YouTube campaigns are an often undervalued and misunderstood area of PPC, with all too many businesses neglecting to branch out due to a lack of direct results. This talk will break down how to structure & measure your YouTube campaigns to maximise reach, interest, and action. Author: Luke Northbrooke - Paid Media Executive, Impression

1. Structuring YouTube
Campaigns For Success
Luke Northbrooke - Paid Media Executive, Impression

2. Luke Northbrooke
→ 2.5 years PPC experience
→ Gutted about the lack of free pizza
→ Even more gutted about the lack of pints
Paid Media Executive
Impression
@LukeNorthbrooke /in/luke-northbrooke

3. → 2 billion+ logged in users
→ Over 1 billion hours of video
watched per day
→ 60% of users watching
content that they’re
passionate about

4. Only 10% of that is
me watching this
on repeat

5. “30% of shoppers watch video
content of products they go
on to purchase”
Me, paraphrasing someone at Google

6. Where do I start?
What ad format do I use?
What creative do I need?
What audiences should I target?
How should I bid?
How did I get here?

7. How to set up, structure, and
measure your YouTube
campaigns to maximise
effectiveness

8. Marketing
Objective Video Ad Format Audience Type Bidding Measurement
Reach &
Awareness
→ Bumper Ads
→ Non-skippable In-
stream
→ Detailed
Demographics
→ Affinity & Custom
Affinity
→ Target CPM Impressions
Frequency
Organic Lift
Reach
Consideration
& Interest
→ Skippable In-stream → Life Events
→ In-market
→ Similar
→ Target CPM
→ Target CPV
Views
Clicks
View-through
Organic Lift
Action → Skippable In-stream
→ TrueView for Action
→ Remarketing
→ Customer Match
→ Custom Intent
→ Target CPA
→ Maximise
Conversions
Website Conversions
Micro Conversions
View-through

9. Awareness
Interest
Desire
Action
TIER 1
Reach & Awareness
TIER 2
Consideration & Interest
TIER 3
Action

10. Reach & Awareness

11. Reach &
Awareness
→6 Second Bumper Ads
→15 Second Non-Skippable Ads
If you give a totally cold user the option to skip, they are
definitely going to skip
Increase awareness by literally forcing the user to watch it!
Ad Type
Video played to:
25% 50% 75% 100%
92.52% 89.39% 87.81% 86.86%
93.91% 90.80% 88.87% 87.86%

12. →Detailed demographics
→Affinity/custom affinity
audiences
Don’t force users who are already aware or
engaged to watch your ads - save this for
users who probably haven’t heard of you
Reach &
Awareness
Audiences

13. →Target CPM
Manage your own/your client’s expectations here -
these campaigns will almost never convert. You’ll
be lucky to even get clicks!
Set an appropriate target CPM based on your
budget and desired reach
Reach &
Awareness
Bidding
Impr. Clicks ↓ Conver
View-
through
Conv.
58,889 23 0.00 2
64,153 32 0.00 4
123,042 55 0.00 6
Set impression, reach &
frequency KPIs - don’t
get caught up in chasing
conversions!

14. Consideration & Interest

15. Consideration
& Interest
→Skippable In-Stream Ads
The aim of these campaigns is to drive interest, not piss
people off
Give them the option to skip - if they don’t, they’ll move
to the next stage of the funnel
Ad Type

16. AudiencesConsideration
& Interest
→In-market segments
→Similar audiences
→Life events
You’re looking for people who are likely to be interested
in what you’ve got to offer, but not necessarily engaged
with you yet
Users with the right purchase intent or similar to existing
customers match this perfectly

17. BiddingConsideration
& Interest
→Target CPM
→Target CPV
This really depends on how much data your
campaigns have - if you’re getting lots of views,
don’t hesitate to move to tCPV

18. Action

19. Action Ad Type
→Skippable In-Stream
→TrueView for Action
Action campaigns are targeting users who are
more likely to actually convert, so encourage them
to do so
TrueView for Action lets you add a more
prominent CTA and an end screen

20. Action Audiences
→Remarketing
→Customer match
→Custom intent
Remarketing and customer match audiences are
obviously good picks here.
Custom intent seems like a curveball, right?
Sometimes it’s actually worth doing what Google account managers tell you..

21. Bidding
→Target CPA
→Maximise conversions
Again this depends on your goals and your conversion
volume - lower volume lends itself to maximise
conversions
Realistically you need a decent volume to make these
work in the first place
Action

22. Measurement

23. Impr. Clicks ↓ Conversions
View-
through
Conv.
2,048,688 12,734 788.00 903
769,511 4,339 209.00 398
1,662,278 2,803 22.00 6
84,250 42 0.00 4
108,100 123 0.00 2
115,478 97 0.00 2
79,115 41 0.00 2
119,573 78 1.00 1
Measurement
View-through conversions
Conversions where a user saw but didn’t interact
with your ad, but then later converted.
In all likelihood, many of your campaigns will get
more of these than regular conversions.
If your lower funnel campaigns get a lot of these it’s
a good thing - people are still thinking about your
ad even if they skip it!

24. Measurement
Top Conversion Paths
Use this report to get a better picture of where
video campaigns are placed in the wider
conversion journey
Pro Tip: This is much more useful if
you set up your channel grouping
properly

25. Measurement
YouTube activity paused...YouTube activity enabled...
Organic Search Lift

26. Disclaimers, Caveats, and Other
Ways To Make Everyone Leave Me
Alone

27. If you don’t have good creative, you’re fucked it
doesn’t matter how well your campaigns are set up,
they’re going to underperform. You need the right
message for the right user.
If you’re agency side, you’re fucked notify the client
of video ad best practices and work with them to
produce something better.
Don’t Forget Creative

28. Half the reason you’re running YouTube
campaigns is to build brand awareness and
drive interest. While you’ll get some instant
results with remarketing/custom intent,
YouTube works best as part of a multi-channel
strategy in the long term.
Don’t Expect Immediate Results

29. YouTube campaigns are inherently costly, and as
they’re not immediately boosting your conversions
they won’t rescue your revenue in a tricky month.
They’re much better placed to help established
businesses achieve long-term growth!
Don’t Try This With
A Small Budget

30. Any Questions?
@LukeNorthbrooke /in/luke-northbrooke