A Borrell study this year found that 67 percent of local advertisers are expected to increase their spends on digital video. As the 2020 election nears, this same trend is likely to apply in campaigns.
Digital video has been transformative in our industry. It’s allowed campaigns to use the video format, the most persuasive, without needing the big bucks for television. Instead, campaigns can target specific audiences, reaching more people at a reduced cost and protecting precious advertising dollars.
Now, one of the major online platforms has spurred that democratization. Recently, YouTube integrated its popular Instant Reserve inventory into its ad buying platform online.
Instant Reserve locks in future ad buys, guaranteeing campaigns impressions at a fixed rate months in advance. In the past, the process of purchasing reserve inventory was manual and required a back and forth of requesting availability and signing order forms with company representatives. Now, the tool is available for ad buyers in the Google Ads platform, streamlining the process.
Other platforms such as Facebook do have similar features, but YouTube remains the industry leader in premium video content. Additionally, our research has shown that YouTube’s cost per completed views is a fraction of those on other video and social media platforms.
The biggest benefit of Instant Reserve is the control that comes with locking in a buy at a set price. Campaigns can buy inventory 120 days in advance as it is released on a rolling basis. By locking in CPMs and impressions in advance, advertisers can save money and secure highly sought-after ad space.
In 2018, YouTube’s parent company Google captured 56 percent of all its political ad spend in the month leading up to the November election. In these final few weeks, buyers are scrambling to purchase ads as prices increase and inventory drops.
Smart media buying is all about planning frequency and reach. Frequency is the number of times a voter should be exposed to an advertisement while reach refers to the overall audience size. Any good ad buyer will have goals for what those numbers should be for each race. The reserve inventory process makes this calculation much easier to predict as it removes the fluctuation of late campaign changes.
Some of the largest campaigns are purchasing Instant Reserve. According to Google’s public transparency archive, the largest federal political purchases of YouTube inventory overall are the presidential campaigns, including the Trump Campaign, Tom Steyer’s PAC Need to Impeach, and outside groups such as Priorities USA and Americans For Prosperity Action.
While the larger spends are dominated by top-tier races, reserving inventory is a valuable tool for campaigns up and down the ballot. An experienced ad buyer or trusted media agency can help execute an Instant Reserve buy.
Here are a few things to keep in mind.
Ads on YouTube can be targeted on demographics, interests, or what the platform calls affinity audiences. These audience segments focus on specific interests including left-leaning, independent, or right-leaning political individuals.
There are three formats available on Instant Reserve: 15-second non-skippable ads, 6-second “Bumper Ads,” and TrueView. Our research indicates that the optimal lengths for video advertising are 6 and 15 seconds. If you have a 30-second spot or longer, consider TrueView, which only charges advertisers for completed views.
Finally, make sure that your campaign is complying with Google’s disclosure requirements. This requires a political verification process to ensure compliance with transparency requirements. Additionally, Google products are not available for certain campaigns in states such as Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, or Washington due to state-specific regulations.
Campaigns that fail to harness the power of video will miss valuable opportunities to connect with voters via a persuasive, powerful, and memorable medium.
With the improvements to YouTube’s Instant Reserve, campaigns can now take advantage of the ability to lock in coveted impressions at a fixed rate ahead of the rush and panic in the final weeks of the election – an early win that can make a difference in securing the win on Election Day, too.
Reid Vineis is VP of Digital at Majority Strategies, a full-service data, digital and print firm that specializes in influencing the opinion and behavior of voters, constituents, and consumers.