Brand Extensions: YouTube embraces dual-screen advertising
What’s happening
Back in May, Google announced YouTube “CTV Brand Extensions,” a new product meant to increase engagement among the 120 million people in the U.S. who stream YouTube or YouTube TV to their screens (according to a December 2020 report from ThinkwithGoogle.com). YouTube recently announced that it expects to push these units live in late Q4, or early Q1 of 2022.
Why it matters
Brand Extensions will allow consumers to watch an ad and, with the click of a button, send info from the ad to their phone. For consumers already double-screen-watching (which, according to Nielsen in 2019, 88% of Americans are doing), transferring attention between the TV and phone should be no big deal. By leaning into this fractured environment, advertisers can promote free trials and limited time offers, or drive product and brand awareness. And while shopping on mobile is not new (Facebook and Instagram rolled out Shops in 2020, and TikTok continues to expand its shopping features and partnerships), this CTV-to-mobile approach creates an important link between CTV ads and mobile shopping conversions. Namely, advertisers will be able to track impressions, clicks, and conversions from Brand Extensions directly in Google Ads. Given that YouTube represents 40% of watch time of all ad-supported streaming services (Comscore), and is the second-most-watched video platform on TV screens second only to Netflix (Cowen Consumer Tracking Survey, Feb 2019), it seems that Brand Extensions has both the audience and the tracking capabilities for a viable performance marketing tactic.
What’s next
As a Google Premier partner, we’re looking forward to including this product in future test-and-learn schedules for our clients. Brand Extensions could be a particularly useful performance marketing tool for the retail, CPG, dining, travel, and consumer finance categories, so if you don’t already have this capability on your radar, let’s have a conversation about its potential as an added component for your video and performance marketing efforts.