PSA: Stop putting so many ads in your YouTube videos!
Okay, this one is for all of the content creators out there. I know this is going to a be a little bit controversial, because ads are the only way you make money off of your videos. So I’ve backed up my argument with some stats you can look through when you have time. With out of the way, let’s get into it!
Everyone intuitively understands that ads are annoying. They interrupt our content, waste our time, and even if they’re promoting something interesting, it can get old after we’ve seen the ad a dozen times. Yet, as a pillar of a free internet, ads are everywhere. We put up with them because they’re usually the gateway to loads of content we get for free. In Smash, that’s tier lists, matchup guides, highlights, tournament sets, and more. Many people are willing to put up with the ads in order to support content creators, but many others aren’t.
According to Hubspot’s research on ad blocking (which you can find here), 51% of respondents have an extremely negative or somewhat negative opinion of online video advertisements. 27% have a neutral opinion or no opinion at all, and just 19% have a somewhat positive opinion (leaving 3% with an extremely positive opinion). If you’re an optimist, you’ll probably notice that leaves you with an audience of 49% or greater who probably won’t use ad block. But that would be a little misleading.
You see, people with a neutral opinion on ad block can swing in either direction, for any number of reasons. That’s one reason neutral feedback is so important in, say, Net Promoter Score surveys (surveys that rate how likely a customer is to promote your business). Someone on the fence can just as easily switch to your competitor, and when it comes to video content, they can just as easily switch on ad block.
Let’s look at some more Hubspot research:
As I noted earlier, the main reason people turn on ad block is intuitive — they’re annoying and intrusive. But the second reason is pretty important as well — it’s because ads disrupt what they’re doing. Nowhere is this more true than when it comes to video content. People are taking the time to watch your videos for sure — but that doesn’t mean they have time to watch everything and anything else.
They could be trying to sneak in a quick video before they go somewhere. Or they’re looking for one part of the video to show to someone else. Or any number of different scenarios. Having an advertisement interrupt their content will only lead to them turning ad block on and forgetting about it. This is obviously counterproductive to a content creator that wants to make money off of ads.
The usual solution is to ask your viewers to turn off ad block when viewing your content. Admittedly, I have no metrics on how effective this is — but based on how many times I’ve personally seen content creators ask about it, I can’t imagine it’s that effective. Thing is, it’s not necessarily wrong for people to do it, either. People — especially today — have limited amounts of time and attention. They want to use that time to pay attention to the messages that are relevant to them — not boring marketing messages that they’ll forget nearly instantly.
“So how do I make any money then?” Well for starters, you should probably stop solely relying on ads anyways. With the one-two punch of ad block AND advertisers pulling away from places like YouTube because they can’t control where their ads appear, you’re probably not making as you could have in the past. What you can start doing instead is partner with businesses that want to promote their products or services, then create your own ads.
Some of you already do this with Smash Amino —but you’re probably wondering how this changes anything I said about interruptive ads. Well: First, it’s completely skippable by people who don’t want to see it. Second, it allows you to pick businesses that will resonate with your audience (which is important if you want people to view). Third, it allows you more control over how much you earn from the ad. Fourth, it allows you to tailor content towards your audience. Hidden mention — if you’re on a team, you can use this for sponsorship activations.
I want to talk about the fourth reason for a bit. Tailoring content towards your audience is a super important part of not only getting people to view, but to actually create positive impressions of the business as well (which in turn can get you a better deal). Thorin has a really good video about advertising in esports that you should watch if you have the time (skip to 4 minutes for the relevant part):
Thorin found that his ads were more effective when he made his ads about exposure than explaining the product. People would associate the ads with what they liked about him and the ads themselves could be justified as entertainment. This in turn is something people are less likely skip — and that’s something you can’t do with a regular YouTube ad stuffed in the middle of a video.
Now, I’ve already made this a bit long (and if you’ve made it this far, I appreciate you), so let me wrap it up. I’m not saying don’t put any ads in your videos. But you need to consider if it’s worth stuffing an ad in the middle of your content — and honestly, it’s usually not. In anything you do, you have to consider your audience. Where will a YouTube ad be the least disruptive? How can I make my own ads more engaging? Answer those questions and you’ll put yourself ahead of many other content creators.
