YouTube Adds Click-to-Purchase Shopping Links to TrueView Ads

YouTube is a great platform for consumers to learn about products, but when they're ready to buy they often go somewhere else. The people at YouTube parent company Google have noticed this, so they created something that makes YouTube a buying resource, as well.

In March, Google introduced Cards, which are video annotations designed to guide viewers to related pages. Cards play on both desktop and mobile versions of YouTube videos, and they're something every video marketer should know about. Last week, YouTube added a card option for shopping.

The shopping card is available to brands that have a Google Merchant Center account. Merchant Center is used by Google's Shopping service, and it's full of product information input by vendors. By simply linking their TrueView ads to Merchant Center listings, brands can easily add shopping links to their videos.

The actual purchase doesn't take place on YouTube. Instead, viewers are guided to the brand's site. Brands can target ads to viewers who have previously checked out a product on the brand's website.

YouTube says that the feature has done extremely well in pre-release testing. Wayfair, the home good merchant shown here, saw a 3x increase in revenue per impression when compared to earlier campaigns. Cosmetics retailer Sephora tried the ads and saw an 80 percent lift in consideration and a 54 percent lift in brand recall.

Google says the TrueView shopping option will be integrated in the next few months, and that interested brands should talk to their Google account manager. 

"By enabling consumers to buy products from within YouTube videos, Google is marking out a new e-commerce battlefield against retail marketplaces—in the realms of consumer entertainment," says Andreas Pourous, co-founder of digital marketing agency Greenlight. "With demand for YouTube videos growing by 50 percent year-over-year, Google has an enormous consumer audience at its finger tips. The pressure is now on for marketplaces like Amazon and Ebay to respond; will they draw swords and invest in bringing shopping and entertainment together, or have they got another weapon in their arsenal?"

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net