By Donna Salinas

donnasalinas at hughes net

Advertising on YouTube can be a very successful marketing strategy for your business. You can reach large numbers of relevant, potential customers and specific audiences by targeting “buzz videos” which are the most popular videos at any given time, in real time. Another way to reach large numbers of people on YouTube is by advertising on YouTube’s home page. While the site does not guarantee impressions, YouTube has been showing 30 million impressions and eleven million unique visitors a day in the US alone. The homepage is where users are looking for the newest video on the site and according to YouTube, users on the homepage are very receptive to advertiser content. Below is a list of the ways you can advertise on YouTube right now:

1. One way to advertise on the site is by creating a “YouTube Video Ad”. This is a user-initiated video that is embedded on the home or search page. Users can opt to watch these video ads in Hi Def and the ad is 300 x 360, including a 300 x 225 video and a 300 x 35 custom banner. The YouTube Community is allowed to rate and comment on your ad and YouTube provides standard “DoubleClick” video metrics (impressions, click-to-play, click rate, and quartile viewed). They also allow three 1 x 1 pixels for third party tracking of clicks, impressions and plays”. You can also choose the “Expandable YouTube Video Ad”, where the expanded unit is 950 x 500 with a 640 width video player. If that is not to your liking you can always go to the “Auto-play YouTube Video Ad” that are extremely popular while users are on the homepage. Lastly in this arena, you can also choose the “Auto-play Expandable YouTube Video Ad”, which is large and in charge.

2. Another way to advertise on YouTube is by using ads called InVideo Overlays. These ads appear over the bottom of videos and need to be clicked to be viewed. When clicked, the video pauses and the ad plays. The flash overlay at the bottom is 480 x 70. Also included is a banner of 300 x 250 that stays on the video until the end.

3. Yet another way to advertise is “In-stream” ads. These ads appear similarly as a commercial would on TV, before the video, during the video, or “post-roll”. With In-stream ads, users can also click right through to your company’s website.

4. Finally, if none of the advertising methods above work for you, you can always go the route of a “YouTube Promoted Video”. With YouTube Promoted Videos, you would promote your video using an auction-based marketplace. Here you pay only when someone clicks on your video and your video will appear in search results. With this method you use keywords to reach people who have similar interests.

There you have it! Advertising on YouTube could turn out to be one of the greatest decisions you ever make for your business. It’s easy, affordable and offers the potential to reach the sites vast number of unique visitors each day.

Published - March 2010