01
How much should we spend?
Enough to reach the same person a few times a week. For most local and niche brands that starts around £1,500–£3,000 a month.
YouTube Ads · In-stream · Shorts · Demand Gen
Five seconds to be seen. Paid only when they watch.
YouTube campaigns planned, shot and managed by a Google Partner, from the first five seconds to the sale they lead to.
Sponsored0:15AAlpine Grip Maxalpineathletics.comShop nowSkip in 5Skip ▶❚
Ad · 0:05
Skip ad ▸
Skipped before 30 seconds? You pay nothing.
2B+
Logged-in viewers on YouTube every month
£0.03
Typical cost per view on our in-stream campaigns
+18 pts
Ad recall from a brand lift study · retail client
11
Ad formats, from 6-second bumpers to shoppable Shorts
— 01 · How you pay
Watch the red line. That's your budget.
A skippable ad has three moments. Only one of them costs money.
Can't skip
They chose to keep watching
You pay
0:00
0:05
0:30 or a click
0:05
Everyone sees this part.
Brand, product and promise go in the first five seconds, because it's the only part guaranteed to play.
Free
If they skip, it cost you nothing.
A skip still counts as an impression. Your logo and offer were on screen and you weren't charged for it.
1 view
You pay when they're interested.
Charged at 30 seconds, at the end of a shorter ad, or on a click — whichever happens first.
— 02 · Ad formats
Eleven chapters. Click through them.
Every format YouTube sells, what it's for, and how we'd use it.
01 Skippable in-stream
02 Bumper 6s
03 In-feed
04 Masthead
05 Shorts
06 Shorts lead form
07 Shorts shoppable
08 Shorts app install
09 Creator partnership
10 Shoppable feed
11 Watch-page display
Long-form video
Shorts
Shopping and display
Chapter 01 · Before or during a video
Skippable in-stream
The classic YouTube ad. Viewers can skip after five seconds, and you pay only for the ones who don't.
Best for
Sales and leads
Length
15s – 3 min
Pay per
View or action
Chapter 02 · Can't be skipped
Bumper ads
Six seconds, no skip button. One idea, said once, shown to a lot of people for very little.
Best for
Reach and recall
Length
6s
Pay per
1,000 views
BUMPER AD
Google Pixel 9 Pro — Built for Gemini
store.google.com · Free Shipping
Video will play after ad (0:06)
Chapter 03 · Search and home feed
In-feed video
A thumbnail and headline next to the videos people are already browsing. They click because they want to watch.
Best for
Consideration
Length
Any
Pay per
Click to watch
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Chapter 04 · Top of the home page
Masthead
The biggest placement on YouTube, booked for a day. Built for launches, sales and big moments.
Best for
Launches
Booked
Through Google
Pay per
1,000 views
Muted
Sponsoredwarnerbros.com/imax
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Chapter 05 · Vertical, full screen
Shorts ads
Ads between Shorts that look and feel like a Short. Made vertical, fast and with sound on.
Best for
Younger reach
Shape
9:16
Pay per
View or action
62K
1.4K
Share
Sponsored
Level up your explosive power with high-intensity plyometrics. Try our 30-day program. #workout #training
Chapter 06 · Leads without a website
Shorts with a lead form
Viewers tap, fill a short form pre-filled from their Google account, and go back to watching.
Best for
Enquiries
Shape
9:16
Pay per
Lead target
18K
310
Share
Sponsored
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Chapter 07 · Products under the video
Shoppable Shorts
Your product feed shown as cards under the Short, so viewers can go straight from the video to the product page.
Best for
E-commerce
Needs
Merchant Center
Pay per
Sale target
Chapter 08 · Straight to the store
Shorts app install
An install button over a vertical video, running through App campaigns with the rest of your app budget.
Best for
Apps
Shape
9:16
Pay per
Install target
35K
420
Share
Sponsored
CyberRacer 2026: Nitro
· 50M+ Downloads
Real-time multiplayer drift races across neon cityscapes. Play free now on Google Play!
Chapter 09 · A creator's video, your ad
Creator partnership ads
Run a creator's own video about you as an ad, with their name on it. Borrowed trust, with ad targeting behind it.
Best for
Trust
Needs
Creator link
Pay per
View or action
Paid partnership with Square
180K
2.1K
Share
Sponsored
How we cut customer checkout times in half during our morning rush! ☕️ #smallbusiness #coffee #ad
Chapter 10 · Products in the feed
Shoppable feed ads
Video and product cards together in the home feed, run through Demand Gen with your Shopping feed.
