Display & YouTube Ads
Google claims the Display Network reaches over 90% of internet users globally (per Google's own marketing materials). YouTube reaches 2.5 billion+ monthly users (Alphabet, 2023). Here's how to use visual advertising for awareness, retargeting, and brand building.
The software company that dominated its niche for £800/month
A project management SaaS company was competing against well-funded competitors with massive ad budgets. They couldn't match their rivals on Google Search (CPCs of £15–30 were too expensive at their scale).
Instead, they built a display retargeting strategy:
- A 30-second YouTube ad explaining their key differentiator — targeting people who had visited competitor websites (using YouTube's audience targeting capabilities)
- Display banner retargeting on the Google Display Network — targeting their own website visitors who hadn't started a trial
Total spend: £800/month.
Result: they appeared "everywhere" to their target audience — on YouTube before videos, in Gmail, across industry publication websites — creating the impression of a much larger marketing presence than they actually had. Three months in, inbound trial sign-ups increased 34%. Several prospects mentioned seeing the brand "everywhere."
The budget was £800/month. The perception it created was worth far more.
(Illustrative scenario based on common retargeting strategies used by SaaS companies. Specific figures are representative — not a verified account of a specific named brand.)
Google Display Network: reach across the web
The Google Display Network (GDN) is a network of over 2 million websites, apps, and Google properties (YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps) where Google shows display ads. Google claims the Display Network reaches over 90% of internet users globally (Google, per their advertising documentation — self-reported; verify at ads.google.com for current claim).
Display ads are not search ads. They appear while people browse the web — not while they're actively searching. The intent signal is much weaker. Conversion rates are lower. But the reach is extraordinary and the cost is typically far lower than search.
Where display ads appear:
- Websites that have signed up to show Google ads (news sites, blogs, industry publications)
- YouTube (display ads alongside videos)
- Gmail (sponsored emails in the Promotions tab)
- Google Maps
- Apps in the Google Play ecosystem
Display targeting options:
| Targeting type | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Audience segments | People who've shown interest in relevant topics (Google's interest data) | Cold audience awareness |
| Remarketing/Retargeting | People who've visited your website or app | Keeping brand front-of-mind with warm audiences |
| Contextual targeting | Sites and pages about specific topics | Reaching people in relevant content environments |
| Placement targeting | Specific websites or YouTube channels you choose | Brand safety; reaching niche audiences on trusted publications |
| Customer match | Upload your email list; show ads to those people | Re-engaging existing customers or warm leads |
| Optimized targeting | Google automatically expands beyond your defined audiences to find additional converting users | Scaled cold audience prospecting |
Responsive Display Ads (RDA): The standard display format. You provide up to 15 images, 5 headlines, 5 descriptions, and a logo. Google's algorithm assembles different combinations and tests which performs best. The machine-learned assembly process means one asset upload creates hundreds of ad variations.
✗ Without AI
- ✗User is actively searching for a solution
- ✗High conversion rates (2-5%+)
- ✗Captures existing demand
- ✗Limited to people who know they have a problem
✓ With AI
- ✓User is browsing content — you interrupt
- ✓Lower conversion rates (0.05-0.2% cold)
- ✓Creates new demand and awareness
- ✓Massive reach to people who don't know you yet
Display advertising: where it works and where it doesn't
Where display excels:
Retargeting: This is display advertising's killer application. Someone visits your website, doesn't convert, and then sees your banner ad across the web for the next 30 days. Retargeting keeps your brand visible to people who already know you exist — and the conversion economics are much better than cold display.
Brand awareness at scale: If brand recognition is the goal (for a product launch, market entry, or competitive environment), display reaches enormous audiences at very low CPM — often £1–5 per 1,000 impressions.
Competitor conquesting: With placement targeting, you can show your display ads on competitor websites or YouTube channels — reaching people actively evaluating your category.
Where display underperforms:
Direct response to cold audiences: Clicking a banner ad when you're reading a news article is a low-intent action. Display's conversion rates for cold audiences are typically 0.05–0.2% — one-tenth of search. Don't use cold display to replace search advertising if you need direct response.
YouTube Ads: video advertising at scale
YouTube has over 2.5 billion monthly users (Alphabet investor materials, February 2023 — Alphabet's last confirmed public disclosure; third-party estimates as of 2024 range higher but are unverified by Alphabet). For many demographics, YouTube has replaced linear TV as the primary video consumption platform.
YouTube ad formats:
In-stream skippable ads: Plays before or during a YouTube video. Viewers can skip after 5 seconds. You only pay if the viewer watches 30 seconds (or the full ad if it's shorter than 30 seconds) or clicks. The first 5 seconds are critical — they determine whether you create an impression even with skippers.
In-stream non-skippable ads: Up to 15-second ads that can't be skipped. You pay per 1,000 impressions (CPM). Works for brand awareness — every viewer sees your full message.
Bumper ads: 6-second non-skippable ads. Used for brand recall, not conversion. Often used to reinforce a longer campaign message.
Video discovery ads (now In-feed video ads): Appear in YouTube search results and on the YouTube homepage. Thumbnail + short text. Viewer must click to watch. Different intent from in-stream — the viewer chose to watch.
