Driving Customer Conversions with YouTube Connected TV Ads

The increasing popularity of CTV means that advertisers and media buyers face the pressing task of converting Connected TV ad viewers into frontline customers. Given the prevalence of high view-through rates on YouTube Connected TV ads, media buyers can capitalize on this opportunity to move audiences further along the marketing funnel.

Breaking Down the Numbers for Connected TV Ads Using YouTube

With YouTube Connected TV present in just 39.3 million US households by 2022, its immediate dominance compared to other YouTube ad placements is quite surprising.

One of the initial adopters of Connected TV advertising includes major TV manufacturers like Samsung and LG, along with streaming services such as Roku, Amazon, and Apple. YouTube TV swiftly joined the trend, experimenting with longer advertising breaks on Connected TV.

Soon, over half of viewers exposed to CTV ads using YouTube experienced extended viewing sessions, lasting 29% longer, before encountering the next ad break. 

This serves as additional evidence that an ad will always garner attention if shown to the right viewers, regardless of its placement.

To illustrate how YouTube CTV ads outperform the charts, we analyzed our YouTube ads’ device placements in Q1 2024. Our findings revealed that CTV had the highest view rates and lowest costs during this period:

Regarding impressions and views, YouTube Connected TV is competing closely with mobile devices in terms of market share. This trend is supported by the anticipated rise in ad spending for Connected TV advertising, which is expected to reach $30.10 billion in 2024, marking a 22% increase from 2023.

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Further Reading

What Are the CTV Advertising Rates and Benchmarks?

Explore insights from our recent campaigns that integrated YouTube TV and Google TV ads. This resource offers detailed benchmarks for CTV advertising rates, including average CPM, CPV, and viewability metrics.

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How Advertisers Can Shift YouTube CTV Viewers and Turn Them To Paying Customers

Now that you’ve seen the impact of YouTube CTV ads in capturing audiences’ attention and promoting brand awareness, it’s time to capitalize on this information and put it to work for your brand. 

The ultimate goal is to guide your audience from the marketing funnel to the sales funnel, encouraging them to make purchases, schedule appointments, or take actions that align with your business objectives. Here are the strategies to effectively convert YouTube CTV ad viewers into leads and customers:

Analyzing Consumer Behavior to Understand Their Next Steps

It is widely acknowledged that ads on linear TV channels often appear seemingly unrelated to the content being aired. Take, for example, the juxtaposition of a sports betting advertisement during a medical drama on cable TV.

The ad’s relevance to the show is secondary to the allure of the prime advertising spot with its large viewership. Consequently, numerous advertisers vie for this coveted space, and the highest bidder secures the opportunity to showcase their product or service.

Given the precise targeting capabilities of YouTube Connected TV ads in contrast to traditional linear TV ads, Connected TV viewers have expressed overwhelming positive sentiments. These viewers of Connected TV ads using YouTube find them more relatable, inspiring audiences to engage further with the products or services they see. Armed with this data, the challenge is guiding them to the next phase.

Maximize the Ability to Target Diverse Audiences

While connected TV ads may primarily focus on households and individuals staying at home, other numerous audience targeting strategies can be explored. YouTube’s targeting capabilities have expanded beyond demographics to contextual targeting, location targeting, and more:

• Utilize YouTube remarketing: By linking your brand’s YouTube channel to Google Ads, you can use valuable data from audiences who have viewed and interacted with your videos, regardless of whether they were organic or promoted. 
  
  This allows your ads to be strategically positioned in front of highly engaged audiences watching YouTube Connected TV ads, creating a more natural advertising experience.

• Build your funnel from awareness to consideration to conversion: Utilizing Google TV and YouTube TV ads is a fantastic way to increase your brand’s visibility and kickstart your marketing funnel. This strategy allows you to target individuals who have viewed your connected TV (CTV) ads or visited your website through those ads. This effectively moves them up the marketing funnel, leading to greater engagement and potential conversion into leads or sales.
  
  Moreover, by employing Video Action Campaigns, you can continue to engage and nurture individuals who have already expressed interest in your brand. These campaigns can guide them toward consideration or conversion-focused ads. This approach moves them further along the marketing funnel, encouraging engagement and leading them to become potential leads or valued customers within your sales database.

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Further Reading

• LinkedIn

Transitioning Your Video Action Campaigns to Demand Gen

Starting March 2025, Video Action Campaigns (VAC) will be phased out, making it crucial to learn how to transition your current VAC campaigns to Demand Gen. This new approach captures emerging demand by integrating the most effective aspects of VAC with enhanced capabilities. See how Strike Social can assist you in this process.

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• Take Your Audiences through a Journey: The average US adult spends 1 hour and 51 minutes daily on CTV devices, so media buyers must capitalize on this screen time to lead viewers through a journey.
  
  Our Q1 2024 YouTube report shows that shorter YouTube ads (15 seconds or less) generate the highest view rates. Ads that run between 16 and 30 seconds come second. While longer ads (60 seconds or more) may have a slightly lower view rate, they offer an excellent opportunity to tell a compelling story about your product or service, resulting in a higher retention rate.

Let Strike Social be your guide when venturing into YouTube Connected TV advertising. Through advanced machine-learning analysis of years of audience data, we create customized media plans that maximize your budget with enhanced efficiency.

Experience how we elevate your CTV ads on YouTube by emphasizing scalability and precise audience targeting to ensure your ads reach the right viewers.

But don’t just take our word for it. See our latest YouTube CTV case study to witness our diverse strategies to deliver the results brands crave:

Download our 2024 YouTube CTV Ads Case Study

In this case study, discover how precise budget optimization and targeting enabled the successful delivery of over 90% of impressions through YouTube TV and YouTube CTV placements. The cost-effectiveness of these placements played a crucial role in lowering the overall campaign CPM, resulting in substantial savings.

Download the report here

Become a Powerhouse for Linear and Connected TV Advertising in 2024

As you balance linear and Connected TV advertising in 2024, the focus isn’t on overshadowing the other but on maximizing the strengths. After all, the interplay between linear and connected TV is not a zero-sum game. It’s about skillfully guiding your team from linear TV media buying to an expanded horizon of digital media buying. Rather than rendering their skills obsolete, this transition can be a transformative advantage. By leveraging their expertise and applying it to CTV ads using YouTube, your team can evolve and thrive in a constantly evolving media environment.

Let Strike Social be your partner in exploring digital and CTV advertising. Simply prepare your ads, and we’ll manage the activation and campaign to ensure results and cost-efficiency that only a world-renowned media buying team can achieve. Request a personalized walkthrough with one of our esteemed sales representatives today and see where our expertise in ad campaign management can take your brand.

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