Now YouTube to Have Google Search Ads Incorporated in Main Video

Aside from the 10- to 30-seconder commercials occasionally popping up in between YouTube videos, Google is also taking part on the expanded network reach through its express shopping ads flashed directly on the screen.

Williams-Sonoma, for example, tested the interactive commerce feature earlier this year in partnership with Visa Checkout.

Google will now display relevant click-to-buy ads from advertisers in the video content of YouTube partners.

According to Google’s announcement on the AdWords blog, this will be done in a “secure and privacy-safe way”.

The switch to a viewable standard comes as Internet and mobile users have increasingly turned to ad blockers to avoid irritating video and animated pop out ads, leaving advertisers – and the companies that depend of ad revenue – with a big problem on their hands. Shopping ads for YouTube will appear on other product-focused videos on the site, such as unboxings (those popular videos of people opening products, which Google said had 57 percent more views in 2014 than in 2013), hauls (videos in which people show off and talk about recent purchases), product reviews and how-tos.

The new annotations, called “Shopping ads”, appear as a small white box in the corner of the video with an “i” information icon. For example, when these rewards members search for “non-stop flights to new york” on Google.com, you can show relevant ads at the top of their search results on any device right when they’re looking to fly to New York. They also provide a more interactive experience for viewers, letting them shop directly from videos. “They will enter an auction similar to Shopping ads on Google search and are selected based on a variety of contextual signals”. Only Google can help you do this to delight your most loyal customers in the moments that truly matter. He said the new ad features would become available in the coming weeks.

Companies using Customer Match can also generate Similar Audiences to reach new customers on YouTube and Gmail who may be interested in similar products and services as the ones the companies have uploaded. Expanding on this, Brand Lift will now factor in searches on YouTube.