The First 5 Seconds: Creating YouTube Ads That Break Through in a Skippable World

Five, four, three, two, one. What keeps people watching after the first five seconds? What can science tell us about the art of video advertising? Let's peek behind the data curtain to see which creative choices capture audiences' attention.

Online video advertising formats like YouTube TrueView ads have created a paradox for marketers. They remove traditional 30-second time constraints, giving brands more time to tell their stories.

It works like this: TrueView is built on the promise that as an advertiser you'll only pay when someone chooses to watch your video ad.

Why bombard users with ads they don't want to see? With TrueView, you give them a choice, and it's a win-win: Viewers see videos they're curious about, and you get more views from an audience you know is interested. And since you choose what you want to pay for a view, you get the right audience at the right price.

But introducing a "skip" button after five short seconds also means that advertisers have to create more engaging stories that not only grab their audience's attention, but hold it, too.

Is it time to start creating ads with the "skip" button in mind? Today, all ads are skippable—whether it's a function of the format or not. People have been honing their skipping skills for a while. Think about it: Viewers experimented with fast-forwarding on their video recorders, improved their skills with DVRs like Sky+ or Virgin Media's TiVo, and now are mastering ad choice on the web. Even if there's no option to fast-forward or skip, consumers can always pick up a smartphone, switch tabs, or find other ways to hit a metaphoric skip button.

Is it time to start creating ads with the 'skip' button in mind?

Thousands of ads run on YouTube every day. So, when we look at that data in aggregate, what patterns emerge? What can we learn from existing video ads about creative that works in the first five seconds?

To find the answer, Google looked into thousands of TrueView ads across 16 countries and 11 verticals, categorising them according to 170 creative attributes, including brand name mentions and featured celebrities. They used aggregated analytics from AdWords to see how long people watched without hitting the skip button. To measure brand awareness and ad recall, Google took advantage of Brand Lift.

There are no "rules" for making ads people choose, but Google did find that certain creative choices are associated with how long viewers watch or how well they remember ads on YouTube. Turns out, there is a certain science to the art of engaging video advertising. Here's what they learned:

Creating unskippable ads: Brand placement matters

Everyone is familiar with the age-old debate about where to put the brand logo in a video ad. It goes something like this:

Brand marketer: Love the ad. But let's put the brand logo earlier.

Creative: Can't put the logo first—then no one will watch the ad!

So what does this research tell us? That the tension is real, folks. When ads on YouTube include the brand early on—through a logo or an audible brand mention—there's an inverse relationship between recall and engagement. While ads with the brand in the first five seconds have higher ad recall and brand awareness lift, people are also more likely to skip them.

No matter your brand goal, the research suggests that if you are going to show your logo in the first five seconds, you should make sure it's tied to your product, not appearing elsewhere on the screen. Google's study showed that viewers are less likely to watch and remember brands and ads when they feature floating brand logos that aren't actually on products. So, whether your goal is viewership, brand awareness, ad recall, or all of the above, try to show your logo on a product.

Viewers tune in to the right tone

Turns out, tone can also affect whether people tune in or tune out. Think of the most recent ad you saw and loved. Did it make you laugh? Did your eyes well up? Grabbing the audience's attention in the first five seconds starts with setting the right tone.

For our study, we organized ads into ten categories of style and tone, including "humorous," "emotional," and "calming," to name a few. Across the board—whether we were looking for a lift in brand metrics or how long the viewer watched—humour took the cake. People are more likely to watch humorous ads, and those ads also see greater lifts in ad recall and brand awareness.

Mixed results on music

As I said, there's no perfect formula for an attention-grabbing ad. Quite a few of the creative choices tested came back with mixed results. Google found some musical styles, for example, were more effective in the first five seconds than others. People were more likely to skip ads that featured calming, relaxing, or action-oriented music. Here, humour won again. Viewers in the study better remembered TrueView video ads that featured humorous music (like the funky dubstep Mountain Dew selected for its Kickstart ad).

But surprisingly, when it came to brand awareness, Google found that featuring any music in the first five seconds may have a negative impact. Ads like Kmart's "Ship My Pants" and Nike's "Winner Stays" were onto something when they muted music in those initial moments. Perhaps people are intrigued by the change of pace in ads without music, or they don't immediately recognize videos without music as ads.

Mixed results invite further investigation. All we know now is that music (or no music) matters, so don't rely on your default. Try testing ads with and without music and use analytics and Brand Lift to see what works for your brand.

One thing is for sure, video advertising is effective. It works.

Just find the right tone for your brand, one that resonates with the customers you want.