaign that included the Super Bowl and saw double-digit lifts in both purchase consideration and brand awareness among viewers. The bumpers were made from extra footage shot while making the Super Bowl spot.
"Capturing consumers’ attention is always a challenge, so short and contextually-relevant content is key to getting over this hurdle. By using YouTube bumpers, we were able to tap into a great product that is built to address this challenge and successfully break through with consumers,” said Victoria Vaynberg, Senior Director, Digital for Anheuser-Busch, in the blog post
Under Armour combined TrueView ads with bumpers in its YouTube campaign launching a new product. The TrueView ads engaged the audience emotionally, while the bumpers focused on the product's innovative features. The lift in interest for the product was double among people who saw both ads, compared to those who saw only the TrueView ads.
“These little wonders have swept the globe for three simple reasons: they provide wide reach, they drive brand results and they’re a great canvas for creativity,” YouTube said in the blog post.
“This format is a perfect match to the sought-after content included in Google Preferred and will help advertisers drive reach and build awareness during increasingly mobile viewing moments,” the company said.
(Photo via Esther Vargas's Flickr. Image taken on April 27, 2017 and used per Creative Commons 2.0 license. The photo was cropped to fit 9x16 aspect ratio.)
