After Instagram Shopping, YouTube Supports Vendors To Sell Via Videos

Global search giant Google is now looking to further monetise YouTube platform for sellers by enabling new direct response tools which make videos more shoppable, use automation to drive conversions and help advertisers understand attributions better.

The company said that to help businesses establish a stronger ecommerce presence, YouTube is experimenting with a new way to make actionable video ads more shoppable, by complementing ad with browsable product imagery to inspire the next purchase.

“As businesses begin to reopen, they have an opportunity to use video to drive both online and offline actions on YouTube, where 70% of people say they bought a brand as a result of seeing it on our platform,” said Nicky Rettke, Director, Product Management, YouTube Ads.

In addition, YouTube also announced video action campaign to drive more conversions across its platform. It automatically brings video ads that drive action to the YouTube home feed, watch pages and Google video partners, all within one campaign.

The company has also included YouTube in Google Ads attribution reports. Attribution reports can provide insight into how budgets can be allocated to maximise impact across YouTube, search and shopping campaigns.

At just over $4 Bn, Google’s YouTube is the biggest online video platform in the Asia-Pacific or APAC region. YouTube recorded 265 Mn monthly active users and over 1,200 channels from Indian creators have crossed the 1 Mn subscriber mark in 2019, from about 300 in 2018.

As of August 2018, Google announced that there were 245 Mn active YouTube users in India. This figure was predicted to double over the next two years. Online video accounts for 75% of data traffic in the country – and with 4G networks improving, this is likely to further increase.

Enabling ecommere on social media platforms has become a new trend. For instance, Facebook is all set to open ‘Shops’, a platform to help businesses struggling to survive the Covid-19 pandemic. Facebook said that the platform will help businesses to open their online stores on the social media platform and Instagram.

Google is also making a significant change to help local brick-and-mortar stores create a virtual inventory and connect with consumers online. The pilot being tested in Google Shopping platform will let these stores create a virtual inventory and connect with consumers online. Google believes that the move will help small and medium businesses adapt to changes in shopping behaviour easily.