Sight, sound and scale: Introducing TrueView for reach

Building brand awareness and increasing market penetration used to be fairly straightforward: find the most popular shows on television, put your ad there and maximize reach among your demographic target.

With a historic amount of content at viewers’ fingertips, it may seem easier than ever to hit your reach target. But today you don’t just want commodity reach – you want reach where people are paying attention. Thanks to its community of creators and their connection with viewers, YouTube delivers this engaged reach. In a recent study with Ipsos, we found that people are 3x more likely to pay attention to online video ads vs. television ads.1 And we’re building solutions to help you tap into YouTube’s differentiated reach.

Reach and intrigue in 6 seconds or less

Our six-second bumper ads were designed to drive more reach among the audiences you care about, especially as they become increasingly on-the-go. They showcase not only the fun of storytelling in six seconds, but also the benefits of adapting to consumer behavior.

We’re seeing brands continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in 6 seconds, and it’s paying off: In a new global study, 87% of Bumpers campaigns drove a significant lift in Ad Recall with an average lift across all campaigns measured of over 20%.2
Jim Mollica, SVP Digital Marketing and Media at Under Armour, says, «We’ve been using bumpers for almost two years to drive frequency among consumers who have engaged with us in the past. We use TrueView to drive engaged reach, and rely on bumpers to remind and drive product storytelling. For us, frequency is the core driver of impact, and bumpers consistently enables this with a high degree of efficiency and proven impact.»

To build a more personal connection with consumers in India, Uber identified 100 different passions among their target audience and used Director Mix to build 85 different bumper ad variations tailored to each passion. The effort drove 63% more first trips from YouTube at an 18% lower cost per first trip than previous campaigns.



Introducing TrueView for reach

To help you reach more of your audience on YouTube with even more flexibility, we’re introducing a new way to buy TrueView called TrueView for reach. TrueView for reach brings our popular in-stream format built on user choice together with the simplicity of CPM buying. Optimized for efficient reach, this format can help you to raise awareness among a broad set of customers — and do so within our 95% viewable and 95% audible environment.3

In beta testing 84 TrueView for reach campaigns, 9 out of 10 drove a significant lift in Ad Recall, with an average lift of nearly 20%. 

Source: YouTube Internal Data, Global, July 2017

Jay Altschuler, VP of Media at Samsung Electronics America, reflects on being the format’s launch partner: «At Samsung we thrive on innovation and pushing boundaries. We were eager to test and learn as the launch partner of YouTube’s new TrueView for reach solution since marketing today is no longer about reach 一 it’s about engaged reach. User choice and attention are both critical for building a meaningful connection with consumers and for our flagship phone launch last spring, we were able to reach 50%+ more people at half the CPM using TrueView for reach.»

Vanessa Tsangaratos, Digital Marketing Manager at PepsiCo France says, «TrueView for reach not only enabled us to achieve massive on-target reach, but delivered high completion rates on our 10 second video. Moreover, CPMs proved to be more competitive: we saw 30% lower CPMs on average compared to previous campaigns. This ultimately drove lower average costs on incremental reach points: -46% versus TV on specific target audiences.»

Reach remains a critical goal for marketers, but it isn’t the only one. TrueView for reach joins TrueView for action as new solutions designed to drive specific marketing outcomes. We’ll continue introducing new approaches that help you adapt to today’s media landscape.


1. Source: Google/Ipsos, Video Mobile Diary, US, 2017, n of 4,381 (saw ads occasions). Online video includes video platforms such as YouTube & Hulu, social platforms such as Facebook & Snapchat and TV Full Episode Players like NBC.com.
2. Source: Google Bumpers Brand Lift Meta Analysis, Global, 2017, across over 2,900 studies.
3. Google and DoubleClick advertising platforms data, Global, May 2017 & Google Internal Data, Global, August 2016