What exactly are YouTube Ads, and how much does it cost to start? If you’ve ever wondered what YouTube Ads are all about or how to use the service to promote or grow your business, you’ve stumbled on the right article. In the meantime, YouTube is a well-known and popular platform with over two billion users from across the world.

The platform is a part of Google services and products, and it is the second most used website after Google. Millions of individuals, business owners, brands, and organizations globally use the video-sharing platform to promote and grow their businesses.
However, using YouTube Ads is one of the quickest ways to reach new and potential customers on YouTube. Through YouTube Ads, business owners, brands, and more can connect with the people that matter most as well as build a strong relationship with their customers.
In addition, you can make use of the service to track and monitor your YouTube channel analytics or campaigns. Users can even choose a YouTube ad campaign that best suits or meets their requirements. Through this service, you can successfully reach your target audience and generate more revenue.
What Exactly Are YouTube Ads and How do They Work?
YouTube Ads, also known as YouTube Advertising, is a way of promoting your video content on YouTube or search results so as to maximize user reach. This service makes it possible for people to choose your business. Thereby enabling you to get more purchases, subscribers, visits to your website, and much more.
Your video can play before, during, or after a user views another video or shows up in YouTube search results, enabling people to watch it in full. However, you will need to have a Google Ads account to make use of this service.
And this is because your Google Ads account helps your business run ads across various Google advertising platforms, including YouTube.com. So, you will first need to set up your Ads account to run and manage your campaigns on YouTube through your account. Note that creating a Google Ads account is free and via the official website.
YouTube Ads Cost?
On the contrary, YouTube ads aren’t as expensive as you might think, but is very affordable. Actually, YouTube advertising cost is based on views. Depending on your target keywords, each view can be in the range of $0.10 to $0.30. You can use this service to promote your business based on your desired budget. This means how much you spend on running ads, campaigns, and more depends on you.
The service provides you with the opportunity to set your account to bill automatically or manually. However, you will need to select your preferred advertising format to get started. You can check out the next outline for the various types of YouTube advertising.
Types of YouTube Video Ads
Currently, there are six types of YouTube Ads. They include Skippable in-stream ads, Non-skippable in-stream ads, In-feed Video ads, Bumper ads, Outstream ads, and Masthead ads. Below is a short overview of each of the earlier mentioned advertising formats.
Skippable In-Stream Ads
This type of advertising format can be used when you have video content you would like to promote before, during, or after other videos on the platform and across websites and apps running on Google. Your viewer will only be able to skip this type of ad after five seconds. You can make use of Skippable in Stream ads to promote your product sales, drive more leads and traffic, create brand awareness and reach, and much more.
Non-Skippable In-Stream Ads
Non-skippable in-stream ads can also be used to promote the content you would like to promote before, during, and after other videos on YouTube and across different websites and apps running on Google.
Unlike skippable in-stream ads, viewers are not able to skip this ad. They have to watch it to the end. This ad runs for fifteen seconds or less. Brands and business owners can make use of this advertising format to grow their brand awareness and reach new and potential customers.
In-Feed Video Ads
Another type of YouTube Ads is known as In-Feed Video Ads. It is created to help promote your video content in places of discovery as well as related YouTube videos and search results. It consists of a thumbnail image from your video with some text.
In addition, this advertising format always invites people to click to watch the video. It can be found on the YouTube watch page or your channel homepage. Note that you will only be charged when viewers choose to watch your ads by tapping on the thumbnail. And this method is best for product and brand consideration.
Bumper Ads
If you really want to reach a large number of viewers with a short and memorable message, you can make use of Bumper ads. This method is designed for brand awareness and a wider reach. It runs for six seconds or less and plays before, during, or after another video, and there are no options to skip it.
You can choose to use this advertising format to drive more traffic as your videos will automatically appear on YouTube videos and across websites and apps running on Google.
Outstream Ads
Another type of YouTube Ads that can be used to reach a large number of audiences across YouTube, websites, and apps running on Google Video Partner is Outstream ads. This format helps to expand your video outreach, enabling you to drive more traffic to your website and much more.
Besides, you will only be charged based on your viewable cost per thousand impressions. This means that once a person views your video for two seconds or more, you will automatically be charged.
Masthead Ads
This method is best for creating awareness for new products and services. Or when you need to reach a massive audience within a short period of time. Based on our research, this method is available on a reservation basis through a Google sales representative.
Nevertheless, it is a great advertising format to reach more customers as well as showcase your business’s products and services to the world. You can work with the Google Advertising team to make use of this method.
How to Start Advertising on YouTube
As previously stated, YouTube Ads are the best way to reach more customers, drive traffic to your website, increase revenue, and do a variety of other things. And you will need your Google Ads account to get started. If you have a Google Ads account or you are yet to create one, you can follow the below steps and guidelines:
- Open your computer web browser.
- Go to the official website of YouTube Ads.
- On the homepage, locate the start advertising icon and tap on it.
- This will take you to another page.
- On the next page, select “New Google Ads account” if you are using the service for the first time.
- Select your preferred advertising format and follow the on-screen instructions.
- And for users with a Google Ads account, tap on “Switch Google Account” and login to the account connected to your Google Ads account.
- Once you have successfully logged in to your account, follow the prompt.
There you have it. You can follow the above steps and guidelines to make use of YouTube Ads in order to promote your brand or business products and services globally.