YouTube claim that new extensions for their video ads will boost performance well over benchmarks. They cite a Vodafone campaign that saw ‘a 2.3x incremental lift in Ad Recall and a 3.5 percent CTR’.

So that’s the sell. But what’s being sold?

More actionable video ads

Without making explicit promises, Vishal Sharma—YouTube Ads’ VP of Product Management—says they are set to launch extended functionality that will motivate consumers to complete ‘lower-funnel actions like finding the next movie showtime, downloading an app or booking a trip’.

The concept is based on addressing specific use cases to enhance views with extra info, that will give users the reason to act that is most relevant to them.

For starters, YouTube is beta-testing the ability to add location and form extensions (currently in beta) to TrueView in-stream ads.

Whole of platform

Sharma announced the ‘new ways for marketers to become more effective full-funnel storytellers’ via the Google Ads blog. The crux is a push for a whole-platform adoption.

Efficient integration of tools and medium, Sharma implies, is good reason to use YouTube’s video creative capabilities – along with the machine-learning and metrics of the Google Marketing Platform.

Are small changes thick-and-fast efficiently improving YouTube’s functionality as an advertising platform?

Copy Transmission is a Melbourne-based agency :: Better Brands. Loud & Clear.