With cord-cutting on the rise, brands have been looking for new ways to connect with an important part of their audience that are harder than ever to reach. According to fresh Nielsen data, more than half of 18 to 49 year-olds in the US are either light viewers of TV or do not subscribe to TV; but over 90 percent of these people watch YouTube.¹ Today we’re introducing a new set of opportunities on YouTube to help brands reach these viewers across content and devices.


YouTube audiences on TV screens
We’re amidst the second major shift in how people watch video on YouTube. In the past few years, we witnessed mobile viewership exceed desktop, marking the first major shift in how people interacted with YouTube. Now, in 2018, viewers are returning to that original, purpose-built device for video viewing – the television set.

At YouTube we’ve brought people back to the big screen by building a rich YouTube experience for set-top boxes, gaming consoles, streaming devices and smart TVs of all stripes. And now TV screens are our fastest growing screen, counting over 150 million hours of watch time per day.²

We heard from advertisers that they want in, so we have been working to make it easy for you to find your most engaged, valuable audience while they are watching YouTube on a TV set, with the new TV screens device type. In the coming months, we’ll add TV screens – joining computers, mobile phones and tablets – to AdWords and DoubleClick Bid Manager, so advertisers globally can tailor their campaigns for this environment – for example, by using a different creative.

We’ve already seen that people react positively to ads on the TV screen – based on Ipsos Lab Experiments, YouTube ads shown on TV drove a significant lift in ad recall and purchase intent, with an average lift of 47 percent and 35 percent respectively.³

---

1. Google commissioned Nielsen custom fusion study. Desktop, mobile and TV fusion. TV measurement of television distribution sources and total minutes viewed. Reach among persons 18-49. Light TV viewers represent the bottom tercile of total TV watchers based on total minutes viewed. October 2017.
2. YouTube Internal Data, Global, Accurate as of Jan 2018. Based on seven day average of watch time for TV screen devices, which include smart TVs, Roku/Apple TV and game consoles.
3. Google/Ipsos Lab Experiment, US, March 2018 (32 ads, 800 US residents 18-64 y/o).

Over the last year, we've been working on a way to extend the reach of your video campaigns to people beyond YouTube, especially as they spend more and more time interacting with apps and sites on their mobile devices. Starting today, you can use outstream video ads, a new format built exclusively for mobile environments, to reach more potential customers with your video creative.

Outstream ads drive incremental, cost-efficient and viewable reach beyond YouTube. Ads show on Google video partners, which are high-quality publisher websites and mobile apps where you can show video ads, including TrueView in-stream and Bumper ads. When outstream video ads come into view on a mobile screen, they begin to play with sound off. After that, a user can tap the ad to turn sound on and restart the video from the beginning, or simply keep scrolling.

In every context, an ad needs the opportunity to be seen in order to drive impact, which is why our outstream video ads are charged on viewable CPM. This means that every impression you pay for has been on screen and viewable (as measured by MRC standards). In addition to Active View and unique reach reporting, you can use brand interest lift to measure incremental interest in your brand or product as assessed by an increase in organic searches on Google.com or YouTube.

Outstream video ads complement our efficient reach solutions for YouTube: TrueView for reach and Bumper ads. Now, you can reach even more of your audience across the mobile web and apps with a video ad designed for the ways people read, play, swipe and scroll on mobile.

How many people can I reach on YouTube for $100k? And how much should I spend on TrueView versus Bumpers?

Starting today, we’ve made it easier to answer questions like these by introducing Reach Planner, a new tool in AdWords. Now, for the first time, advertisers can forecast the reach and frequency achievable on YouTube and across Google’s video partners, in over 50 countries. This resource will simplify the planning process by providing unique reach across devices, for all core audiences and video formats.

In our quest to make planners' lives easier, we are going beyond reach curves to introduce a key new feature: product mixes. Planners have been using Google's video formats to reach viewers in different ways, and now we’re giving more insight into which formats work best together. With product mixes, you can give us your marketing objective, ad preferences and budget, and we will recommend the right mix of YouTube’s solutions to achieve your goal. For instance, if you want to maximize reach to drive awareness, and have short creative assets, Reach Planner will recommend the right allocation of spend between TrueView in-stream and Bumpers to achieve that goal.

To access Reach Planner, talk to your Google sales team today.

Building brand awareness and increasing market penetration used to be fairly straightforward: find the most popular shows on television, put your ad there and maximize reach among your demographic target.

