Google Launches New Ad Products for YouTube Shorts

YouTube Select Shorts is a new advertising platform curated by Google that allows brands to place their YouTube Shorts ads alongside popular and trending short-form videos. This initiative benefits brands by providing a targeted approach to reach engaged viewers within a curated, high-visibility context, an opportunity to be featured on a platform with over two billion monthly logged-in users and 70 billion daily views globally, and increased exposure on connected TVs, where viewership for YouTube Shorts has increased by over 100% in early 2023.

The ABCDs principles for creating powerful YouTube Shorts ads, as outlined by Google, include:

• Attention: Hook and sustain attention with an immersive story, using tactics like jumping straight into the action, supporting with audio/text overlays, and using bright, high-contrast visuals.

• Branding: Brand early, often, and richly by integrating branding from the start, reinforcing with audio mentions, and maintaining a strong brand presence.

• Connection: Help people think or feel something by humanizing with relatable talent, focusing on a clear message, and using engaging storytelling techniques like humor or surprise.

• Direction: Ask viewers to take action by including a clear call-to-action, supercharged by audio voiceovers reinforcing the desired action.

Authentic and relatable content can enhance Shorts ads performance by making the ads blend with a viewer’s feed, appearing casual, fun, and entertaining, which aligns better with user expectations of the platform. Content that feels genuine and share-worthy typically resonates more with audiences, potentially leading to higher engagement rates. This approach can make ads feel less intrusive and more like a natural part of the user’s viewing experience on YouTube Shorts, thereby increasing ad effectiveness and contributing to brand affinity.

The new YouTube Select Shorts lineups will be available in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Korea, and India in the coming weeks.