How is it advertisers can profit without viewers watching the entirety of their ads? That’s the brilliance of TrueView advertising.

TrueView allows YouTube users the option of skipping the advertisement after a mere 5 seconds. Although it seems counterproductive, a recent STRATA consumer report shows that 75% of respondents need only 3 seconds to identify the brand or product of an online video ad, while the other 25% need only one to two seconds.

With that being said, the first five seconds are crucial. It’s important to get right to the point – don’t waste time showing your branding. Instead, experiment with what drives viewers’ curiosity to continue watching the ad.

Benefits of TrueView

Why pay for an ad if no one watches it? The STRATA report also found that 41% of viewers hit “skip this ad” before they recognize the brand or product being sold. With TrueView, advertisers do not pay for an ad unless the viewer watches it, so there’s no need to spend money on an audience that’s not interested.

Since the percentage of ad-recalls for online video ads is much higher than TV (about 34%), advertisers learn which strategies work and which do not. Using YouTube Analytics, advertisers gain insight and track user engagement in order to make the appropriate adjustments. And for those that did view the video, YouTube says that “You can easily build a cookie list of people who viewed your video and use remarketing to show ads to these customers, wherever they are on YouTube or the Google Display Network.”

Online video ads can build a following. This means that once a user watches the video, he or she may continue to view another ad, subscribe to the channel, or share the video with a friend. YouTube uses these Earned actions to provide data about the relationships between its viewers and the advertisers, allowing the latter to develop and expand their ad campaign.

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