With a historic amount of content at viewers’ fingertips, it may seem easier than ever to hit your reach target. But today you don’t just want commodity reach – you want reach where people are paying attention. Thanks to its community of creators and their connection with viewers, YouTube delivers this engaged reach. In a recent study with Ipsos, we found that people are 3x more likely to pay attention to online video ads vs. television ads.¹ And we’re building solutions to help you tap into YouTube’s differentiated reach.



Reach and intrigue in 6 seconds or less

Our six-second bumper ads were designed to drive more reach among the audiences you care about, especially as they become increasingly on-the-go. They showcase not only the fun of storytelling in six seconds, but also the benefits of adapting to consumer behavior.

---

1. Source: Google/Ipsos, Video Mobile Diary, US, 2017, n of 4,381 (saw ads occasions). Online video includes video platforms such as YouTube & Hulu, social platforms such as Facebook & Snapchat and TV Full Episode Players like NBC.com.
2. Source: Google Bumpers Brand Lift Meta Analysis, Global, 2017, across over 2,900 studies.
3. Google and DoubleClick advertising platforms data, Global, May 2017 & Google Internal Data, Global, August 2016

On March 14, we shared information about our work to remove bad ads and bad sites from our ad networks. With a combination of people, policies and technology we took down more than 3.2 billion ads in 2017, up from 700 million in 2015. That’s more than 100 bad ads per second. Today, we want to share more details about how our policies and policy enforcement work to help protect our network.

In May, Europe’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect. Google is committed to complying with the GDPR, and in preparation, we’ve been working with our customers and partners to inform them about changes we’re making to our policies across our various products.

Today we’re informing advertisers and publisher partners about changes to our ad policies. Google already requires publishers and advertisers using our advertising services to get consent from end users to use our services, as required under existing EU law. However, the GDPR will further refine these requirements.

To comply, we will be updating our EU consent policy when the GDPR takes effect and the revised policy will require that publishers take extra steps in obtaining consent from their users. Before May, we will launch a solution to support publishers that want to show non-personalized ads, and we are working with industry groups, including IAB Europe, to explore proposed consent solutions for publishers.

We’re aware that our customers and partners - European and international - have significant obligations under these new laws, as does Google. Publisher and advertiser partners can expect further updates as we approach the date when GDPR takes effect.

Posted by Carlo D’Asaro Biondo, President, EMEA Partnerships

We've long talked about mobile being the "future of retail." Now that this future has arrived, what's next? At this year’s Shoptalk in Las Vegas, I shared how today’s ever-curious, demanding and impatient shopper is moving and buying online, in stores, and even hands-free with their voice—creating opportunities for retailers to assist them in ways never before possible.

Google has already made big investments in retail, and today, we’re the #1 driver of traffic and transactions to retailers’ sites in the U.S. But we want to create more value for the retail ecosystem, by combining our technology and deep understanding of what customers want with retailers’ unique products to make shopping truly seamless. Check out our updates from Shoptalk that highlight how we’re partnering with retailers to help deliver these shopping experiences for customers everywhere.

Help shoppers take action, wherever and however they choose to shop.

Shoppers findretailer products on Google in a multitude of ways—from Search’s sponsored Shopping Unit to YouTube to their Google Home device. But while they may be used to all these modes of discovery and buying, shoppers still prefer a frictionless, end-to-end shopping experience—and they gravitate toward retailers who provide it.

Our new Shopping Actions program offers shoppers an easy way to shop retailer products across Google surfaces with a universal cart, whether they’re on mobile, desktop or even through voice via the Google Assistant, on devices like Google Home. Shopping Actions appear within the sponsored Shopping Unit on the Google Search page. No organic rankings are impacted or changed.

Today’s consumers don’t just want answers; more and more, they’re craving relevant, meaningful, and immediate assistance in completing their day-to-day shopping tasks. We see this in our data: mobile searches for “where to buy” grew over 85% over the past 2 years.¹ Moreover, 44% of those who use their voice-activated speaker at least weekly say they use the device to order products they need like groceries and household items at least once a week.²

It’s clear that people want helpful, personal, and frictionless interactions that allow them to shop wherever and however they want -- from making decisions on what to buy, to building baskets, to checking out more quickly than ever before. Put simply, they want an easier way to get their shopping tasks done.

Introducing Shopping Actions

That’s why we’re introducing our Shopping Actions program. It gives customers an easy way to shop your products on the Google Assistant and Search with a universal cart, whether they’re on mobile, desktop or even a Google Home device.

