Solving the Mystery of the ‘Unskippable YouTube Advert’

Capture

Grabbing the attention of your audience can sometimes require a breaking of the fourth wall. Try acknowledging the viewer directly with a question or comment referencing the skip button.

Everyone knows the game we’re playing, so have some fun with it! Obviously anything that leads to intrigue is a winner, but your concept still has to be a strong one.

Branding

After all that work getting the attention of your audience, you’ve got to turn to branding. Blatant and patronising branding can be detrimental to your ad so it’s important to get it right in that first 5 seconds. According to Google Research, if you show your brand logo in the first 5 seconds of your ad, it is much more likely to be skipped. Despite that, brand recall still improves simply from pushing your brand out there. On the other hand, the smoother and less noticeable your brand the more intrigue is created, therefore increasing your rate of retention. Our advice? Find the best of both worlds! Get your creative juices flowing by fixing your brand to one of your products or subtly integrate it into your theme.

Action

How’s it going so far? There’s a reason that unskippable ads are the holy grail for digital marketers. This part of the process is proper crunch time. Simplicity is a virtue in this area, so keep things nice and easy. Whether you want your audience to go to a game, order food from a specific place or book a ticket to watch a film, you’ve got to let them know. Overcomplicating things can be a disaster, so keep everything simple while still stretching your creative muscles.

Take it from us, crafting the unskippable ad is no mean feat. Remember not to be afraid of experimenting; using tried and tested methods will just let viewers breeze over you with ease. Stick by our tips and tricks and you’ll be on the right road.

A key weapon in any digital marketer’s arsenal is reaching out to a YouTube audience. Take a look through the industry standards of monetisation and the optimisation of ads and you’ll see how beneficial it can be.

Even so, how many times have you become frustrated waiting for that elusive ‘Skip Ad’ button? We don’t think there’s anyone innocent of that. It’s way too easy to turn off your mind and wait for the seconds to pass. What we’re going to talk about may seem impossible, but is fundamental to a successful YouTube campaign: the unskippable ad.

Can you imagine creating an advert that reels every viewer in and stops them hovering over that dreaded skip button? We’re here to tell you that it’s completely possible. Brand recall itself has increased by a massive 23% in recent years, even around people who are constantly skipping ads. Even if you fail to create the ultimate unskippable ad, those numbers are still very helpful to getting your brand noticed.

We believe that developing the perfect advert can be distilled into 3 big areas: capture, brand and action (we know this feels uncomfortably close to that popular film phrase, but stick with us for a moment). If you can get on board with these areas you’ll have mastered the unskippable ad:

Capture – Grab the immediate attention of your audience.

Brand – Make sure everything is clear, simple and accessible.

Action – Convince your audience to do what the ad sets out.

When trying to craft the perfect YouTube advert, we’d advise squeezing your ad into between 15 seconds to 1:10 mins for optimum performance. Some brands aim for longer than this but trust us, conciseness is essential on this platform. With this in mind, the length of your ad is irrelevant if your viewers hit ‘skip’ as soon as they can.

Capturing the user’s attention from the very start is crucial when you’re creating an ad. Following on from our favourite phrase (capture, brand, action), we’ve got 3 big tips ready to help you out.

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