When it comes to video for business, shorter is generally better. But is it possible to create an impression in just six seconds? Yes! Pre-roll bumpers are the most common form of video advertisement and according to Google, 90% of bumper ad campaigns boosted global ad recall by an average of 30%. Today’s blog is all about making the most of your six seconds of fame.
YouTube Pre-Roll Bumpers
So what is a pre-roll ad? On Twitter and Facebook, pre-roll ads only appear in certain limited areas of the sites, while YouTube is where you go to watch videos. This is why the site is typically used for pre-roll ads. For this post we’ll be talking specifically about YouTube pre-roll bumpers.
YouTube introduced the six-second bumper ad format in 2016 at Sundance. Choosing a film festival speaks to the fact that YouTube sees the pre-roll as an opportunity to tell a story. Using YouTube gives you the opportunity to be very specific with your targeting. Filter viewers by demographics and place ads based on user interests. If you’re selling surfboards, run that pre-roll ad before a surfing video.
A pre-roll bumper is the six-second promotional video message that plays before user-selected content. This happens on both mobile and desktop and can run six to sixty seconds. The shortest version is unskippable, which menas that for six glorious seconds you have a captive audience. Someone is waiting to see a video they want to watch and will probably wait those few seconds to get to it. Even if they abandon the video, they will at least see something of your ad before being able to click away at the five-second mark. The goal of a pre-roll bumper is to immediately grab viewer attention, make a brand impression, and compel that person to click through and find out more.
Think Big by Thinking Small
You’d be surprised at the amount of information you can deliver in just six seconds. But don’t make your pre-roll bumper more of an obstacle than it already is. Your ad is what stands between the viewer and the content they’re asking for. Instead of a sales pitch the viewer will resent, create a positive brand impression. An effective pre-roll bumper is concise, engaging, and entertaining—like the 2018 YouTube bumper ad of the year.
Above all, the ad should make the viewer want to learn more about a product or service. We love Geico’s series of pre-roll ads that deliver their message in the first five seconds, but you keep watching longer for the laugh. While these ads are actually longer than six seconds, they’re still a great example of providing a message within that crucial five-second window.
YouTube Pre – Roll Bumper Generator
YouTube recently created a bumper generator. Using machine learning, a longer video is reduced to a six-second pre-roll ad. This generator is currently in alpha testing with the eventual goal of general availability. Whatever key message is pulled to create the bumper, it will always end with a CTA. The idea is to give the user a few ideas that they will ultimately tweak for a final version. We have another suggestion when it comes to pre-roll bumpers…
Don’t Cut Down, Create!
Rather than trying to fit all the information from a thirty-second ad into a six-second ad, just create a six-second ad! Admit these are different animals and build a custom pre-roll bumper that fits the format. Here are some ideas:
- Pick a single point or feature to highlight
- Treat pre-roll ads as a series telling a longer story
- Produce a teaser that shows the audience just enough to create interest. Follow-up later with a longer version that provides a fuller explanation.
- Jokes work well in this format. Think punchline only and then deliver.
Generating Interest with Pre-Roll Bumpers
Think of your ad as the bait, and your post-click landing page as the hook. After whetting the audience appetite for more, give them somewhere to go. Don’t forget the CTA, a clickable link at the end of the video that will take them to your website. The best-case scenario is a landing page directly related to the offer, product, or service promoted in the pre-roll ad. With a little discussion and effort, you can create a pre-roll ad that delivers a message and customers in just six seconds. Call us today and find out how.
