Everything You Need to Know About YouTube’s New TrueView for Action Ads
Published: April 2, 2018
Author: Ashley Mo
If you’ve been waiting for a more performance-focused YouTube advertising product, it’s finally here! Google recently announced TrueView for Action, a new video campaign subtype focused on direct response. Marketers can now experiment with new ad features that make it easier for users to take action after watching a video ad. With 1.5 billion people visiting YouTube every single month, it’s never been a better time to test video advertising with TrueView for Action.
What’s changed?
Instead of optimizing for views, YouTube’s ad rotation will now optimize for clicks and conversions. One way it accomplishes this is with a more prominent call-to-action (CTA) overlay on desktop and mobile. The CTA will appear below the ad, show on the end screen, and remain after the ad is over, making it easier for users to stay engaged.
The CTA is also custom to the ad (no longer set at the video level), so you no longer need to commit to a single CTA that will show all the time. You can test the four different elements: Headline (15 characters), Call-to-action (10 characters), Display URL (35 characters), and Final URL.
AdWords UI
Here’s what a TrueView for Action ad looks like in the wild:
Ad with expanded CTA overlay
End cap
Early beta testing has shown killer results. For one client, we saw CTR increase +323% with CVR increasing +42% for a TrueView for Action campaign that ran the exact same ads and targeting as its non-Action counterpart!
Keep in mind that TrueView for Action ads only run on YouTube.com. Video partners (GDN) are not eligible at this time. As a result, you might find that you need slightly higher bids to maintain the amount of video views you were getting previously.
Great, so how do I create a TrueView for Action campaign?
In AdWords Next, you will need to create a brand new Video campaign and select “Drive actions” as the campaign subtype. (Currently, campaigns can only be edited within the AdWords UI.)
Final note
If you’ve tested YouTube before and it “didn’t work” for you, I highly recommend testing TrueView for Action to see if it works better. Even the same targeting can have dramatically different results now that it’s easier for users to take action.
