Doubling efforts to unlock potential of video ads: YouTube

Video streaming platform YouTube, that counts India as one of the most important markets, today said it is doubling its efforts on product and advertising to unlock the potential of video advertising.

YouTube, which was launched in 2008 in India, today has over 225 million monthly active users on mobile.

It's chief business officer Robert Kyncl said the company is seeing an incredible momentum in India, with daily active users doubling over the last 12 months.

YouTube had 16 channels in 2014, while it now has more than 300 channels.

"We are doubling our efforts on advertising and product to unlock the potential of online video advertising for everyone," he said at the Brandcast event here today.

According to Kyncl, the creators crossing the one-million mark are coming from all across the country, with almost 60 per cent of the watch time coming from outside of the six large metros.

"We will continue to invest in programmes to support creators and encourage more diversity and distribution of their content," he said.

As per a study conducted by Ipsos, subscribers are twice as likely to pay attention to YouTube ads as compared to other video platforms including TV, the company said.

"Greater than 95 per cent of YouTube ads are viewable, this is the highest rate in the industry," Kyncl added.

He claimed that FMCG firm Marico was able to get a conversion rate seven times higher than other platforms using YouTube's TrueView for action.

"To understand the impact of our ads in physical world, we have introduced a new tool that measure online to offline conversions," he said.

Google vice president south east Asia and India Rajan Anandan said YouTube now is an end to end platform for brands, and as per the December 2017 ComScore Video Metrix Multi-Platform it reaches 85 per cent of all highly engaged Internet users, in the 18 years and above age-group.

"Today, we are working with advertisers to build brands and drive measurable results," he added.