Advertisers now have the ability to command YouTube‘s most prominent advertising slot, an hour at a.m. YouTube made a change to how its masthead, the huge advertising space at top of its homepage, is sold almost exactly four years ago. Before that change, only one advertiser could buy the masthead per day and their ad would only be shown on the masthead during that 24-hour period.
YouTube changed it up in February 2019. The masthead was no longer sold per-day, but per-impression. This means that no one advertiser would have complete control over the space for a whole day. Instead, the masthead would be rotated between various ads that show marketing material from different brands. Each brand paid for a certain number of impressions during a seven-day period.
YouTube still sells the masthead per-impression. YouTube is now offering a new buying option that will allow brands to take over the masthead for an hour.
“This morning YouTube launched an innovative ad solution called cost-per-hour masthead,” Kristen O’Hara YouTube’s Vice President of Agency and Brand Solutions, said during a virtual panel.
YouTube states that this buying option gives advertisers a 100 percent Share-of-Voice for eligible impressions of YouTube’s Masthead unit during the hours you reserve. It is intended to be used specifically for product, movie and game releases.
YouTube stated in a blog post that the new cost per hour option will allow marketers to focus their advertising campaigns on the moments that are most likely to influence a buyer’s decision.
Tl;dr: Using the cost-per hour option will allow brands to enjoy a smaller version of the 24-hour exclusivity that the masthead offered before it changed to a cost per impression model.
YouTube piloted per hour buyouts in the fourth quarter 2022. McDonald’s bought the masthead an hour prior to the 2022 World Cup’s Brazil-vs. Cameroon match. YouTube claims that this move “delivered tens and millions of impressions at precisely the moment fans were preparing for it,” YouTube states.
The launch of the latest smartphone by Smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi was accompanied by a similar masthead campaign.
YouTube claims that this activation drove scaled awareness and over 90,000. concurrent livestream views. Redmi Note 12 was a huge success, generating record-breaking first-week sales and making it one their most successful launches.
You can find out more about the new masthead design by clicking.
