services / YouTube Ads
YouTube Ads
youtube advertising for ecommerce & consumer brands
YouTube is where people research a purchase and, more and more, where they watch TV. We plan and produce YouTube campaigns that create demand, answer ‘will it work for me?’ and show up in your sales and search data as well as in views.
if you’re reading this, one of these is probably true
- We tried YouTube once. Lots of views, no sales we could see.
- Our product needs explaining and a 15-second Reel can’t do it.
- TV is out of budget, but we want to be on the big screen.
- Our YouTube ads are Meta ads in landscape, and people skip them.
- Google keeps recommending Demand Gen and I can’t see what it’s buying.
- I can’t connect YouTube spend to anything the business tracks.
YouTube rewards ads made for it and punishes recycled social cuts.
why do youtube ads look like they don’t work?
Two reasons. Most brands repurpose social video: no brand in the opening seconds, no sound design, a payoff that arrives after the skip button. Viewers skip before the brand appears. And YouTube’s effect mostly lands after the view, in branded searches, direct visits and purchases days later. Judged on click-through rate, it will always look weak.
Using a channel isn’t the same as remembering its ads. In the research behind Bonaire’s campaign, 71% of 25 to 64 year old heating and cooling buyers used YouTube, but only 10% named it as where they became aware of a brand. TV reached fewer of them (53%) and was named by 33%. Ads built for the format, with the brand early and sound designed for it, are how YouTube closes that gap.
YouTube earns its place for products that need demonstrating, purchases people research on YouTube first, and brands that want TV-screen reach without buying linear TV. Sharp Pebble used longer demos to answer ‘will it work on mine?’ for its chainsaw and lawn mower sharpeners. Our YouTube ads checklist covers the build.
what wasted youtube spend looks like
is all a skippable ad is guaranteed. If your brand and product aren’t on screen by then, most viewers never see them.
of buyers in one category named YouTube as where they discovered a brand, against 71% who use it. Most YouTube ads are seen and forgotten.
is the wrong yardstick. People rarely click a video ad mid-video. They search for you later, and last-click gives the credit to Google Search.
how we run youtube campaigns
Every campaign starts by deciding which of three jobs YouTube is doing, because each needs different creative, targeting and measurement.
decide the job
Create demand among people who don’t know you, demonstrate the product to people weighing it up, or follow up with people who’ve visited. One campaign can’t do all three well.
you geta campaign brief with one job
make it for the format
Brand and product in the first five seconds, sound on, a payoff that doesn’t depend on the viewer staying. Six-second bumpers for frequency, 15 to 30-second skippable for the story, longer demos for consideration, and vertical cuts for Shorts.
you geta YouTube-native creative set
target intent & screens
Audiences built from the searches your buyers make, placements on TV screens where reach matters, and exclusions that keep ads off content you don’t want next to your brand.
you gettargeting you can explain
measure the lift
Branded search, direct traffic and new-customer revenue in the regions and weeks YouTube ran, read against a baseline. Conversion lift studies when volume allows.
you geta read-out that credits YouTube fairly
youtube on the tv screen
A growing share of YouTube viewing happens on connected TVs. For brands that want TV-like reach at a lower entry cost, it sits naturally inside an integrated campaign, as it did for Bonaire.
your first 90 days
job & creative
The campaign’s job agreed, existing video audited for YouTube fit, new cuts or new production briefed.
launch & baseline
Campaign live with a measured baseline for branded search, direct traffic and new customers.
read & adjust
Lift read against the baseline, creative and audience changes, recommendation on scale.
where youtube has worked for our clients
YouTube alongside streaming TV and radio, covering the parts of the day TV missed.
YouTube demonstrations that answered ‘will it work on mine?’ for the chainsaw and lawn mower sharpeners, alongside Meta and Google.
is this a fit?
- Your product is easier to show than to describe.
- You want TV-screen reach without a linear TV budget.
- You’ll measure YouTube on lift in search and sales.
- You need every sale tracked to a click.
- You have no video and no budget to make any.
- You want views as the result.
frequently asked questions
Are YouTube ads worth it for ecommerce brands?
For products that benefit from demonstration, and for brands that have saturated their warm audiences on social, yes. Judged on click-through and last-click sales, YouTube almost always looks poor, so set up a baseline and measure the lift in branded search and new-customer sales.
How long should a YouTube ad be?
As long as the job needs, with the brand in the first five seconds. Six-second bumpers build frequency, 15 to 30 seconds suits most story-led ads, and demos can run longer because the people who stay are the ones considering a purchase.
Can YouTube replace TV advertising?
Partly. YouTube on connected TVs delivers big-screen reach with precise targeting. For some audiences and categories, broadcast streaming and sport still reach people YouTube doesn’t, which is why we often plan them together.
How do you measure YouTube ads?
Against a baseline: branded search volume, direct traffic and new-customer revenue in the period and regions the campaign ran, plus Google’s conversion lift studies when budgets support them.
Do we need new video to advertise on YouTube?
Usually some. Existing footage can often be recut for YouTube with the brand moved forward and sound redesigned. Where the story needs it, we produce new video.
related services
Integrated Campaigns
TV, streaming, radio and out-of-home for when paid social runs short of new buyers.
Google Ads
Shopping, Search and Performance Max, with brand searches and new demand reported apart.
Ad Creative Production
UGC, creator, static and TV ads, briefed from customer language and tested on purchases.
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