Why Should You Be Using Google's Trueview Ads?

Marketing Advice - 20.09.16

People are consuming billions of videos from their desktops and mobiles across social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and - last but not least - the well-known, YouTube.

Advertisers are making the best use of these channels by telling their story or by giving a product demo. They are doing all of this through testimonials or “how-to” videos.

YouTube in-stream video ads and TrueView video discovery (first called TrueView in-display) are here to help them reach and deliver high engagement with their audience.

The advantage of it? The viewers choose if they will watch the ad and the advertiser pay only pays if there is an interaction. They also have complete control over the daily budget and the targeting options are endless! Advertisers can choose age, gender, location, languages, interests and more, which helps them to reach only the right audience. To make it even easier, all the tools the advertisers need to create and manage their video ads are available in AdWords for Video and YouTube has its own Analytics where you can see how your ad performs.

So How Does It Work?

TrueView in-stream

  • Your in-stream ads can play before, during or after another video from a YouTube partner.

  • You can choose if your video ad will be skippable (viewers are given the choice to skip the ad after the initial 5 seconds and the video can be a maximum of 60 seconds long) or non-skippable (viewers are not given the choice to skip the ad although they do not increment the view count. The ad can be a maximum of 15 seconds or 20 seconds).

  • The name ‘’TrueView’’ is there for a reason. You pay only when a viewer watches for at least 30 seconds or to the end of the video (whichever comes first) or if there are video interactions.


These video interactions include:

  • clicks to visit a website

  • call-to-action overlays (appears as soon as the video starts playing, and then collapses to show just the thumbnail image after 15 seconds)

  • cards (additional calls to action and display as an overlay on the right side of the ads. Note: on mobile, the cards appear below the ads)

  • companion banners (only available on desktop, when a video ad ends or is skipped the companion banner remains on the YouTube page and the user can click on it at any time)

  • In some cases, a video wall companion will be automatically generated which includes information about the channel that’s hosting the video ad. This includes the channel’s icon and name, link to advertiser’s site, as well as thumbnails for up to 3 videos from the most recently updated playlist on that channel, but this is only if a custom companion creative (300x60) is not supplied by the advertiser.

  • Remarketing can be used for TrueView as well, helping you to re-engage your audience. The combinations that can be made on Adwords are countless so put it to good use! What about reaching audiences who have viewed your video but who have not yet purchased your products?

TrueView Video Discovery

  • While users are searching for something great to watch, this format helps users to discover your brand content.

  • Your ad may appear in YouTube search results, alongside organic search results as well as in watch pages, on sites that are part of Google Display Network and even on the YouTube homepage, as long as it matches with your audience.

  • You pay only when a viewer chooses to watch your video by clicking on the ad.

  • They’re also great for promoting your longer-form content.

  • YouTube now give marketers access to full inventory across the YouTube app, making it the first time that TrueView ads can appear in the app’s mobile search results.

Not sure if you should get on board yet? Watch this video and the puppies may help you to decide.

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