… let’s think about YouTube advertising.

You may, or you may not know this … but YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world (behind Google).

As of March 2019, YouTube reported over 2 billion unique logged-in users per month (not counting non-logged-in users).

Think about that for a second … there are 7.5 billion people in the world … and over 2 billion of them watch videos on YouTube each month.

That’s staggering.

Not only that, but every day people watch over a billion hours of video on YouTube. Every. Single. Day.

Do you know what else?

But here’s the best thing about YouTube from an advertising perspective … you only pay when someone chooses to watch your video ad for at least 30 seconds, or to the end of the video (whichever is shorter), or if they click on a card or other element in your video ad.

Imagine running ads on TV and only having to pay if and when someone watches your entire 30-second commercial.

With the type of reach, affordability, and targeting capabilities that YouTube has to offer … it’s a no-brainer to launch a video advertising campaign on YouTube.

Let’s go over some basics, .

There are two types of YouTube video ads.

1.) TrueView In-Stream Ads
In-stream ads play before or during another video on YouTube. Viewers will see five seconds of your video and then have the choice to keep watching or skip it.

You pay when a viewer watches for at least 30 seconds or to the end of the video (whichever is shorter) or clicks on a card or other elements of your in-stream advertisement.

2.) TrueView Video Discovery Ads
Video discovery ads appear alongside other YouTube videos, in YouTube search pages, or on websites on the Google Display Network that match your target audience.

You pay only when a viewer chooses to watch your video by clicking on the ad.

Unlike traditional advertising platforms like TV, radio, and print  … you can test digital advertising platforms before you heavily invest.

Most businesses start with at least a $10 per day advertising budget on YouTube.

YouTube ads have an average cost-per-view of $0.010 – $0.030.

So with a $10 per day YouTube advertising budget … you could generate 100 TrueView in-stream ad views per day.

After one month, that will give you a decent sample size of how the campaign is performing.

Keep in mind, … rarely if ever has an advertising campaign hit the bullseye on the first try.

So keep tweaking and optimizing it until you understand what resonates best with your target audience.​

I don’t think I have to convince you about the effectiveness and potential of running a video ad campaign on YouTube … so for the sake of being concise, below are some helpful best practices and resources to get you started.