The 5-second hook rule for in-stream ads:
When a viewer can skip your ad after 5 seconds, the first 5 seconds determine whether your ad creates any impact at all. A viewer who skips at exactly 5 seconds saw something — they know your brand exists, even if they didn't watch. A viewer who skips at second 3 registered almost nothing.
Principles for the first 5 seconds:
- Show a human face immediately (faces hold attention better than products or text)
- Create a question or tension ("What if you could cut your tax bill by 40%?")
- Avoid long brand intros — your logo in second 1 is skipped in second 5
YouTube targeting: reaching the right viewers
YouTube targeting uses Google's vast data about users' interests, search history, and viewing behaviour:
Demographics: Age, gender, parental status, household income
Affinity audiences: People who regularly consume content about specific topics ("home improvement enthusiasts," "business professionals")
In-market audiences: People currently researching a purchase in a specific category — they've been searching for related products or services recently
Custom Segments: You define the audience by the keywords they've searched on Google in recent weeks. This is highly powerful — you can show YouTube ads to people who have recently searched for your product category on Google.
Remarketing: People who've watched your YouTube channel videos, visited your website, or used your app
Placement targeting: Specific YouTube channels or individual videos
There Are No Dumb Questions
"Is display advertising dead? I've heard banner blindness is a problem."
Display as a cold acquisition channel (trying to get strangers to click a banner and immediately buy) has very limited effectiveness — that's real. But display as a retargeting mechanism — staying visible to people who've already shown interest — remains highly effective and cost-efficient. The insight is: display works with warm audiences; it struggles with cold ones. Retargeting banners that follow you around the web after you've visited a site work because you already had intent. Cold banners to strangers interrupting your browsing typically don't.
"How long should my YouTube ad be?"
For in-stream ads: 30–90 seconds is the sweet spot for message delivery. Short enough to maintain attention; long enough to convey benefit and create a clear CTA. Bumper ads (6 seconds) are useful for brand recall reinforcement alongside a longer campaign but can't tell a full story. Non-skippable (up to 15 seconds) forces the full message on the viewer — useful when the brand is unknown and discovery is the goal.
Plan a Display Retargeting Campaign
25 XPMeasuring display and YouTube performance
Display and YouTube are often awareness and consideration channels — not direct response channels. Their metrics reflect that:
For awareness campaigns:
- CPM (Cost per 1,000 impressions): How efficiently you're reaching people
- Reach and frequency: How many unique people saw the ad, how many times
- Brand lift: Did awareness or recall increase? (Available through Google's Brand Lift surveys)
For retargeting campaigns:
- View-through conversions: Conversions that happen after seeing a display/YouTube ad (without clicking). Indicates brand exposure contributed to the decision.
- Click-through rate (CTR): For display, 0.1–0.5% is typical — low by search standards but normal for interruption advertising
- CPA from retargeting: Cost per conversion from retargeting audiences — compare this to the CPA from search to understand retargeting's incremental value
The attribution challenge: Display and YouTube ads operate at the top and middle of the funnel. They often influence conversions that ultimately happen through search or direct traffic. Last-click attribution (which credits the final touch) undervalues display's role. Consider view-through attribution and cross-channel data when evaluating display performance.
Back to the project management SaaS
While their well-funded competitors fought over expensive Google Search CPCs, this company targeted a channel those competitors had ignored: YouTube and display, reaching people who had already searched for project management tools or visited competitor sites. At £800/month, they created the perception of a much larger presence than they could afford on search. Three months in, trial sign-ups increased 34% — because the intent signals from YouTube Custom Segments translated directly to high-quality prospects. They won not by outspending, but by identifying where the audience was and being the only brand showing up there.
Key takeaways
- Display excels at retargeting; it struggles with cold direct response. Keep warm and hot retargeting audiences in display. Don't expect cold banner ads to replace search conversion rates.
- Retargeting is often the highest-ROAS campaign type. Audiences who've already visited your website are the easiest to convert — they just need a reminder and a reason to return.
- YouTube's first 5 seconds determine everything for skippable ads. Design the hook for viewers who might skip at second 5 — even a skip creates brand exposure if the first frame is compelling.
- Custom Segments on YouTube are powerful. Showing YouTube ads to people who've recently searched for your category on Google combines YouTube's reach with search-intent signals.
- Display metrics differ from search metrics. Measure display by reach, frequency, and view-through conversions — not by the click-through rates you'd expect from search.
Knowledge Check
1.A retailer runs a Google Display campaign targeting cold audiences (people with interests in 'outdoor activities') for a direct purchase objective. Click-through rate is 0.08% and the campaign generates zero purchases. The campaign manager wants to increase the bid. What is the fundamental problem with this approach?
2.A B2B SaaS company wants to reach potential buyers on YouTube who have recently searched for 'project management software alternatives' on Google. Which YouTube targeting option achieves this most precisely?
3.A brand runs an in-stream YouTube ad that starts with: 'Hello! We're [Brand Name], and today we're going to tell you about our amazing new product that solves a problem millions of people face every day. Before we get into that, let me introduce our team...' The skip rate at 5 seconds is 94%. What is wrong and how should the opening be redesigned?
4.An e-commerce brand runs display retargeting for all website visitors from the last 90 days. Their most loyal repeat customers — who purchase every month — keep seeing retargeting ads for products they already bought last week. What audience management mistake occurred?