As YouTube shared its new vision for in-stream ads, with an emphasis on interactivity, marketers were left with a sense of confusion, trying to figure out how these changes would impact their advertising efforts and what the call to action would be.
So what actually changed?
Before, whilst watching an in-stream ad viewers were able to click anywhere and be automatically sent to a new page, selected by the advertiser. This is no longer the case, from now on a link is present on the bottom left corner of the video player, resulting in less unintentional clicks.
And then there is YouTube’s shiny new additional feature: cards!
YouTube has positioned cards as the company’s vision for greater interactivity, brands will now be able to display even more clickable information on desktop computers and mobile. Cards are also described as the evolution of annotations, which only work on desktop and will soon cease to exist.
So how do cards work?
After a quick personalised notification appears on the top right corner of the video being displayed, an icon stays present for a period of time set by the advertiser, by clicking on it cards are then shown, up to 5 cards can be displayed, these can contain related videos, playlists and links from associated websites. Cards are available in both in-stream ads and regular videos.
These changes are not unexpected, YouTube’s top three priorities are “mobile, mobile, mobile” according to its CEO, Susan Wojcicki, and with over 50% of YouTube’s traffic now coming from mobile devices, it’s not hard to understand why the next logical step would be to optimise video ads for all screens.
Ultimately brands should adopt a holistic approach towards cards, marketers responsible for online video should be aware that cards allow for the push of specific goods or product categories. With that in mind, the products being advertised and the cards being displayed should be in accordance.
If and when brands understand how to properly take advantage of cards, viewers will be a few clicks away from buying the pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses a model is wearing or booking a ticket for the new Jennifer Lawrence movie, right after watching the trailer.
As new features allow for more customisation and interactivity, the need for better planning and video editing that takes advantage of these new features alongside better targeting practices must be put in place, the latter becomes an ever more pressing issue as brands are now able to push specific products with cards. A half cooked strategy, although easier to implement, is inevitably detrimental to a successful campaign.
Although still in its infancy, this feature has already impacted the performance of in-stream ads, “Advertisers must incorporate cards into their video advertisements or expect a sharp decrease in CTRs, ads that take advantage of this feature have already experienced significant growth in that metric.” - advances Maximilian Seeburg, Co-Founder of Videobeat Networks.
Although simple in functionality, there are still a number of issues that might arise as the level of customisation is considerable, in order to take full advantage of cards. Marketers ought to consider an array of possibilities, including those listed above.
By Maximilian Seeburg, Co-Founder of Videobeat Networks Ltd.
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