Google has used Ad Week in the US to announce several new features for its advertising network.
So what are they?
Cross-device remarketing for Google Display Network will allow marketers to target the same user regardless of the device they are using, in a bid to help advertisers tell a single, coherent story. It will also allow brands to dictate how frequently a user sees an ad across multiple devices.
The move is Google’s bid to take on Facebook’s cross-device strength, which makes full use of its enormous volume of always-logged-in users.
And in a bid to ‘help marketers close the loop between online ads and offline sales’, the Google Display Network will add new options that make it easier to monitor an online ad’s impact on the sales of a physical store.
New location extensions and store visit measurement will utilise Google Maps – which can monitor 200 million global stores, with 99% accuracy – to count how many store, dealership or restaurant visits are registered once an ad goes live. Marketers can drive foot traffic into stores by displaying their business address, Google Maps directions and photos across the Google Display Network.
There will also be an extension to Google’s Brand Lift products, which will now show marketers in real-time how TV ads increase both Google and YouTube searches. According to the tech giant, YouTube generates almost twice as many searches per impression for brands than television.
Avoiding boring content
Speaking to Marketing Week, Brad Bender, Google’s vice president of display and video advertising, said the “lines between the physical and digital worlds are now, more or less, completely blurred”.
“You could be watching baseball on the TV, Stranger Things on demand and a music video on YouTube on your mobile. There are three very different types of content and marketers find it hard to get a holistic picture of how they are performing across all these platforms. We want to close the loop,” said Bender.
“Around 75% of adults now use multiple devices throughout the day so we want to help marketers overcome the challenge of reaching them and to help them do it in a way that feels natural.”
Brad Bender, VP of display and video advertising, Google
Over 400 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, while in the US 18-to-34-year-olds now watch it more than TV, according to Bender. He says among the next generation YouTube is becoming the “first place” they digest advertising.
However, as YouTube continues to grow among the next generation, he has urged marketers to go the extra mile to create compelling content.
He advised: “With video especially, there is now a very high cost for boring users. If you invite YouTube users to engage with a brand, they need to be engaged in the first 5 or 6 seconds or they will go away.
“There is a lot of cross pollination happening and a lot of specific insight available so brands are able to more specifically create stuff relevant for specific channels or segments. Yes, you could just put a TV ad onto YouTube and achieve great success, but you have to try to understand if that’s what your audience really wants.”