3D Google ads are coming as YouTube tests new AR lipstick experience

Following I/O 2019, Google Search gained its first AR objects with 3D animals. Google ads on the web can now feature interactive 3D objects, while YouTube AR lipstick ads are another way the company is making advertising more appealing and useful.

Swirl is Google’s “first immersive display format” for the mobile web. Available to advertisers through Display & Video 360, inline ads are fully interactive — as noted by a “swipe to rotate” prompt — and provide a small initial preview. Tapping will expand the advertisement to your entire screen, with Google touting an example where users can “expand to show additional layered content.”

To help brands create high-quality, realistic models for these 3D Google ads, Google’s Poly tool has a new editor. It allows for more “editorial control” over models, including new ways to change animation settings, customize backgrounds, and add realistic reflections. Advertisers with existing 3D assets can create a Swirl ad unit through Google Web Designer.

In addition to 3D Google ads, another new interactive ad format is AR Beauty Try-On. Available in YouTube, viewers can “try on makeup while following along with YouTube creators.” M·A·C Cosmetics ran the first YouTube AR lipstick ad campaign, with initial testing showing 30% of viewers interacting with the augmented reality experience for over 80 seconds.

Thanks to machine learning and AR technology, it offers realistic, virtual product samples that work on a full range of skin tones. Currently in alpha, AR Beauty Try-On is available through FameBit by YouTube, Google’s in-house branded content platform.

YouTube is also responding to the popularity of livestreams among brands by letting advertisers run clips from livestreams right in a display ad. The Google Web Designer features a new template to create an ad with content from an existing YouTube livestream.

With the live stream format people will be able to interact with the video using familiar YouTube player controls. People can preview your live stream, watch full screen, and exit when they’re done, giving them full control over how they interact with your content.