YouTube campaigns

Use related videos in YouTube line items

Related videos appear below your primary video ad when the ad is playing in the YouTube app on mobile devices. Related videos can make your primary video ad's message stronger and encourage your audience to engage with other videos on your channel.

Benefits of related videos:

  • Extend your message beyond your primary video ad.
  • Keep viewers engaged with your creatives (including other videos on your YouTube channel).
  • Engage consumers on mobile by leveraging the space below the primary video ad when the user’s device is held vertically.

How it works

An example of a video ad on YouTube, with related videos shown underneath

  • Related videos appear below the video ad when it’s playing in the YouTube app on mobile devices.
  • Related videos are available in the "Product and brand consideration" and "Brand awareness and reach" line item types.
  • You can add 2 to 5 related videos to the line item. Your videos need to be "Public" or "Unlisted" to appear as related videos in the line item.
Related videos may not show below your ad all the time. Changes to the number of videos included with the ad, or the order of the videos, may also occur. Related videos should comply with Google’s advertising policies and requirements for YouTube ads.

Get started with related videos

Add related videos to a new YouTube & partners video line item

  1. Start in an existing insertion order or create a new one.
  2. In your insertion order, click New line item.
  3. Pick YouTube & partners video.
  4. Enter the following information:
    • Name for your line item.
    • Select Product and brand consideration or Brand awareness and reach as the line item type. 
  5. Click Next.
  6. Review the Targeting section. You'll see that the inventory source is set automatically. You can click Add targeting to set other line-item level targeting options. Additional types of targeting are available in the line item's ad groups.
  7. Configure your line item's settings.
  8. In the Related videos section, click the pencil icon Pencil icon / edit icon to edit.
  9. Enter the URLs for the YouTube videos that you want to add.
    • Add at least 2 related videos (with a maximum of 5 videos allowed). You won’t be able to save your related video list until you add at least 2 videos.
  10. Click Add.
  11. Create your ad group and ads.
  12. Click Create to save your new line item.

Add related videos to an existing YouTube & partners video line item

  1. Navigate to your existing insertion order. Click the name of the line item that you want to add the related video to.
  2. Click Line item details.
  3. In the Related videos section, click the pencil icon Pencil icon / edit icon to edit.
  4. Add or remove any related videos in the list. To discard your changes, click Cancel.
  5. Click Save when you finish your edits.

Edit the related videos in a YouTube & partners video line item

  1. Navigate to your existing insertion order. Click the name of the line item that you want to add the related video to.
  2. Click Line item details.
  3. In the Related videos section, click the pencil icon Pencil icon / edit icon to edit.
    1. If you want to remove all related videos from the line item, click the delete icon .
  4. Add or remove any related videos in the list. To discard your changes, click Cancel.
  5. Click Save when you finish your edits.

We review related videos to ensure they meet Google’s advertising policies and requirements for YouTube ads. You can check the approval status for your related videos by checking the "Related videos" section in your campaign settings. If the "Status" is "Disapproved", edit the campaign, and then remove or fix any videos in the list.

If you need to edit the settings of your related videos (for example, titles or thumbnails), make the change before you create the Video campaign.

  • If you edit the title of any related video, all related videos stop appearing below the primary video ad on YouTube. If this happens, remove the related videos from the campaign and then add them again.
  • If you edit other settings (such as thumbnails or descriptions), Google automatically reviews the list of related videos again (even if the videos were approved before you made the change).

No matter which change you make, your primary video ad will continue to run.

Reporting for related videos

To view reporting for related videos, generate a YouTube report by choosing either the YouTube standard or YouTube conversion report template. Within the Instant reporting UI, select View All to locate the YouTube templates in the video section. Segment your reports by the Related videos Click Type dimension to see Click metrics specific to your related videos. For reports that are not segmented by Click Type, related videos are not included with metrics for the primary video ad. 

Limitations

  • You can add 2 to 5 related videos to the campaign. Your videos need to be "Public" or "Unlisted" to appear as related videos in the campaign.
  • If you edit the title of any related video, all related videos stop appearing below the primary video ad on YouTube. If this happens, remove the related videos from the campaign and then add them again.
  • Reporting on individual related videos is not supported.
  • Related videos will not serve when a call-to-action overlay is used.
  • Reports configured with some YouTube related metrics or dimensions will require the report to be downloaded due to the time needed to compile the data.

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