Video discovery ads (also known as "TrueView discovery ads") place your brand, product, or service alongside YouTube content that is likely to be viewed by your target audience. Video discovery ads appear in YouTube search results, YouTube watch next, and the YouTube app Home feed.
In this article, you’ll learn about video discovery ad assets, technical specs, and reporting tools.
Benefits
- Build brand consideration by showing your ads when users browse related videos, scroll through the YouTube Home feed in the app, or search for content
- Deliver information to viewers actively consuming relevant content
- Make viewers more likely to subscribe, share, and watch additional videos from your brand
How video discovery ads appear on YouTube
Video discovery ads consist of an image thumbnail, a headline, and up to 2 lines of text (depending on where the ad appears). When a user interacts with the thumbnail, they’re taken to the YouTube watch page for the ad.
Video discovery ads can appear in the following locations on YouTube:
YouTube search results
YouTube watch next
- On desktop, your ad appears with related videos adjacent to the main video.
- On mobile, your ad appears with related videos below the main video.
YouTube Home feed
Available assets
| Asset | Guidelines |
|---|---|
| YouTube video URL | The link to your video. The URL can be any standard video uploaded to YouTube. The video must be public or unlisted and comply with our advertising policies and requirements. |
| Channel name | The name of your channel. |
| Thumbnail |
A small preview of your video that gives users an idea of the video’s content. When you create the ad, you can choose from 4 thumbnails from the video. To create custom thumbnails, use YouTube Studio. When creating custom thumbnails, follow our best practices. |
| Headline | 100 characters max (text longer than 25 characters may be shortened on some devices). Headline text should be concise and communicate key information, accurately reflect the content in the video, and entice viewers with a clear call-to-action (for example, "Watch now"). |
| Description |
Up to 2 lines. 35 characters max for each line. The description doesn’t appear when the ad runs on the YouTube watch page (desktop). |
Ad specifications
Your video must be uploaded to YouTube and set as public or unlisted to use in an ad. Learn more about YouTube video formatting specifications
Supported Google Ads goal
- Product and brand consideration
Available bidding strategy
Cost-per-view (CPV)
With CPV bidding, you pay for video views when a person interacts with a video thumbnail to watch your video ad. You’re charged when the video loads successfully in a user’s browser or in the YouTube app.
Reporting
Metrics
All standard video metrics are available for video discovery ads.
Third-party measurement
Third-party measurement is only available through Ads Data Hub. Learn more about the process for third-party measurement on YouTube
Policies
Video discovery ads must follow Google Ads policies and YouTube policies.