By participating in the Shopping Actions program, you’ll be able to:

• Surface your products on new platforms like the Google Assistant with voice shopping. Leverage our deep investments in machine learning, AI and natural language processing to offer your customers a hands-free, voice-driven shopping experience. 
• Help your customers shop effortlessly with you, across Google. A shareable list, universal shopping cart and instant checkout with saved payment credentials work across Google.com and the Google Assistant -- allowing your customers to seamlessly turn browsing into buying. For example, shopper Kai can do a search on Google for moisturizing hand soap, see a listing for up & up brand soap from Target, and add it to a Google Express cart. Later, in the kitchen, Kai can reorder foil through voice, add it to the same cart using Google Home, and purchase all items at once through a Google-hosted checkout flow.
• Increase loyalty and engagement with your highest value customers. 1-click re-ordering, personalized recommendations, and basket-building turn one-time shoppers into repeat customers. If Kelly does a search for “peach blush,” for example, and she has opted to link her Google account with her Ultamate Rewards status, we’ll recognize this and surface relevant blush results as well as related items -- like makeup brushes -- from Ulta Beauty to help her build a basket with her preferred retailer. If we know she regularly purchases makeup remover on a monthly basis, we’ll surface the same brand of makeup remover to her, right when she has the highest intent to re-order.

In addition, Shopping Actions uses a pay-per-sale model, meaning you only pay when a sale actually takes place.

Three properties where transactable inventory will surface

Early retail partners are realizing results

Across the board, our focus on surfacing highly relevant offers has not only delivered a positive experience to consumers, but has helped our retail partners as well. Early testing indicates that participating retailers on average see an increase in total conversions at a lower cost, compared to running Shopping ads alone.³ We have also seen an approximately 30% average increase in basket size for merchants participating in Shopping Actions.⁴

Furthermore, we partnered with MasterCard to do a pre/post study among a representative subset of five Shopping Actions merchants. We learned that after using Shopping Actions, a customer spent more with that group of merchants in the 4 month post period.⁵

Target and Google have a long-standing partnership, and a history of innovating together to make shopping easier and more inspiring. Target was one of the first retailers to test Google Express (now Shopping Actions), and last year expanded the offering nationwide. Over the last six months, Target has seen the size of guests’ Express baskets increase by nearly 20%, with strong adoption in new markets.

“Our guests love the ease and convenience of making their Target Run without lifting a finger by using voice interface. And since the orders are shipped from a nearby Target store, they’ll have their items delivered to their home in just two days,” said Mike McNamara, Target’s Chief Information and Digital Officer. “This is just the beginning for Target and Google. Through our partnership, we’ll continue to add new benefits to help guests save time and money. Shoppers will soon be able to link their Target.com and Google accounts, creating a more personalized and intuitive shopping experience. And later this year, Target guests will be able to use Target’s REDcard when shopping through Google, providing 5 percent off purchases and free shipping.”

Ulta Beauty has seen improvements in loyalty and customer engagement on Google Express, with average order value (AOV) increasing 35% since 2016. “Ulta Beauty looks to offer a seamless shopping experience to our guests wherever they are – instore or online at ulta.com. As a long term strategic partner, Google helps us build bridges between the digital and physical experiences we offer with last mile fulfillment that leverages our stores and expands our inventory across the Google Assistant and Search,” said Mary Dillon, CEO of Ulta Beauty. “When our guests buy through Shopping Actions, they can enjoy the immediate gratification they experience in-store and are coming to expect online. They also spend more with us and enjoy other benefits of being an Ulta Beauty shopper, like earning loyalty points through our award-winning Ultamate Rewards program.”

Floral and gift retailer 1-800-Flowers.com sees Shopping Actions as a way to get back to its roots of delivering immediate, personalized customer service. “Our job is not to tell customers they have to call us or visit us in a certain way, but to actually be where the customers have chosen to be. If we can make it a one-stop shopping experience, we must,” said Amit Shah, CMO of 1-800-Flowers.com. “On Shopping Actions, you can buy something from Costco for yourself but at the same time deliver a gift from 1-800-Flowers.com to your niece who is graduating high school. From the customer's point of view, it provides a very seamless multi-channel and multi-mindset experience.”

Ready to get started?

To learn more about Shopping Actions, sign up through our interest form to be contacted with more information, or check out our Help Center.

We look forward to making the shopping journey more helpful, personal, and frictionless with you!

