YouTube Launches Vertical Video Ads To Combat IGTV

YouTube the largest video-sharing platform introduced a new vertical video advertisement format to its network during a digital marketing conference at Dmexco 2018.

Advertisers will now be able to shift from the landscape option and create ads which will appear vertical, taking up the majority of the screen of your mobile device.

Hyundai is one of the very few brands to experiment with the new format. According to YouTube, vertical ads will function in the same manner as the landscape ads used to – if tapped it will redirect you to their business website.

Instagram debuted its vertical video platform in June, IGTV. The system’s premiere accompanied a statement that the global Instagram community had surpassed one billion monthly active users. IGTV, however, does not support advertisements currently.

This is what has created a shift in the mindset of YouTube and it is finding new ways to keep up with its competitor’s apps (like IGTV and Facebook Watch) that rely on mobile devices rather than websites. The company claims that 70% of the watch time on YouTube comes from mobile devices.

YouTube chief product officer Neal Mahon stated: “As more video gets shot vertically, we want to take advantage of the full canvas and not just have it rammed into the horizontal [layout] with black bars on the side.”

It will give a more seamless mobile experience for audiences; YouTube currently features an advertising option that is customized to fit vertical videos.

Supported video aspect ratios on YouTube now include:

• Landscape: 16:9
• Vertical: 9:16
• Square: 1:1

YouTube even announced that companies will now have the ability to tailor ad content based on people’s personalised recommendations.

“Just like it’s this engaging place for users, we think it can be a great place for advertisers to connect with them,” Mahon added.