What is a Video Discovery Ad?
TrueView discovery ads are a type of ad that appear on the Youtube search results page, Youtube mobile homepage or alongside a Youtube video. They are formerly kown as “TruView in-display ads”.
Discovery ads are shown as a thumbnail image along with up to three lines of text on the Youtube search results page, mobile homepage or alongside a Youtube video. Once the viewer clicks through the thumbnail, the viewer is directed to the video featured in your thumbnail. These ads are less intrusive as the viewer would need to click on the thumbnail.
There are various ways to optimize discovery ads to help you reach your campaign goals.
You can set the image thumbnail that appears for your ad or let Google set a default image for you. Keep in mind what the thumbnail image shows and what you’d consider to attract viewers to find out more about your brand.
You can control the ad copy that appears with your thumbnail image to ensure it aligns with the messaging of your video content, keeping your target audience in mind and messaging that would keep them engaged. Avoid the use of capital letters, repetitive words and symbols to avoid having low quality ad copy.
Lastly, you can use call-to-action overlays in your video ad to engage the viewer to click on your thumbnail image to find out more about your product or service. These overlays can be added to specific points of time in your video for you to to select when you’d want the CTA to appear.
The pricing advantage that video discovery ads have is that you are only charged when a viewer clicks on your thumbnail to view your video ad. Unlike in-stream ads, which appear at the beginning, middle or end of videos while viewers are watching video content, discovery video ads are shown only when the viewer has chosen to watch your ad.
