YouTube on Monday released a CPM-based pricing model for its skippable video format called TrueView for reach. Read the blog post.
This pricing model optimizes not for viewability but for on-target reach – similar to YouTube’s six-second bumper ad format.
Previously, TrueView ads were transacted on cost per view, with YouTube charging advertisers once consumers viewed the video ad for at least 30 seconds or through to completion, or when they took a certain action.
So when users opted out of viewing the video ad after five seconds, the advertiser got five seconds of free branding.
But Google argued that when consumers viewed the entire ad, it also signified serious intent.
So TrueView for reach bridges the gap between its six-second bumper ads and its most popular video format, TrueView.
“[TrueView for reach] can help brands raise awareness among a broad audience – and to do so within our 95% viewable and 95% audible environment,” Debbie Weinstein, managing director for YouTube/video global solutions, told AdExchanger.
TrueView for reach offers targeting based on user affinity, in-market users and remarketing segments.
These targeting parameters are also available through TrueView’s viewability-based model and its performance-based model, which Google continues to support.
Google is switching up its pricing mechanism because advertisers like Under Armour wanted more consistency and simplicity when transacting on video.
Under Armour, for instance, used six-second bumper ads to reinforce product messaging on YouTube and to ensure a certain frequency of messages.
By coupling TrueView for reach with six-second ads, it’s looking to drive reach and awareness, as well as frequency.
