Create and target a Google video ad

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@james-hebdon


Business Benefits

Reach your target audience with a YouTube video.


Navigate to your video campaign in your Google Ads account and click the pencil icon to create a new ad group. Set up a video campaign in Google Ads if you don’t have an existing video campaign.

Alternatively, skip creating an ad group if you’re adding a video ad to an existing ad group.

If you have multiple video campaigns, select the one with the subtype that allows for your bid strategy, like CPV or Maximize conversions, and ad formats such as Skippable in-stream or Outstream.

Name your ad group. If you’re using the Drive conversions subtype at the campaign level, you’ll first be prompted to choose an ad group type.

The Responsive ad type allows for multiple formats including skippable in-stream ads, but you can’t select or exclude specific formats. Standard only allows for skippable in-stream ads. If you’re using a video campaign subtype other than Drive conversions, you won’t see this prompt.

Set your Demographics and Audiences to choose who you want to reach with your ads.

Remember that you can’t apply bid adjustments to targeting for video campaigns; it’s all or nothing.

  • Demographics: Choose your target age, gender, parental status and household income. Household income is based on regional or census data. Google does NOT have access to individual household pay stubs.
  • Audiences: Target people based on activity like remarketing, what they’re interested in, the types of sites they visit, or even the search terms they’ve previously used on Google.

You can revise ad group targeting at any time.

Add keywords, topics, and placements to choose where you want your ads.

Not every option will be available for every video format, and bid adjustments won’t be available for every segment.

  • Keywords: Show your ads against videos that use specific keywords.
  • Topics: Target videos or websites about specific topics. Refine targeting with subtopics, not just top-level topics.
  • Placements: Target specific channels, videos, websites and apps. If you don’t deselect Video partners on the Display Network in your campaign settings, your video ads may run across the Display Network, even if you specifically curate YouTube video placements in the ad group.

Select a bid strategy for your campaign subtype and set the maximum bid for your ad group.

The available bid strategy, Max CPV, Viewable CPM, or Target CPM, is dependent on your campaign subtype. Drive conversions campaigns won’t have the option to set a bid. If you set a max CPV and don’t know what bid to get started with, $0.25 can be a safe starting point. Be sure to optimize and change your bid as you get more performance data.

Enter the URL of your public or unlisted YouTube video. If you already created your ad group, click the + icon to create an ad to access this screen.

You don’t have to sync your YouTube account with your Google Ads account to run a YouTube video as an ad, with the exception of Ad sequencing campaigns. You’re not even required to own the video content. The full video will be used as an ad, even if you select to Start at a later time stamp.

For best results, use a video that grabs attention in the first few seconds. Many company videos spend the first several seconds on intros, animations, and bumpers. Try to use videos that engage your audience right off the bat.

Choose your ad format from the available options, such as Skippable in-stream or Video discovery.

If you’re using Custom video campaign, you can select from Skippable in-stream ads, Video discovery ads, and Bumper ads - available for videos < :06 seconds.

Video discovery ads, formerly called In-Display, show up in the YouTube search results and watch pages.

Skippable in-stream ads are probably the most common video ad type on YouTube. They allow people to skip after the ad has played for 5 seconds.

For video campaign subtypes other than Custom, select an ad format from the available options:

  • Video action campaigns: Selected from Drive conversions > Responsive, do not let you select ad formats.
  • Shopping video campaigns allow for Skippable in-stream only.
  • Custom video campaigns allow for Skippable in-stream ads, Video discovery ads, and Bumper ads - available for videos < :06 seconds.
  • Other ad formats are more self-explanatory and directly correlate with the campaign subtype, such as Outstream and Non-skippable in-stream.

If you don’t see the ad format you want, start this process over with a different video campaign and subtype, ad group, or video.

Fill in the remaining fields to build out your ad, use the instant preview feature to see how the fields will appear when your ad runs, and click the Save ad or Create ad group button at the bottom of the screen to complete the process.

Last edited by @hesh_fekry 2023-11-14T11:07:51Z