Google's click-to-play (CTP) video ads are a great way to engage your audience and spread your advertising message. They provide a rich and engaging experience for users without being intrusive.
In this guide, we'll offer tips and optimization suggestions for creating an effective video campaign and ads. Whether you create the CTP video ad yourself or take advantage of our Ad Creation Marketplace to create one for you, these tips will help you maximize the effectiveness of your ad campaign.
Creating an effective CTP video ad
Setting up an effective CTP video campaign
Optimizing your campaign
Video ad glossary
Creating an effective CTP video ad
Whether you create the video ad yourself or find a video production specialist in the Google Ad Creation Marketplace to create one for you, these tips will help you develop an effective video ad that's engaging, informative, and effective in spreading your message.
Optimize both your opening image and video.
When a site first loads, the user sees a static opening image which has to be clicked before the ad starts playing. A low-quality opening image won't
entice users to view the video, and a low-quality video will not effectively spread your message. So remember that the tips below should be applied to
both elements of your ad - the opening image and the video itself.
I. Opening image:
Inspire viewers to act with a clear call-to-action.
Effective video ads don't just educate and entertain, but also inspire the viewer to act. If your campaign's goal is not just about branding, make sure
you communicate to your users what you'd like them to do - such as visit your store or site, call a phone number, complete a purchase - so they'll
have a clear direction once the video is completed. Informing the user that they can learn more by clicking "play" usually increases play
rates/interaction rates.
Use a non-commercial feel.
Avoid using standard banner ads as the opening image. We've found that an opening image that doesn't look like an actual advertisement can
generate greater interest. Such "non-commercial" images make users feel like there's more to learn by clicking the "play" button and viewing your
video.
| Good Example: | Bad Example: | |
 |  | |
| The first ad is for a store selling robotic guitar tuners. The ad's opening image indicates that the video will be a product demo, something typical users find more interesting than the overly-commercial image on the right that's clearly trying to sell something. | ||
| Good Example: | Bad Example: | |
 |  | |
| The first ad provides enough details to interest a user, but does not overtly try to sell anything. Users are interested in the image and realize that there is more to learn from the video. The other example is too similar to a static banner ad, offering all the available information on the surface which could reduce play backs (as users have less incentive or need to learn more). | ||
Make it visually appealing.
Avoid cramming text into your opening image -- crowded and complicated messages can be unattractive to users. Simple and clear messages stand
out. If your opening image is compelling enough to interest users, then your video can provide more specific details not included in your opening
image. The key is to arouse people's curiosity and make them wonder about what the video is about.
| Good Example 1: | Good Example 2: | |
 |  | |
| Both of the ads above have successful play back results. The images are simple and compelling, inviting the user to play the video to satisfy their curiosity or to learn more. The unique looking puppets and an attractive face both grab a user's attention and then lead to videos with an entertaining storyline and clear message. | ||
II. Videos:
Keep viewers' attention with 30-second videos.
Although videos can be up to 2 minutes in length, we've found that users start dropping off significantly if ads are longer than 45 seconds. We
recommend keeping your video to around 30 seconds, and delivering your key message within the first ten seconds, as users may not watch the
entire video.
Engage viewers with an interesting, educational storyline.
Video content should be entertaining, informational, and relevant to what your business offers. Unlike TV advertising, you only have a captive
audience if they choose to continue watching your ad, and viewers can drop off at any time. Users are more likely to view most of the content if the
video has an entertaining storyline and if they are able to learn about your product's features through the video.
Give voice to your message.
Video ads allow you to use both sight and sound to communicate with your consumers, so make sure that the voices and sound tracks you use
complement your overall message. If you're using a soundtrack, the music should not drown out any voices.
Don't over-promise and under-deliver.
Make sure the quality of your opening image is consistent with the quality of your video. Don't make a bad impression on your audience by showing
an interesting image to entice people to play the video but then provide disappointing video content.
Setting up an effective CTP video campaign
To create a click-to-play video ad in your account, click the campaign or ad group where you want your ad to go. Click the Ads tab, then the "Display ad builder" option under New ad. Select "Rich media and video" from the menu and select the "Click-to-play video ad" template. Then, just upload your ad, save it, and it can start running in just a few days after being approved per our advertising policies.
Here's a few important things to know when creating your campaign:
- As with our other ad formats, you can choose to bid on a cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) basis for your video ads by creating either a keyword-targeted campaign (to use CPC bidding) or a placement-targeted campaign (to use CPC or CPM bidding).
- Video ads will only be shown on the Google Content Network. You can choose to serve your video ad on specific sites in our network, or use keywords to target your ads to pages that relate to your product or service.
