Confused about how to run ads on YouTube?
YouTube has access to nearly one-third of the human population. For advertisers, this single statistic makes it worthwhile to spend some time learning how to run ads on the video streaming behemoth.
However, there’s lots of different settings and complexities that can be nearly impossible for a beginner to navigate.
To make this journey easier, we’ve crafted a step-by-step guide to help you launch your first YouTube ad campaign by the end of this article.
So, if you’re ready, let’s dive in!
Why Advertise On YouTube in 2024?
YouTube has become a powerhouse of advertising in recent years. Nearly 2 billion active individuals worldwide use the platform for entertainment, information, and sometimes, watching cat videos.
Last year, the platform raked in $31.5 billion from ads, signaling a shift in how brands approach digital marketing.
Seeing this progress, Google has also made some major upgrades to the video streaming platform’s targeting and engagement capabilities.
- Improved Targeting Capabilities: Advertisers can now use advanced data analytics, including their audience’s Google search history, to tailor ads more precisely to their interests and behaviors.
- Vertical Video Formats: YouTube has reported that vertical videos can yield 10-20% higher conversions, making them a powerful tool for engaging audiences.
- Audio Ads for Podcasts: The platform now lets advertisers create audio-only ads for podcast shows, enabling access to a whole new creative format and users.
- Optimized Skippable Ads: The effectiveness of pre-roll skippable ads has gained recognition, allowing users to engage with content while maintaining control over their viewing experience.
Types Of YouTube Ads
YouTube offers a diverse range of ad formats to help brands entertain and engage their target audience.
With so many choices available, selecting the right format can feel overwhelming.
To simplify this process, we’ve outlined the key types of YouTube ad formats. Let’s dive in:
1. In-stream Ads
In-stream ads are probably the most used ads on YouTube. They run before, during, or after a video and range from 12 seconds to 6 minutes. There are two different variations of in-stream ads:
I. Skippable In-Stream Ads
As the name implies, a skippable in-stream ad lets users skip after 5 seconds. Because you’re on a deadline, it’s crucial to make an impression that encourages viewers to interact or remember your ad.
But there’s a positive side to this as well. YouTube only charges the advertiser if a user watched for at least 30 seconds or clicked the CTA button.
II. Non-Skippable In-Stream Ads
A non-skippable ad has to be watched for its full duration of 15 to 20 seconds. With this ad type, you get a decent time frame to build rapport with viewers and generate clicks. Since there’s no option to skip the ad, you’ll be charged for every impression you get.
2. Bumper Ads
Bumper ads are the shortest of all YouTube’s ad formats. These non-skippable videos are clocked at 6 seconds each and appear before, during, or after a video.
Their brief and direct nature makes them perfect for quick brand messaging without annoying viewers.
With a 6-second time limit, you’d want to deliver the message fast and make it powerful. YouTube charges you for impressions with bumper ads.
3. In-feed Ads
In-feed ads get a designated place in YouTube search results, homepage, and sidebar. These ads appear as regular videos in feeds, featuring a thumbnail, title, description, and CTA button.
This format works great for conversion ads where you want to drive web traffic or get viewers to take action.
The best part? You only have to pay YouTube if a viewer clicks and watches your video ad. A display ad complements this in the sidebar so you can generate more clicks.
4. Masthead Ads
Masthead ads are billboards for YouTube’s homepage. These ads appear right below the search bar in the form of a featured video that plays for up to 30 seconds.
Because of its enhanced visibility, masthead ads are perfect when you want the maximum number of eyes on your brand.
You can also link to your website or landing page via masthead to encourage action. But remember, the increased visibility also makes masthead ads slightly costlier than other ad formats.
5. Overlay Ads
Overlay ads are banners that appear at the bottom of a YouTube video during playback.
These ads can be designed with attractive images or strong text to draw attention and drive clicks to your website or landing page.
The beauty of overlay ads is they don’t disrupt the viewing experience, while still giving you plenty of room to drive results with clear CTAs. They’re also cheaper than the rest, with YouTube charging you using CPC or per click.
How To Run Ads On YouTube
It’s clear that YouTube is a terrific platform for advertising using various formats.
However, there’s still the process of setting up an ad campaign with hundreds of confusing options.
For that purpose, we’ve created a step-by-step guide that will teach you how to run ads on YouTube in just a couple of minutes. So, let’s begin:
1. Create a new campaign
Start by logging into your Google Ads account. If you don’t have an account, you can sign up using your Google email.
Fill in the basic details and remember to skip ‘Campaign Creation’—we’ll cover that in the upcoming steps.
2. Choose your campaign goal and subtype
Once you’re on the Google Ads dashboard, click on the New Campaign button to kick things off. 
Your screen will reload and you’ll be presented with a bunch of campaign objectives. Select the one that aligns best with your goals and hit Continue.
Under the campaign type, make sure to select ‘Video’ and hit Continue again.
Next, you’ll be prompted to select the campaign subtype. These options will help Google understand which ad formats to use for your campaign.
If this is your first campaign, select Video Views (this can be changed later) and click the Continue button.
3. Set your bid strategy
On this screen, the first thing you should do is give your campaign a name.
Scroll down to the Bid Strategy section. Bid strategy lets you decide how much to pay for ads and get the best results for your budget.
What kind of results are we talking about? Well, there’s a few:
- Impressions: A person seeing your ad on their screen counts as an impression.
- Views: Someone seeing and watching your ad counts as a view.
- Conversions/Action: Someone clicking on a button/link or performing an action counts as a conversion or action.
When you click on the drop-down menu, you will only see two or three bidding strategy options.
The available options vary depending on what campaign objective/subtype you selected. Still, we’re going to explain all of them so you can decide wisely:
- Target CPM: Your bid for 1,000 impressions (not views).
- Viewable CPM: Your bid for 1,000 ad views that meet the viewability criteria.
- Target CPA: Your price for a single conversion or action.
- Maximum CPV: Your highest price for a single view that meets the viewability criteria.
- Maximum Conversion: You let Google get the highest possible conversions/actions for a set budget.
Choose one and scroll down to continue with the campaign.
4. Enter your budget
Next, you’re going to select your budget for the campaign.
You can choose a Daily Budget or Campaign Total. With the second option, Google will have you choose a start and end date for the campaign.
Once done, move to the next section.
5. Select network(s), location, and language
This section will let you select networks where you want to display your ads.
Start by selecting YouTube if not already done. Or, if you see YouTube search results and YouTube videos in the list, choose according to your audience.
Some campaigns will also show a Video Partners on the Google Display Network options. This lets you show your ads on mediums using Adsense.
I prefer leaving this option unticked and focusing on YouTube to begin with.
Scroll down to the Locations tab and decide whether you want to display ads in all countries, your home country, or a specific location(s).
Move down further to the Languages tab and select the local language(s) of your target areas.
7. Specify your content exclusions and types
For this section, Google will let you choose to exclude your ads from showing up on sensitive or graphic videos.
There are three options here; Expanded Inventory, Standard Inventory, and Limited Inventory.
Most advertisers would be fine with the standard inventory option.
6. Insert some related videos
In this section, you can add up to 5 related videos from your channel (product demos, tutorials).
This is optional, but it’s good to have one or two related videos if you want to engage viewers and make a stronger impact.
Note: Depending on your campaign type, you might see a Multi-Format Ads section. If you plan on displaying ads on Shorts, tick this box so you can upload vertical videos later in the campaign.
7. Fine-tune the additional settings (Optional)
Additional settings let you make a couple of advanced tweaks to your campaign. Here are a few options offered under this tab:
- Devices: Specify what kind of devices you want to display your ads on.
- Frequency Capping: Limit the number of times an ad is shown to one person.
- Ad Schedule: Set a schedule during which your ads will run in 24 hours.
If you’re unsure about your target audience or their behavior, it’s best to skip these settings and move on to the next step.
8. Customize your target audience
This is probably the most important step of all. Here, you can define the exact type of people or groups that will see your ads.
Now, Google offers a ton of customization options to narrow down your pool of customers.
The better you’re able to describe your audience, the greater your chances of running a profitable ad campaign with a high ROI (return on investment).
