Videos can entertain, engage and entice viewers, creating not only entertainment value, but triggering powerful emotions and opinions. YouTube video advertising is a new way that you can use video to reach potential customers and create brand awareness.Advertising on YouTube can be utilised using YouTube search results, the Google Display Network and “Trueview”, YouTube video advertising.

What is “Trueview”?With the purchase of YouTube, Google has now introduced “Trueview”, video advertising bringing the highly targeted, and cost effective bidding structure of Adwords to the medium of video.YouTube advertising uses the “cost per view” method to price its trueview ads. This method means customers are only charged if there ads are viewed for 30 seconds or more, giving enough time for viewers to see exactly what you want your ad to show them. As well as this, Google has offered the option of a “call of action”- giving people the choice to add follow up links to ads, driving more traffic to your website.Like adwords, this works out to be cost-effective solution for businesses wanting to use video advertising… and also works out being much cheaper than TV. The average cost per view in Australia is approximately 18c, with advertisers being told to estimate about 4-5 views per dollar. One of the main differences of YouTube advertising however, is that unlike TV, you are targeting your audience much more specifically, being able to use keywords, categories or demographics to choose where you place your ads.As well as this, your audience is far more engaged, with an average view rate of 20% in Australia, and 5 million impressions available per day.Benefits of TrueviewOne of the best things about video is that it engages viewers, stimulating their emotions. Some of the most successful video ads around engage viewer’s emotions, which can in turn lead to them remembering or even sharing this content, and giving the more entertaining YouTube ads viral potential that cannot be reached using other forms of advertising. Take the top 10 “viral ads of the week” on AdAge, each one of these shows the power of emotion, connecting with viewers and ultimately gaining popularity that may have not originally been anticipated by the advertiser.The great thing about YouTube advertising is that it’s not “exclusive” to the big brands. All businesses (no matter what size) have the opportunity to get creative and use video to educate, inform, entertain or simply show potential customers what they have to offer.