A few weeks ago, we claimed CPMs were dead as effective media buying units for online video. (“RIP, CPMs” Mar 12, 2015)
Now, Google has given a big boost to that notion by going all in for Cost-Per-Completed-View (CPCV) media buying, which we’ve long championed. The company just announced that YouTube will roll out purchasing of TrueView via its demand-side platform, (DSP) DoubleClick Bid Manager (DBM) in coming months.
TrueView is a one-of-a-kind ad format that allows viewers to skip commercials after five seconds, and doesn’t charge advertisers unless viewers watch their entire message—or 30 seconds of it—whichever is shorter.
In a sense, TrueView is really a completed-view-plus ad format in that it is sold on a CPCV basis plus the viewer chooses to watch the complete ad vs. being forced to watch it, like the majority of non-TrueView video ads.
Good news for advertisers—and viewers
Video views are exploding as more and more people shift to other screens from TV. EMarketer reports that the average U.S. adult now spends 23% of video watch time on digital devices vs. TV. That’s up from 7% in 2011.
Naturally, advertisers want to follow the audience and clearly, the video viewing audience is on YouTube. In fact, video viewers spend more time on YouTube than on its top three competitors combined, which include Facebook.
So, giving advertisers better access to YouTube’s TrueView inventory in the face of growing demand greatly benefits the industry as well as viewers, who overwhelmingly favor watching video ads by choice vs. by force. And they reward choice with 75% higher engagement.
More opportunity awaits
While Google’s announcement holds a lot of promise, programmatic access to TrueView through DBM addresses only one of the challenges that brands face in strategizing and managing online video ad campaigns:
- Multiple budget sources, KPIs and strategies—Multi-location brands in particular have multiple budget sources, along with multi-level KPIs (national, regional and local), each with multiple targeting and flighting strategies. These characteristics require building, managing and optimizing complex multi-faceted campaigns that leverage TrueView’s advantages—i.e., view by choice and CPCV pricing.
Integrated micro-targeting and ad personalization—In order to maximize completed views, dynamic ad personalization should be integrated with advanced audience micro-targeting in every TrueView campaign. These best practices boost engagement and response rates which in turn, drive every other important result for the advertiser, including awareness, response, incremental reach, brand lift, etc.- Automated micro-campaign build out—The most cost-efficient campaigns programmatically build out multiple micro-campaigns for every one of the brand’s service areas, audience micro-segments and/or personalized ads. They also manage each budget at the micro level whether there are single or multiple budget sources, to allow for easy optimization and reporting.
- Data and reports tied to objectives and KPIs—Campaign data should deliver rich insights to creative resonance, audience verification and performance against objectives and KPIs.
Truly premium TrueView Beyond DBM
Google’s announcement of programmatic access to TrueView inventory through DBM is a strong indicator of the rapidly growing demand for quality online video ad inventory. And the more advertisers can access YouTube’s cost-per-completed-view inventory, the faster it will be adopted as the media buying measure of choice, which is a win-win for brands and viewers alike.
Sightly delivers truly premium TrueView today by managing multiple budget sources, KPIs and strategies, integrating dynamic ad personalization with audience micro-targeting, automatically building out micro-campaigns and providing rich data and reports that deliver unprecedented insights and performance against objectives.