Dive Brief:
- Google's successful retail ad product Google Shopping is coming to pre-roll ads on YouTube.
- The new ads are an extension of the cards platform YouTube introduced last month that allows advertisers to incorporate interactive elements into a video overlay.
- When clicked, the TrueView ads take viewers directly to the advertisers' website where they can make a purchase, like a "click to buy" ad.
Dive Insight:
Direct links to purchase -- often known as a "buy button" -- have infiltrated digital ads in a big way in the past year. YouTube's adoption of purchase links through TrueView follows in the footsteps of other digital platforms trying to close the gap between digital ads and revenue.
Most recently, Oreo cookie parent company Mondelez International launched an initiative to make all of its digital ads shoppable. In the past year, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube parent Google have all introduced a "buy button" into ads. Sephora and Wayfair have tested the new YouTube for Shopping, and according to Marketing Land, early tests showed improved conversion and branding metrics.