YouTube advertisers can now select time slots for ads shown during special broadcasts

YouTube has released a new ad format to enable advertisers to tap key moments experienced together such as a new movie release, a big game, a product launch, or a holiday.

YouTube has launched a Cost-Per-Hour Masthead on YouTube. This new way to buy YouTube’s most prominent placement gives advertisers exclusive ownership of the Masthead during the hour(s) leading up to, during, or after priority moments. This format is designed for brands to center advertising campaigns around the tentpole moments with an intent to shift perceptions or influence a purchase decision.

The platform has also shared a few ways to tap this new ad format. To see how your ad would look on YouTube’s homepage, plug in your video asset and copy it into the Masthead Preview Tool.

Stand Out In Cultural Moments

For marketers, cultural moments like live sporting events are some of the biggest activation opportunities of the year. But advertising can get crowded during those times, creating a need to go beyond traditional means and explore more creative ad experiences.

A TV displays a McDonald’s ad playing on YouTube’s homepage. The ad shows two women ordering at a McDonald’s drive-thru. The 2022 World Cup generated buzz all over the world. So it was no surprise that a global brand like McDonald’s would tap into the excitement as an official sponsor. Each market had to maximize this partnership with high reach and impact media, so McDonald’s Brazil turned to the YouTube Cost-Per-Hour Masthead.

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Their strategy was savvy: reach anyone in Brazil who was watching YouTube an hour before Brazil vs. Cameroon match and remind them to pick up McDonald’s before the game started. This perfectly timed execution delivered tens of millions of impressions at the very moment fans were preparing for the match.

Show Up Before Major Launches

Every industry has a “drop” moment: fashion brands release new lines, production companies share new movie trailers, and tech companies host product launch events. Months, if not years, of work, go into these launches, making these moments important for marketers.

RedMi Note 12 live stream announcement on YouTube’s homepage on a mobile device. A few weeks ago, Xiaomi prepared to launch their highly anticipated Redmi Note 12 series via YouTube live stream. To drive viewership, Xiaomi ran the Cost-Per-Hour Masthead during the event. The activation drove scaled awareness, and it led to over 90,000 concurrent live stream views. The Redmi Note 12 went on to generate a record number of first-week sales, making it one of their most successful launches to date.

YouTube will roll out new products and features throughout the year to help advertisers tap more moments like these. Brand Lift will launch soon to help them better measure the incremental impact of the Cost-Per-Impression (CPM) Masthead, followed by Brand Lift for the new Cost-Per-Hour Masthead.

The platform also plans to bring together high-impact placements surrounding cultural event content in an easy-to-buy package, and add the ability to buy the Google TV Masthead and YouTube Masthead together for select verticals.