8th November 2019
POV: YouTube Shopping Ads
Background:
YouTube is introducing a ‘Shopping Ads’ feature to the platform in time for the holiday shopping season and is making a few updates to other ad products.
Details and Implications:
YouTube Shopping Ads will allow brands to advertise their products and services either in the YouTube home feed or in the YouTube search results. The ads are based on either specific product searches by the user or a users’ interests and the ads are displayed in either a row of suggested products at the top of the page before the YouTube Search Results or as a carousel between the videos on the YouTube homepage.
On mobile, users will be able to scroll through a carousel of ‘Suggested Products’ that will appear between videos on the home page or at the top of the search results.
Advertisers interested in taking advantage of the new offering will be able to do so if they’re opted into YouTube on Display Network.
YouTube Shopping Ads are an extension of shopping specific advertising options across other Google platforms, including ‘Discovery’ ads – which are image-based lifestyle ads designed to inspire consumers browsing YouTube feeds and push them towards purchase. Google says that the difference between the two is that Discovery ads are designed to inspire whereas Shopping Ads are intended to tap into an existing intent to buy.
The roll out of YouTube Shopping Ads also follows Trueview for Shopping, launched in 2015, that allows brands to showcase product details and images in video ads and to click to purchase from a brand’s site.
Earlier this year Instagram launched ‘Shopping Checkout’, a service that allowed users to buy without leaving the Instagram App and more recently TikTok launched a service that does the same called ‘Hashtag Challenge Plus’.
Google has also expanded Showcase Shopping Ads to Google Images.
Summary:
As the whole world gears up for the main shopping season, kicked off with China’s Double 11 shopping extravaganza and then carried through Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas and the ‘Sales’ period it’s no surprise that Google has looked to enhance its offering to retailers and make it easier for the user to buy. The traditional sales funnel has now collapsed, with the media the point of sale.
Further Reading: