There are more than 30,000 hours of content uploaded to YouTube every hour, and most videos will never amass more than 1,000 views. If you want to increase your chances of getting views, then focus on CTR. This represents how often viewers are clicking on your video when the title and thumbnail are shown, which can be a measure of how well you are selling your video to your audience.
By better understanding your viewers and where they are coming from, CTR can be improved. Test new thumbnails and title formats and see what resonates best with your viewers. In addition, make sure that the video itself delivers on the promises of the title and thumbnail, in order to keep the viewers engaged.
How do I use CTR for paid ads?
YouTube also offers paid ads, in the form of discovery ads on the side of the screen, and in-stream ads shown at the beginning of videos.
YouTube discovery ads are YouTube ads that appear as a thumbnail, title, and description along with other videos on YouTube in places such as the top of a YouTube search results page, the suggested videos section, or on the home page. The video ad is played like a regular video once the user clicks the ad.
Video thumbnails can either be based on portions of the video, or custom uploaded. The thumbnail and title are the biggest factors in CTR for discovery ads and can be measured and improved in the same way as CTR for organic content.
In-stream ads are played at the beginning of the video or in the middle of a video, where the viewer only has to watch five seconds before having the option to skip.
Discovery ads have a higher rate of engagement than in-stream, due to the nature of the format, in which users must actively click on the ad to view it. This indicates that the user is interested in the video topic and is more likely to convert into a call to action.
Other engagement metrics to track for paid YouTube ads include: average watch time, average cost per click, and number of unique viewers.
If you need help creating YouTube ads, book a discovery call with marketANDgrow to maximize your CTR and ROI on video ads.
