YouTube now counts ‘engagement’ for YouTube for action ads at 10 seconds, not 30

YouTube announced it is changing the attribution criteria for TrueView for action video ads. TrueView for action ads are designed for performance advertisers and feature call-to-action banners at the base of the video ads.

What’s changing? There are two key attribution points that are changing:

• YouTube will now count an ‘Engagement’ whenever a user clicks or watches 10 seconds or more of a TrueView for action ad when using maximize conversions or target CPA bidding. That’s a change from 30 seconds.
• A ‘Conversion’ will be counted, by default, when a user takes action on an ad within 3 days of an ‘Engagement.’ If you want this changed, you will have to ask your Google rep to customize this time frame. That’s a change from 30 days.
• For users who click your ad, YouTube will still attribute conversions according to the conversion window you have set (the default is 30 days).

Why the change? YouTube says it is changing the default attribution window from 30 seconds and 30 days to 10 seconds and 3 days to better reflect “the relationship between video ad exposure and conversions.”

Nicky Rettke, YouTube group product manager, wrote, “We conducted large-scale experiments to analyze the incremental conversion volume driven by TrueView for action ads across a broad range of advertiser industries and conversion types.”

What it means for advertisers? The shorter engagement-to-conversion window will mean faster ramp up times for target CPA campaigns and more current reporting, says Google.

Advertisers are charged on an engagement basis for TrueView ads, but because TrueView for action campaigns that use Target CPA and Maximize Conversions, are optimized to drive the most conversions at the target price set by the advertiser, they will continue to be billed on an impression basis. Advertisers will need to monitor their TrueView for action campaigns to understand the impact of this change on their budgets and performance.

Correction: This story originally stated that advertisers would be charged per engagement. This change only applies to campaigns using Smart Bidding, so they will be charged based on impression.

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About The Author

Ginny Marvin

Ginny Marvin was Third Door Media’s former Editor-in-Chief (October 2018 to December 2020), running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin wrote about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.