Audio advertising on YouTube – how does it work and what is its purpose?

Many of us use online advertising on, for example, Google Ads, on Facebook or on TikToku In addition to the above, one of the most popular platforms on which to promote your brand is also YouTube, and an interesting and effective way to reach a wide audience is to use audio advertising on this platform.

YouTube audio advertising: What Is It Actually?”

In audio advertising on YouTube, sound plays a key role. Unlike traditional video ads, audio ads are displayed only in audio form. They can appear while playing music, podcasts or other audio content on the YouTube platform. They most often run when you listen to something before a long period of time, or something is playing in the background. Audio ads on YouTube take the form of 30-second creatives and benefit from CPM rate determination.

How to create an audio ad on YouTube?

1. Log in to our Google Ads account
2. We create a new campaign using plus
3. Select the campaign type „Video campaign”
4. We choose „Brand Awareness and Outreach”
5. Then we set the campaign type to „Video”
6. In turn, we choose „Audio” as a subtype to reach our audience when they listen to YouTube recordings and click „Next”
7. We fill in all the details of the audio campaign such as rates, budgets, localization, networks and languages
8. We also add ad targeting appropriate to our audience group For this, we can use specific audience segments we created earlier or use Google’s prompts. In addition, we can still add targeting on keywords, topics or destinations.
9. Next we move on to creating the ad and the first most important step will be to paste the URL of the YouTube video. 
10. When you add the URL, you will see a panel to create the ad, complete it with the required elements
11. Finally, enter the CPM rate and publish the campaign

At the end, you can also go into the campaign settings and set the limit of impressions per user, so that the audience does not get tired of your ad.

Some best practice regarding audio ads on YouTube

Because this type of ad displays during long listening sessions and when YouTube is playing in the background, it is governed by slightly different laws. Keep this in mind when creating your ads and follow some of the following tips:

• Make sure to keep the user’s focus on audio – when creating audio ads, remember to keep them focused on the audio component. It is recommended to use ad assets that contain fairly simple animations or static images. Remember to add a CTA, or call to action, this is an essential element of any ad. Submit the whole thing as a creation in the form of a URL on YouTube.  
• Maintain consistency of pace and tone – here experts recommend that for an ad lasting 15 seconds, the spoken text of the voiceover should not exceed about 40 words.
• Treat the audio ad as a conversation with the viewer – make sure the tone of voiceover is friendly. Your audience will find it a pleasant transition from the entertainment content they are currently listening to or watching to your audio commercial. 
• Memorize the call to action in your video or video creative – in the world of online advertising, it is extremely important to show the user the next step after they view and click on your ad. The better we do this, the less likely our potential customers will leave the site or store without any action. In the world of digital marketing, we have just the first few seconds to grab the viewer’s attention and tell them what we expect them to do. 
• Take care of compliance – there’s nothing more annoying than perpetually rejected ads in our Google Ads account interface, right? Spend a little more time on this issue at the very beginning and make sure your ads comply with Google Ads rules. In addition, remember the user too! Ads must not be aggravating or overwhelming for him! 

Where do audio ads display?

You can display audio ads in two places – on YouTube and in the YouTube Music app, which, as the name suggests, is for listening to music. This format is designed for advertisers whose target audience is users who frequently listen to podcasts, as well as fans of listening to interviews or reports. An obvious audience will also be people who simply listen to music. 

The format of the audio ad can be compared to a radio commercial, which will play while we listen to YouTube for example podcasts or interviews.

Beyond that, audio ads can display:

• during and after the viewed video, 
• before the movie we are watching or also listening to.

It’s important for you to remember that audio ads differ from video ads in that, among other things, audio is a non-skippable ad, which ties into the next point in this article.

How is audio advertising billed?

As I mentioned above, this type of ad is one of the non-skippable ones. This means that the user has to listen to it in its entirety, cannot turn it off beforehand or will not be shown a button to skip the ad. This is related to the way these ads are billed. If we launch an audio campaign on YouTube then it is billed at a CPM rate (i.e. per 1,000 impressions). 

How to find a voiceover for an audio ad?

Just as there are image banks (e.g. Adobe Stock), there are also so-called voiceover banks. Just search for them via Google and you can choose from both well-known radio voices and lesser-known ones. 

Why use audio ads on YouTube? 

This new form of online advertising has a wide variety of advantages, making it worth considering adding it to your marketing strategy: 

• Sound is effective!

Sound has the power to influence the emotions of the viewer. Audio advertising can create strong impressions and evoke positive brand associations. Well-designed and engaging audio can capture the attention of audiences and increase the effectiveness of advertising.

• Audio ads won’t scroll

When we watch a video on YouTube, we often do so in the background, engaged in something else, and the video ads scroll past, or are blocked by plugs Audio advertising focuses the viewer’s attention on the audio content itself, eliminating the possibility of skipping the ad.

• Lower campaign costs

Audio ads are often less expensive than regular video ads because the visual component required by this type of campaign is a still image or simple animation. 

What does it take to create an audio ad?

According to official guidelines from Google, you will need:

• Link to a published video on YouTube
• Determined duration of your ad – cannot be longer than 15 seconds (currently for beta users, it is possible to create creatives up to 30 seconds)

• Responsible file size – maximum 128 GB
• Adequate resolution:
  • 426 x 240 (240p)
  • 640 x 360 (360p)
  • 854 x 480 (480p)
  • 1280 x 720 (720p)
  • 1920 x 1080 (1080p)
  • 2560 x 1440 (1440p)
  • 3840 x 2160 (2160p)
• Maintain aspect ratio: 16:9 (in case of 4:3 ratio, black bars will be added on the sides of the image or animation)

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A few words at the end

Audio advertising is a relatively very new type of advertising (it was created in late October 2022). The world of marketing is changing very rapidly, and the habits of Internet users are also changing, so it is definitely worth testing audio advertising in your strategies. By using this form of advertising, you can evoke emotions and increase audience engagement in a different way than before, while building brand identity. If you want to stay on top of online marketing trends, let us know, we can help you with that!