YouTube’s New TrueView Advertising Feature Could Mean More Revenue For Artists

While artists have experience some frustration with YouTube's changes to its ad policy of late, a new form of advert known as TrueView for Reach could start pulling in significantly more ad revenue for artists and bands.

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Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.o

YouTube has rolled out a new variety of advert that may end up bringing in more ad dollars not only for artists and bands, but anyone who posts an interesting video on the service. Known as TrueView for Reach, the new ad type is similar to standard TrueView ads that can be skipped after 5 seconds with one major exception – the ad is counted as a view after those 5 seconds are viewed.

In a normal TrueView ad, the viewer would have to watch the full length of the ad (up to 30 seconds) before it was counted as a view, which the advertiser then paid for. With the TrueView for Reach ads, the advertiser is charged based on a CPM (cost per thousand) basis. Although the costs for a Reach ad is ultimately lower, virtually every view is guaranteed if the viewer wants to see the main content of the video, which could mean more ad revenue in the end.

YouTube also offers an in-stream 6-second non-skippable “bumper” ad, which first introduced two years ago that many advertisers have also had success using.

Over the last year YouTube has beta-tested TrueView for Reach in 84 campaigns and 90% have shown increased ad recall and an average boost of almost 20%, according to YouTube’s internal data sited in a Variety article. One beta tester, Samsung Electronics, found that it was able to reach 50% more people at half the cost with the new Reach ads.

The music industry has railed on YouTube for its low payouts to artists and songwriters, but what most don’t understand is that so much rides on the type of sponsor a video has, the amount paid for the ad, and if a view was actually monetized. You can get a million views on your video, but if there’s no advertisement viewed then you won’t be paid. If the advertiser is Target, you’ll get paid less than if it was Rolex.

That said, this new ad type promises to boost the revenue streams as more ad views are actually counted, even if they might be at a lower cost.