Best for
Retail sales
Campaign
Demand Gen
Pay per
Click or sale
Products featured in this campaign
Google Merchant Center
Chapter 11 · Beside the video
Watch-page display
A companion banner and sidebar placement that stays on screen while the video plays.
Best for
Remarketing
Shape
Desktop
Pay per
Click
How We Scale Our 50-Person Remote Team: Modern Workflows & Tool Stacks
Startup Pulse
290K subscribers
— 03 · The creative
Four frames every ad needs.
Google's own research on what makes YouTube ads work, turned into the storyboard we check every cut against.
A
0:00 – 0:03
Attract
Start in the action, with a face, movement or a question. No slow logo intro.
Hook in frame one
B
0:00 – 0:05
Brand
Show and say your name before the skip button appears, so even a skip is worth something.
Name before 0:05
C
0:05 – 0:20
Connect
One problem, one product, one reason to care. Show it working, don't describe it.
One message only
D
0:20 – end
Direct
Tell them exactly what to do next, on screen and out loud, with an offer worth acting on.
Say the action
— 04 · Who sees it
They searched it at lunch. They see you tonight.
YouTube is part of Google, so we can reach people based on what they've searched for, not just what they watch.
On Google · Tuesday
12:48
⌕
garden room cost uk
They're researching, not buying yet. We add this search to a custom audience.
→
Same Google account
On YouTube · Tuesday
21:15
Your ad shows while they relax, with the answer to the question they asked earlier.
Ad
Garden rooms from £14,995, fitted in 5 days
01
Custom segments
People who searched your keywords on Google or visit sites like your competitors'.
02
In-market
People Google has seen actively comparing products like yours.
03
Life events
Moving house, getting married, starting a business, graduating.
04
Your customers
Customer lists and lookalikes, to upsell or to find more people like them.
05
Site and channel visitors
People who watched your videos or visited your site but didn't buy.
06
Channels and topics
Hand-picked channels and videos your buyers watch, with brand-unsafe ones excluded.
— 05 · The campaign plan
One playlist. Three jobs.
Each stage has its own format, its own way of bidding and its own number to hit.
Your YouTube plan
Playlist · 3 campaigns
1
0:06
Get known
Cheap reach to the right people so your name is familiar.
Formats
Bumpers, Shorts
Bidding
Target CPM
Judged on
Reach and recall
2
0:30
Get considered
Longer ads that explain, demo and answer objections.
Formats
In-stream, in-feed
Bidding
Target CPV
Judged on
Views and site visits
3
0:15
Get chosen
Offer-led ads to people who already know you.
Formats
Demand Gen, shoppable
Bidding
Target CPA / ROAS
Judged on
Leads and sales
— 06 · Proving it worked
Views are easy. We measure the lift.
Google splits your audience in two: one half sees the ads, one half doesn't. Then it asks both. Example from a retail brand lift study.
Ad recall
+18 pts
Didn't see
Saw the ads
Consideration
+9 pts
Didn't see
Saw the ads
Searched for the brand
+5 pts
Didn't see
Saw the ads
View rate
Share of people who didn't skip
Weekly
Cost per view
What each real view cost you
Weekly
Earned views
Free views and subscribers after an ad
Monthly
View-through conversions
Sales from people who watched, then came back
Monthly
Brand and search lift
The study above, on bigger budgets
Per flight
— 07 · No video yet?
One shoot. Every shape.
We script, film and edit for YouTube, then cut the same footage for every placement.
✓
Scripts written around the four frames above
✓
Half-day shoot, on location or in studio
✓
6s, 15s and 30s cuts, horizontal and vertical
✓
Two or three hooks per ad, so we can test the opening
✓
Captions and end screens on everything
16:9
In-stream · in-feed · masthead
9:16
Shorts
1:1
Feed · Demand Gen
4:5
Discover · Gmail
0:06
Bumper cut
— 08 · YouTube Ads questions
Before you press play.
What people ask before their first YouTube campaign.
02
Can YouTube bring leads, not just views?
Yes. With conversion tracking, lead forms and Demand Gen, YouTube is bid and judged on leads and sales like any other campaign.
03
Do we need a professional video?
Not always. A clear phone video with a strong opening often beats a polished advert. We'll tell you honestly which you need.
04
Will our ads show on dodgy videos?
We exclude sensitive content, kids' content and low-quality channels from day one, and check placement reports every week.
— End screen