Here are all the options you can use to tailor your audience in Google ads:
People: This section deals with the kind of people you want to show your ads to.
- Demographics: Lets you select the age, gender, parental status, and household income of your target audience.
- Audience Segments: Allows you to choose the interests, detailed demographics, shopping habits, and past interactions of your audience.
Content: This section deals with the places where you want to display your ads.
- Keywords: Define the exact search terms where you want your ads to show.
- Topics: Select which niches/categories on YouTube where your ads will appear.
- Placements: Choose certain YouTube channels/videos where you want to display your ads.
Once you’re done defining your audience, move on to actually adding the video assets.
If you feel confused and need a visual tutorial on how to set up ad campaigns on YouTube, feel free to watch this video:
9. Add your video assets
In this step, we’ll be creating the actual ad that your audience will see.
Paste the URL of your video ad or search for the title.
Note: You need a YouTube channel with your video assets uploaded for this step. You can select ‘Unlist’ when publishing your video ads so they don’t show in your feed
Next, select the ad format for your video and give it a catchy headline, insert a target link, and add a CTA (call-to-action) button. You can also edit the button text and headline for the CTA section.
Some ad formats will also come with a companion banner (like the one below). You can add a custom image for this, or Google will use your channel banner as default.
Do a quick preview at the end to make sure everything checks out.
9. Enter a bid
Depending on what metric Google is displaying, decide the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for a single view (CPV) or a thousand impressions (CPM).
Type in this amount in the bid section.
10. Launch your ad on YouTube
Finally, it’s time to launch your campaign.
Just do a quick run-through of each setting and make sure all the data is correct.
Once you’re done, click on the Create Campaign button and sit tight as your ads start running on YouTube.
Tips And Tricks For Running Profitable Ads On YouTube
Running profitable YouTube ads is an art that combines creativity with strategic thinking.
To maximize impact and your ROI, it’s crucial to keep improving your campaigns using results as a compass.
Here are some essential tips and tricks to take your YouTube advertising game to the next level:
1. Focus on Storytelling, Not Selling
Ads that resonate with your audience tend to produce the greatest results.
Ditch the old sales pitch style, and focus on your target audience’s pain points. Create relatable content to build a connection with viewers and get higher engagement and conversions.
A well-told story can leave a lasting impression, encouraging viewers to act.
2. Hook Viewers in the First Five Seconds
The first 5 seconds of your ad can make or break your campaign results. With attention spans becoming shorter, it’s critical to grab your audience’s attention quickly.
To do that, use bold statements or outrageous figures that hook your audience into the ad. Then, gently lead them into your main message.
3. Use Custom Segments for Precision Targeting
YouTube has a cool feature that lets you build custom segments in the People > Audience Segments tab at the very bottom.
Using this feature, you can define two or more audiences with highly specific interests, interactions, and purchasing habits.
This level of targeting lets you multiply the ROI of your campaign by reaching the right people. Just make sure your audience isn’t so narrow that it’s impossible to show anyone your ads!
4. Optimize Your Ads with Data-Driven Insights
YouTube provides enhanced analytics tools that allow advertisers to track metrics like watch time, view duration, and audience retention.
Monitoring these metrics and using them to make calculated changes to your campaign can lead to major improvements to your CTR, conversion rate, and ROI – though many advertisers find that professional channel management services can handle this optimization more effectively while they focus on their core business.
5. A/B Test Your Ad Creatives
Running A/B tests lets you test which video ads are connecting most with your audience, thus reducing your expenses on experiments.
Test various elements, such as visuals, calls to action, and messaging styles. This approach will let you achieve better engagement and conversion rates while saving money on advertising in the long run.
You can find more tips and strategies on running effective YouTube ads below:
Conclusion
Learning how to run ads on YouTube can be a game-changer for your brand, unlocking immense potential to connect with your audience.
While the initial setup might seem challenging, mastering the process opens the door to new avenues of advertising.
If you ever need help with YouTube Ads, reach out to our YouTube Ad Experts with 15 years of experience and a winning track record of positive ROIs for our clients. Learn more about our YouTube Ads services.