Posted by Surojit Chatterjee, Director of Product Management, Google Shopping

---

1. Google Data, US, Jan- Jun 2015 vs. Jan-Jun 2017.
2. Google/Peerless Insights, ‘Voice-Activated Speakers: People’s Lives Are Changing’, Aug. 2017, n=1,642, U.S. monthly active voice-activated speaker owners (Amazon Echo/Dot and Google Home), A18+.
3. Google internal data, Feb - March 2018.
4. Google internal data, Q1 2017 vs 2018 YTD.
5. Mastercard Pre / Post Analysis of Shopping Actions Performance, March 2018. Analysis conducted among MasterCard users of 5 high frequency Shopping Actions Merchants From 4/26/17 – 8/24/17 (Pre) compared to 9/30/17 – 1/28/18 (Post) among 660,171 Existing merchant customers (shopped in last 6 months) , 703,848 New merchant customers (did not shop in last 6 months) and the subset of Shopping Actions customers 10,963 (pre) 11,385 (post). Additional $38 spent at merchants among Google Express Users in 4 month post period.


With the world’s information at people's fingertips, today’s consumers research everything before they buy—they read reviews, search for product details and watch videos to make the decision that’s right for them.

Whether it’s something major like a new car, or an everyday item like an umbrella, shoppers turn to Google for help deciding what to buy. Did you know that mobile searches on Google for 'best umbrella’ have grown over 140% in the past two years?¹ By the same token, review videos on YouTube had more than 50,000 years (438 million hours) worth of watch time on mobile alone.²

This morning at Search Marketing Expo West, we’re announcing several innovations in the new AdWords experience to help you meet the increasing demands of consumers through search and video. 

Reach consumers who searched on Google...on YouTube 

Soon you’ll be able to reach people on YouTube who recently searched for your products or services on Google. For example, an airline could reach people on YouTube who recently searched Google.com for "flights to Hawaii." We call this custom intent audiences. Custom intent audiences can be an effective way to move undecided customers to action using the persuasive power of video. To get started, all you have to do is create a keyword list for your video campaign in the new AdWords experience.

A Google search query and a TrueView for action ad as seen on mobile devices.

Online investment company Betterment used custom intent audiences to reach YouTube viewers who recently searched for financial keywords on Google. The brand increased its return on ad spend 6X compared to previous YouTube campaigns, and saw a 245% increase in searches on Google.com, including their brand term: "Betterment".

Custom intent audiences are likely to drive the best results when paired with TrueView for action, our direct response video ad format expanding to global availability later this month. These video ads allow you to customize a call-to-action to drive the outcome that’s most important to your business, like leads or referrals. We automatically optimize these campaigns with Target CPA bidding for the most efficient results possible.

More AdWords innovations to save you time and drive better performance 

Innovations like custom intent audiences—along with all the other features we're developing—are only available in the new AdWords experience. In fact, the majority of advertisers are already using the new experience and benefitting from innovations that save time and deliver better performance. Today, we’re introducing notes and the new Recommendations page.

In the next few weeks, we’ll be rolling out notes to help you capture important events or details about your accounts right in your performance graphs so anyone in your business can see what caused a change in your performance. For example, you can leave a note to explain a recent spike in clicks for a particular promotion.

An example of the notes feature in the new AdWords experience.

We've also rebuilt and renamed the Opportunities page to help you focus on the most actionable fixes for your account. On the new Recommendations page, you'll now see 16 new types of recommendations to help you drive better results for your business, including suggestions to set your optimal bidding strategy, add audiences, or create better ads. Coming soon, you’ll also see your account’s performance score. This will help you prioritize improvements so you can optimize efficiently for better performance.

The new Recommendations page.

After applying a recommendation for ECPC, global fashion retailer Mango saw a 59% increase in conversions. Seeing this success, Mango implemented Smart Bidding across all their accounts and drove an average increase in ROAS of 22%.



SMX West is buzzing with energy this year. We hope you'll join us in our Learn with Google Classroom to connect and hear more about how these new products can help you grow your business. 

Posted by Nicky Rettke, Group Product Manager for YouTube ads, and Anthony Chavez, Director, Product Management, AdWords

---

1. Google Data, U.S. Jan. - June 2015 vs. Jan. - June 2017
2. YouTube Data, US, Classification review videos were based on public data such as headlines, tags, etc., and may not account for every such video available on YouTube, July 2015 - June 2017