What makes a YouTube video ad work?

The hook is sound and a story

1. On YouTube the audio hook matters more than the visual one, the reverse of Meta, because everybody watching YouTube has sound on.
2. Thumb stop is the share of people who stop scrolling at an ad. A 40% thumb stop on Facebook buys three seconds. YouTube gives you five seconds of everybody.
3. Curiosity and story work as a YouTube hook, where a shock visual works on Meta.
4. HexClad's Facebook hook shows old pans going into an industrial crusher, and gets a 35 to 40% thumb stop. Its winning YouTube ads are shot in a studio, with high production value.

Many people are watching on a TV

On YouTube, 39% of sessions are on a TV, by the figure cited in our notes. One guest said 30% of their views are on connected TV, meaning a TV hooked up to the internet.

1. Ridge sends vertical short videos to Shorts, and edits longer cuts just for in-stream, the ads that play before or inside a video. The first five seconds there can't be skipped.
2. More of its editing time goes into those slightly longer in-stream cuts.
3. Ridge still calls Shorts relatively undervalued ad space.

For videos you already have on TikTok, see how the ones that sell there get a second run.

Ads that worked

1. Ridge's best performing YouTube ad is founder Daniel telling the Kickstarter origin story from 11 years ago.
2. HexClad's second best opens with Chef Daphne, winner of that season of Hell's Kitchen, introducing herself. No visual gimmick.
3. Jones Road's winners are long studio pieces with founder Bobby, 60 or 90 seconds or two minutes, which breaks direct response best practice. It struggled hard to get shorter, choppier ads working.
4. One brand in our notes hasn't found long storytelling working in the Instagram feed, only on YouTube. Jones Road found the opposite on Meta, where its long founder videos work best.

Direct response can work too

1. One YouTube buyer in our notes names V Shred as the best YouTube direct response he has seen: a quiz funnel with outlandish hooks.
2. Javy runs problem and solution ads that are entertaining. One hook says don't buy Starbucks, on a dark screen.
3. Shock hooks can draw backlash, so the media buyer has to work out where the line is.

How long an ad lasts

1. One buyer says YouTube creative lasts months, and contrasts that directly with TikTok.
2. Creatives fatigue eventually, but there's no need for 50 a week.
3. Spend the time on fewer, better cuts, and read each one over weeks.

See how much of your budget YouTube should get and what to ask a YouTube ads agency.

This audit comes from Influencer Advisory, our influencer marketing agency.