Machine learning will help YouTube in targeting customers for ads.

You Tube Is Making Changes

When Google bought YouTube 13 years ago for $1 billion, they probably didn’t imagine that the platform would reach its current level of success. With a reported value of $100 billion, YouTube has launched a whole new way to promote products on their multiple platforms using machine learning to help accurately target ads.

A story by Paul Sawyers on venturebeat.com describes how YouTube is introducing a new initiative called “video reach campaigns,” which allows advertisers to upload multiple videos into a single campaign with the Google-owned platform automatically optimizing the combination of videos based on what it thinks is best for a specific viewer.

Sawyers went on to say, Advertisers on YouTube can currently choose from a range of ad format options, which vary depending on where the ad will be delivered.

“Google’s machine learning will automatically serve the most efficient combination of these formats to help you reach your audience at scale,” said Vishal Sharma, VP for product management at YouTube.

The company said the new tool uses aggregated and anonymized audience data, covering hundreds of real-time data points, to predict the attention level users will have for specific ads. For instance, if a user is on a mobile platform, they may see a six-second bumper ad. If YouTube detects that they could be open to watching a longer ad, they might then see an in-stream skippable ad. At its core, the new tool seeks to figure out the user’s individual context, powered by data from elsewhere on YouTube, to determine the best ads for them and maximize the advertiser’s reach.

Optimizing the content a viewer sees to maximize engagement is yet another way for YouTube to convince advertisers that YouTube ads are money well spent, Sawyer wrote.

“This will allow for optimized, more effective campaigns and free up your time to focus on more strategic priorities that can differentiate your business,” Sharma added.

Machine learning is attractive because it provides results, particularly in programmatic display. Effective ads directly translate into revenue. Online video advertising industry was pegged at roughly $30 billion last year.

read more at venturebeat.com