Today marks the fifth anniversary since Google began testing TrueView as a video ad format.
The search giant has come a long way in five short years; all of the top 100 global brands have run TrueView ads over the past year, and 95% of TrueView advertisers have run campaigns across screens.
Figures suggest a strong growth in new advertisers adopting TrueView, as the number of advertisers using TrueView grew 45% in 2014.
“While advertising may not often be seen as a user-first industry, we believe focusing on the user applies as much to ads as it does to any other product at Google,” said the company in an announcement.
“When we launched search ads, we put the user first by matching consumer intent with ads – people chose to click on an ad, and advertisers paid nothing if they didn’t.”
Many worried that the introduction of TrueView was a crazy idea, with many wondering who would choose to watch an ad. However, figures suggest that people do. More than 100 million times in some cases.
The interesting figures suggest that video advertising in general is moving toward user choice – as people can fast forward, skip, close the screen.
Google promises big thing for TrueView in 2015 with the introduction of cards on the platform. Cards provide a beautiful platform for viewer interactivity with ads, making it easy for viewers to watch more of your videos, playlists, or connect to your website directly from the ad regardless of whether it’s shown on a desktop or mobile device.
“By giving viewers this choice, everyone wins – viewers only watch ads that interest them, and brands are rewarded for creating interesting content that people want to watch. We’re excited to continue to innovate with video ads, and look forward to the next five years of YouTube.”