Learn how to use key YouTube ad formats to entertain, educate, and inspire your audience while making every marketing dollar count.
YouTube has introduced a range of new ad formats designed to enhance reach and engagement, reshaping how brands connect with viewers on the world’s largest video platform. These innovative formats cater to diverse marketing needs and viewer preferences, providing advertisers with cutting-edge tools for targeted campaigns.
The new ad options include skippable and non-skippable formats, offering flexibility depending on the campaign’s engagement goals. Additionally, overlay ads and bumper ads have been revamped to maximize visibility without detracting from the user experience. Each format is tailored to integrate smoothly with content, ensuring that ads complement rather than disrupt the viewing experience.
Marketing experts predict that these advanced ad formats will significantly boost interaction rates by aligning more closely with viewer habits and preferences. This adjustment is expected to benefit both advertisers striving for higher impact and viewers seeking more relevant advertising.
As brands adapt to these new opportunities, YouTube’s innovations are set to change the landscape of digital advertising, promising a future where ads are as engaging as the content they accompany.
YouTube advertising: 3 formats your brand needs in 2025
YouTube remains an evolving platform, and many advertisers are still navigating how to approach it effectively.
With the right strategy, you can unlock its potential to entertain, educate, and inspire your audience in 2025.
Here’s how to make the most of YouTube’s three key ad placements.
1. In-stream ads
The way people consume video content is shifting. While viewers once moved from traditional TV to desktop YouTube, they’re now streaming YouTube on TV screens again.
YouTube usage on TV screens has grown by 63% compared to phones, according to eMarketer. It’s an impressive shift that’s only emerged in the last five years.
This raises a crucial question: why rely on a connected TV provider when Google TV offers better targeting, data, and the ability to exclude video partners?
With Google TV, you can segment campaigns specifically for TV screens while integrating seamlessly with other Google ad campaigns.
This is a powerful opportunity for brands to target audiences at scale and use in-stream ads to educate viewers.
2. In-feed ads
In-feed ads offer a unique opportunity to draw users into your brand.
This is driven by human behavior. Users are scrolling through their feeds, looking for something to capture their attention and inspire them.
In-feed ads appear in three key places:
- Home feed.
- Watch Next feed.
- Search feed.
Each placement triggers different user behaviors.
Previously, users only had the opportunity to watch videos after watching an ad (either skippable or non-skippable).
The ability to run in-feed ads in all three places completely changes how we experience ads.
For example, someone opens YouTube and starts scrolling, similar to LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram.
However, these social platforms differ because you don’t know what’s coming next.
- Is it a company post?
- Is it grandma’s post?
- Is it my best friend’s post?
- Is it an ad?
But on YouTube, you know exactly what’s coming next – video.
This familiarity creates a more engaging experience, making this format highly effective for many brands.
This brings us to a crucial aspect of the process: the purchase cycle.
Now, let’s address the elephant in the room – attribution.
A common question arises: if someone watches my ad, why don’t I see conversions in the UI?
The answer lies in the nature of the purchase cycle – it’s neither linear nor direct.
Before a user takes action, there’s a necessary phase of exploration, evaluation, and experience.
To drive conversions, you must know where to hook, engage, illustrate the problem, pause strategically, and qualify the user.
This process takes time. In-feed ads provide a powerful opportunity to inspire and introduce users to your brand as they navigate their purchase cycle.
In-feed = Inspire
Where? Mobile and Desktop.
3. Shorts ads
Shorts are especially valuable for many brands I work with, particularly those with a background in media buying on Instagram and Facebook.
Shorts offer a personal and engaging ad format, making it essential to:
- Capture attention quickly.
- Respect the viewer’s time.
- Drive them to take action.
The goal is to keep people watching as long as possible, signaling to the algorithm that the ad is effective and should be shown to more users.
A key advantage of shorts is their versatility across platforms and placements.
A single vertical ad can run seamlessly on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, across multiple placements.
This allows us to evaluate how the creative performs in different contexts, adding value to the user experience.
Our agency is even testing dashboards to analyze this data more effectively.
What’s particularly interesting is how YouTube prioritizes Shorts in its app.
They’re prominently placed above the fold, making them the second thing users see after the first video.
This reflects YouTube’s investment in shorts as part of the user journey.
Whether transitioning from a long-form video or catering to viewers seeking quick, engaging content, YouTube positions Shorts as a key part of the platform’s experience.
This is a creative and humanistic type of advertising.
Shorts, in comparison to regular videos, have a multitude of different things.
People who come and watch Shorts are primarily in the “People and blog” type of content and entertainment.
And that’s what you should build for when it comes to Shorts.
Shorts = Entertainment
Where? Mobile.
Moving forward and building content on YouTube
Building content on YouTube doesn’t have to be complicated. Here’s a simple approach to get started:
Set your budget
Start small with $5, $10, or $20 per day across three campaigns:
- Shorts (9×16) and long form (16×9): In-stream (CPV).
- TV: CPM.
- In-feed: CPM or CPV.
Plan your content
Focus on creating multiple variations with different intros, outros, and voice types.
But more importantly, think about how your video content can transition across formats:
- A 2-3 minute video should flow naturally into an in-stream format.
- That in-stream video should translate into a 60-second in-feed video.
- Finally, condense that 60-second video into a dynamic short with fast-paced action from the start.
Each format serves a purpose:
- In-stream educates.
- In-feed inspires.
- Shorts entertain.
These straightforward strategies can transform your brand’s trajectory.
