Youtube Audio Ads
Management Summary
Current Google figures show – around 86% of music consumers consume on-demand streaming services and around 30% of the time on their mobile phones is dedicated to listening to music – and the trend is rising. YouTube alone now has more than 30 million paying subscribers for its YouTube Music and YouTube Premium services.
The potential is great!
YouTube is now reacting to this and expanding its inventory with a new advertising format:Audio ads.The beta version is now available to advertisers in DV360. This makes it possible to expand the reach with new inventory on YouTube and to reach users who listen to content on YouTube with audio-based creatives.
What are the advantages of YouTube Audio Ads?
For advertisers with a strong focus on branding/awareness, this channel offers huge benefits.
Measurability
Compared to traditional audio spots, the advantage here is that the audio spots controlled via YouTube can be measured. This makes it much easier to quantify the impact of a campaign and, apart from the standard KPIs such as impressions and completion rate, the unique reach of a campaign can also be determined. In addition, audio advertising media can also be easily combined with a brand lift study to find out what influence the audio campaigns have on the perception of a brand.
Targeting options
One of the biggest advantages of YouTube Audio Spots is that you can use the same targeting options and frequency cap settings as common programmatic campaigns in Open Inventory.The following targeting options are available:
- Placements (YouTube channels, video lineups, URLs, apps)
- keywords
- Google Categories
- Demographics (Age, Gender, Parental status)
- Audience Lists (1st Party, Google Affinity & In-Market, Combined Audiences and Custom Affinities & Intent Audiences)
This allows advertisers to specifically address users’ individual interests and cover the customer journey in a personalized way.With other programmatic audio providers such as: Spotify – currently targeting is only limited to music genre or demographics.
Easy booking
Creating the setup in DV360/YouTube is designed to save time as no deals are necessary. The control is based on CPM bidding.
The audio spots are booked in the same way as other YouTube ad formats. A separate LineItem is created for the YouTube audio campaign and the “Audio” category is selected in the Media Type area. This is currently marked Beta. Please note – only audio spots can automatically be used here – you no longer have the option to choose between “In-stream or video discovery ads”, bumper ads, non-skippable ads or ad sequence.
Attention: For audio campaigns, the campaign type “Reach” is automatically selected. Only with “Video Campaigns” can you choose between the campaign types Brand Awareness, Shopping, Website Conversions and Reach.
Best Practice Audio Ads
1.placementin the video and audio inventory –In principle, the audio ads can be played on both YouTube.com and YouTube Music. The audio creatives can have a video or a still image integrated – there are no restrictions in this regard. YouTube audio ads can be placed on both video and audio inventory, including playlists with long listening sessions. Here the content is designed so that music is in the foreground, such as podcasts, audio books or music content with a still image.2.Use oneconsistent tone and tempoin your Audio Creative. A 15-second creative should use a maximum of 40 words.3. With a friendly tonestart– it forms the transition between entertainment content and advertising4. Call to action– a call to action gives listeners the opportunity to get involved and react to the audio spot. A direct call to action leads to higher click-through rates.5. Mention brand names– the brand name should be used 2-3 times in the ad – this leads to better brand recall.6. Storytelling– the listener’s attention can be captured even better through interesting stories and the use of subtle effects and ambient noises7. A/B testing– we recommend testing several audio ads that are tailored to the individual preferences of your target group8. Companion Creative– a visual companion, such as a companion creative, creates a strong connection to the brand.9. Logo, call to action and elements that refer to the brand,should be taken into account when creating the audio spot10. The perfect formatAudio Spot Specifications:
- Audio file type MP3
- Max. file size: 1GB
- Landing page URL is necessary
- Recommended length of the audio spot: 15 – 30 seconds
Companion Creative Specifications:
- File type: JPEG, PNG, ZIP
- Max file size: 250GB
DO’s & DON’Ts for audio ads
- Use simple background music that sets an emotional tone and doesn’t compete with the voiceover
- Consider using music that matches your audience’s preferences – keyword personalization
- Don’t use too many voices as this could be confusing for listeners
- Don’t make your audio spot obtrusive and always remember that the sound goes directly to the listener’s ears.
- Keep it short and sweet – stick to the messages that are most relevant to your target group and don’t try to pack all the benefits of your product or service into a short, 15-second audio spot.
