YouTube lets some advertisers buy masthead ads on CPM basis

YouTube is testing a new way for advertisers to purchase masthead ads. The company on Tuesday said it is experimenting with allowing advertisers to purchase the ads displayed at the top of its home feed through a cost-per-thousand (CPM) buying model, versus the standard cost-per-day by country purchasing terms.

Why you should care

YouTube masthead ads run at the top of is home feed on both desktop and mobile, so the high-impact placement is obviously coveted real estate for marketers. In addition to getting the flexibility of a CPM model, advertisers will be able to customize the audiences, and ad placements will remain as a “reserved buy” through a Google ads rep. YouTube says the ads come with impression guarantees across campaign flights that can run for a single day up to seven days.

TurboTax VP of Marketing Cathleen Ryan said YouTube’s masthead ads were a key component of the brands’ Super Bowl strategy this year.

“The Masthead is a great way to introduce the new way of doing taxes with TurboTax Live,” said Ryan, “It’s very timely and relevant to be front and center on YouTube, the biggest online video platform, on the day after the Super Bowl.”

More on the news

• YouTube is giving advertisers the ability to preview what their masthead ad would look like on its “YouTube Masthead Preview” page.
• A Google-Ipsos lab experiment in March 2018 that tested 30 ads among 3,000 U.S. residents age 18 to 64-years-old  found masthead ads delivered an average lift of 92 percent for ad recall, and an average 46 percent lift for purchase intent.
• According to YouTube’s internal global data, watch-time for content discovered on the site’s home feed has grown ten-fold during the last three years.