YouTube testing product storefronts underneath shopping ads

Abner Li | Jun 18 2020 - 8:26 am PT

Online shopping is booming in light of prolonged retail closures and Google’s video site is working to make videos “more shoppable.” YouTube is now testing a list of products underneath a playing shopping ad.

Google’s goal with this new format is to “help businesses establish a stronger e-commerce presence.” As a video ad plays, the space directly below is replaced by a feed of the products being discussed and a big blue “Shop now” button.

Once the ad is finished and the video starts playing, users can return to the storefront at any time from the top ad banner. YouTube says it’s still “experimenting” with this product list format.

All you need to do is sync your Google Merchant Center feed to your video ads, and you can visually expand your call-to-action button with the best-sellers you want to feature and drive traffic to the product pages that matter.

Meanwhile, YouTube today announced Video action campaigns as a “simple and cost-effective way to drive more conversions across YouTube.” It’s targeted at companies of all sizes.

It automatically brings video ads that drive action to the YouTube home feed, watch pages, and Google video partners, all within one campaign. To make it even simpler, we’ll include any future inventory that becomes available, like the What to Watch Next feed.

The last announcement today sees YouTube included in Google Ads attribution reports that “provide insight into how budgets can be allocated to maximize impact across YouTube, search and shopping campaigns.”