What is Bumper Ad ? , 6 Second Ad

YouTube Bumper Ads

Make Big Impact with Short Stories – 6 seconds. YouTube’s bumper ads are six-second ads designed around today’s viewing habits. In this article, we’ll share insights from a study on the performance of these types of ads to show how a very small ad can make a big impact.

The New Six-Second Bumper Format

People around the world watch one billion hours of YouTube content every day. This shows how the fundamental shift in how videos are consumed across devices is having a huge impact on watch time. This seamless cross-device reach has created new opportunities for advertisers. While audiences are still eager to engage with longer ad formats, brands need to be able to maneuver with shorter, more impactful messages to ensure that the ad is seen and attention is high while delivering a consistent brand experience. That’s why YouTube has introduced a new six-second bumper format that allows advertisers to grab attention in today’s mobile-first environment.

The Message You Want to Convey Is Fast and Effective

Six-second bumper ads are a great way to quickly and effectively convey your brand’s message. Complementing existing formats like TrueView and Google Preferred, bumper ads can provide additional reach and impact for brands when used as part of a comprehensive campaign strategy. In fact, a March 2017 Google/Eye Square U.S. trial of four ads found that TrueView paid views tracked by bumper ads significantly increased ad recall compared to TrueView ads alone. Today, we’re sharing some best practices from our analysis of hundreds of bumper ads.

1. Keep it simple: Concise is always better

With a bumper ad, you have a very short window to tell your story. Bumper ads are designed to reach viewers when a short, focused message is the best option. Ads should not be overly cluttered with complex messages, and creative elements should be kept simple so they’re easy to digest.

One common mistake is using too much text in your ad. When we analyzed over 400 studies examining over 130 creative attributes, we found that action-packed creatives, like this ad from Tata, were associated with higher Ad Recall and Brand Awareness.

2. Showcase the Product in a Short and Bold Way

When you only have six seconds to work with, you don’t have time to include all the components you typically include in a 30-second ad—story, product information, taglines, and branding. In our analysis, we found that bumper ads that featured a product image for a 6-second period resulted in higher Ad Recall. So, to make the most of your time, make sure your product is prominently displayed on screen, like in these examples from Purina, Huttenkase, and Renault.

3. Introduce, reinforce, and remind

Six-second ads are versatile and can easily be integrated into a larger media strategy. When used as a teaser for a longer campaign video, bumper ads can generate interest and build anticipation for upcoming product launches or announcements, or they can be a great way to reinforce print or outdoor advertising campaigns. Eye-catching visuals, like in this bumper ad from Mountain Dew, can effectively remind viewers of a longer campaign creative, or create mystery and anticipation, like in this example ad from Heineken. Finally, you can reinforce and reinforce the campaign message by retargeting viewers of longer TrueView or Google Preferred ads with follow-up bumper ads.

Bumper Ad

Bumper ads are only six seconds long, but their impact can be remarkable. Our research shows that these ads perform well across key brand metrics. Last year, we discovered that 61% of the 489 bumper ad campaigns we analyzed globally saw a significant increase in brand awareness, with an average of 9% across all campaigns. Performance on ad recall was even better: analysis from 605 studies showed that 9 out of 10 bumper ads delivered an average lift of 38% across all campaigns.4

If you’re looking to learn more about bumper ads or are ready to create your first campaign, you can find comprehensive information on all our ad formats in the YouTube Playbook.