As part of this year’s YouTube Newfront presentation, the company announced Monday that it’s rolling out new ad formats for its short-form features.
For example, the company is expanding short films into video access campaigns.
Video reach campaigns use Google’s artificial intelligence to improve reach by combining ad formats such as skippable ads and non-skippable ads. With the update, advertisers can now upload a 60-second vertical video to reach engaged viewers.
Previously, brands could only access short film inventory through video action campaigns and app install campaigns, which the company announced in 2022 during its Google Marketing Live.
Paramount+ was among the first partners to test the latest version of the video access campaign, YouTube wrote in an official blog post. The streaming service promoted its new movie “At Midnight” with YouTube’s in-feed, in-stream and short ad experiences. According to YouTube, Paramount+’s latest ad campaign “led to increased efficiency and higher ad recall” rather than just having in-stream ads, the company wrote.
Separately, YouTube also announced an expansion of ads to reach the home feed.
The company also added that YouTube Select, its targeting solution for advertisers to choose content packages and increase engagement with their audience, is now coming to shorts. This will enable brands to serve ads alongside popular and relevant short videos. The YouTube Select lineup of shorts will be available later this year.
In addition, YouTube allows advertisers to make their ads the first thing a viewer sees when they start scrolling through short films.
TikTok, a competitor to the shorts, has similar tools for advertisers.
“As our viewers flip through feature-length videos and shorts, and discover so many new artists on the platform, they’re also discovering brands,” Christine O’Hara, vice president of agency and brand solutions, said during the Newfront presentation. “Since we launched shorts and video campaigns last year, we’ve seen more and more brands get really into how they use shorts.”
In its latest earnings report, YouTube generated $6.69 billion in revenue – a 2.6% year-over-year decline. While it was the third quarter in a row that saw ad revenue decline, YouTube continues to focus on short films as a source of pride and joy. Earlier this year, short films reached 50 billion views per day.