Google has announced that it’s extending product listing ads to YouTube via TrueView for Shopping – a brand new ad format that lets advertisers run product ads within related-content videos. According to a report that Google released last month – how-to searches have seen a 70% increase with over a hundred million hours of such content having been watched in 2015 alone. Just think about it – how many times this year have you watched a YouTube video to figure out how to do something? According to Google, 67% of millenials agree that they can find a YouTube video on anything they want to learn.
With that in-mind; being able to advertise an external hard drive reader on a video about repairing a hard drive; or advertising that new mechanical keyboard you’re reviewing; well … it just makes sense.
To connect the dots between the moment a person watches a video and the moment they decide to make a purchase, today we’re introducing a new feature called TrueView for shopping that makes it easy for viewers to get more information on your products and click to buy.
With these ads, businesses can showcase product details and images, and users can click and purchase from a brand or retail site from within the video ad. The option is available for TrueView in-stream video ads, and works across mobile, desktop, and tablet.
TrueView for Shopping is built on the cards platform Google announced last month, which lets you share more info about your brand, related videos, and playlists, and lets you link to your site from within your YouTube video.
The new TrueView ads are integrated with Google Merchant Center, so you can connect campaigns with a Merchant Center feed to dynamically add products and customize ads through contextual and audience signals such as geography and demographic information.