YouTube Introduces AI-Targeted Advertising
Boost Your Business’s Marketing Online Efforts
Did you know that YouTube ads are 84% more likely to grab viewers' attention than TV ads? This makes YouTube a powerful marketing platform for businesses looking to grow their customer base. What’s more, YouTube is also home to an effective marketing suite that includes AI-driven tools.
Recently, Google’s AI team has taken YouTube advertising to a new level with the launch of Spotlight Moments. Keep reading to learn more about the new advertising package and the benefits it can bring to your business.
What Is YouTube Spotlight Moments?
Using artificial intelligence, YouTube Spotlight Moments aims to allow advertisers to target specific cultural moments, such as Halloween and award shows, and run promotional campaigns on videos related to these events. For example, if a business was trying to sell spooky Halloween costumes, they could use Spotlight Moments to target videos that discuss Halloween.
Until recently, advertisers could only target videos through keyword usage found in video titles and descriptions. Keyword target YouTube ads play before videos and appear in the related videos section adjacent to the playing video. Though keyword targeting is a powerful method of advertising, keywords and phrases do nothing to verify actual video content, as they are reliant on content creators. This means some keyword-targeted ads may be misplaced.
However, by using AI to detect videos that relate to specific cultural moments, advertisers can accurately target an audience of people interested in certain events, ultimately increasing the likelihood of sales conversions.
How Does YouTube Spotlight Moments Work?
Like many of Google’s AI advertising tools, YouTube Spotlight Moments leverages research from the company's artificial intelligence research and development department, Google AI. Their mission is to find and research new ways to implement AI into Google products like their advertising suite and search engine.
In particular, Google AI focuses on developing machine learning (ML) and neural network algorithms that can collect and process data from user interactions with Google Search and other Google services, including YouTube. This data is then processed and cleaned, allowing Google AI’s algorithms to extract important information, such as the contents of a YouTube video.
How Can YouTube’s AI-Targeted Advertising Benefit Your Business?
If you’re an advertiser, you’ve likely already identified several benefits of using YouTube’s Spotlight Moments AI-targeting capabilities. If not, here are some advantages to consider:
Better Targeting: Thanks to Spotlight Moment’s ability to identify actual video content instead of relying solely on keywords, you’ll be able to better target the right audience with relevant interests.
Improved Seasonal Campaigns: Running seasonal advertising campaigns will be a breeze with Spotlight Moments, as it enables you to target cultural moments. For example, running ads on your Christmas sale will no longer require extensive keyword research before placing an ad.
Curated Content Hubs: Along with placing ads on content related to cultural moments, Spotlight Moments will also create curated content hubs of relevant content and place your ads nearby.
Is YouTube’s Spotlight Moments Worth It?
As discussed above, there are some exciting advantages to be enjoyed with YouTube’s AI-driven Spotlight Moments. However, as a new technology, you can expect some snafus regarding the quality of identifying and targeting cultural moments. Still, to answer the question of is it worth it? Absolutely. Effectively advertising is challenging, especially if you run a seasonal business or offer holiday sales and products, so any tools to make it easier should be welcomed.
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