- As always, you have the ability to geo-target your video ads internationally, nationally, or locally.
To create a successful video ad campaign, remember that your campaign settings are crucial. Here are some things to keep in mind when designing your video campaign:
Geo-Targeting
Focus your advertising on only those regions where you conduct business. If your ad is tailored to a particular area, use geo-targeting to control where the ad is shown. This way, you can ensure your ad is being seen only by your
desired audience.
Selecting placements or keywords
If you're using managed placements, select sites or categories that you know your target audience will find
interesting. If there is a specific demographic that you're trying to reach, use demographic site selection to find the right websites for your ad. We
recommend that you target at least 10 sites, if possible. This will help ensure your ad's visibility, and can allow you to judge your ad's relative
performance more easily.
If you're running a keyword-targeted campaign, it's important
to have tightly themed ad groups that only contain keywords that relate to a specific theme or topic.
Bidding
Select bid amounts that you're comfortable with. If you're not getting many impressions, try increasing your bid to improve your visibility. As with all
AdWords ad formats, video ads will compete for available positions on the Google Content Network with text, Flash, and image ads. Higher bids can
help your video ad show over the competition and win ad placement.
We recommend waiting at least 30 days after beginning a video campaign to measure its success. The return on investment (ROI) that a video campaign brings to your business sometimes may not be apparent immediately.
Once you're able to get a sense of how your campaign is performing, try some or all of these optimization tips:
Bid for impressions
Bid by impression rather than by click; this way, lower clickthrough rates won't affect where your ad appears. A click is counted when a user clicks
on your URL, not when the video is played. Therefore, an impression is valuable even if the user only views your video and does not click through to
your site. Consider using CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) bidding to specify how valuable each view of your ad is to you.
Focus on play rate/interaction rate
Play rate/interaction rate is an important measurement of how well your video ad engages your audience. Focus on this
metric rather than clickthrough rate (CTR) or cost-per-conversion to determine your ad's success. CTR is important, but you shouldn't weed out
placements or sites based solely on this. Also focus on maximizing the duration and number of plays your video ads receive to increase the time
that your audience is exposed to your message.
If you find that play rates/interaction rates are declining, keep your campaign fresh by adding new videos or opening images to keep users engaged.
Compare and adjust
Use play rate/interaction rate to compare how each of your targeted sites is performing in comparison to your campaign average:
- If a site has accrued over 1,000 impressions and its play rate/interaction rate is substantially lower than your average, delete it from your site list. This will ensure that you're not investing your budget in sites that do not perform well for you.
- If a site is performing substantially better than your average, add more sites like it to your campaign. Enter the URL in the "List URLs" box in the Placement Tool to get a list of possible website targeting options.
Keep it Fresh
Declining play rates/interaction rates might indicate that the same users are seeing your ad and don't want to re-watch your video. If this is the case,
try adding new video ads to your campaigns. If producing new video ads is not possible, then consider alternating between new opening images.
Run a reach and frequency report in your account's Report Center to see if users on certain sites are being exposed to your ad more frequently. If this is the case, consider deleting these sites and then extending the reach of your campaign by adding more sites through the Placement Tool. If you want to continue running on sites with dropping play rates/interaction rates, try adding new video ads to your campaign to provide a fresh experience. If your campaign is keyword-targeted, extend your reach by adding additional relevant keywords to expand the number of possible contextual placements.
Exclude irrelevant placements
By using negative keywords or the Site and Category Exclusion
tool, you can prevent your ads from showing up alongside content that may not fit with your specific marketing objectives. This helps to keep
your ad placement as targeted as possible and to reach your desired audience.
Reach: An estimate of how many unique users have been exposed to your ad.
This is a more valuable metric than impression count for measuring the impact of your video ad.
Frequency: How often users are being exposed to your ads.
A high frequency can mean that some of your impressions are possibly less effective, while a low frequency can suggest that users aren't as aware
of your business as they could be. Typically a frequency of 7 per one-week period is considered optimal for increasing brand awareness, but different
marketing objectives can lead to different target frequencies. To increase your frequency, consider moving low frequency sites to a separate
campaign and increasing your daily budget and/or individual bids. To decrease your frequency, consider moving high frequency sites to a separate
campaign and lowering your daily budget and/or bids.
Clickthrough rate: How often users are clicking through to your site.
CTR is an important indicator of interest, but you shouldn't delete sites from your campaign based solely on an ad's clickthrough rate. Instead, use
play rate/interaction rate as you optimize the list of sites you're targeting.
