YouTube Ads, Demand Gen and DV360: TrueView, Bumpers, Masthead, Lookalikes, Attribution and Reach Planner

TrueView suits brand narrative and awareness, not performance CTAs; keep videos to about 30 seconds; the companion banner stays after a skip. Non-skippable (15s, 20s in some markets) needs strong content because viewers are forced to watch; its goal is recall, measured by a Brand Lift survey sent only to exposed users. Bumpers (6s) suit mobile attention spans - the trainer's insurer ran only bumpers with a rotating USP and a direct CTA, raising frequency as policies neared expiry. Masthead takes the YouTube homepage: per hour gives 100% share of voice for the reserved hours (minimum one hour); CPM reserves an impression volume over at least a day. For Black Friday: CPM pre-buzz, CPH on the day, CPM after.

A successful video campaign "will at least take three months to mature" and four to six to become strong. Month 1: broad targeting to gather data. Month 2: narrow (e.g. 18-54 down to 25-34 metro "early jobbers"), keep other ages on a lower frequency cap, check view-through conversions and average order value of video-influenced users; Demand Gen experiments can test untried groups. Month 3: more ad copies and creatives for the hero target group.

Google's AI allocates budget across six surfaces. Conversion and value bidding (target CPA, target ROAS) were the trainer's "most powerful slide" - introduced, he says, only in 2025. Lookalike segments (narrow = 2.5% of the targeted population most similar to your seed list, then balanced, broad) are exclusive to Demand Gen. Measure with DDA, segment by format, use conversion lift and experiments; Brand Lift and Search Lift come free on longer runs. A Google study cited: adding Demand Gen to Search or PMax gave 14% more conversions.

"Limited by budget" means money runs out mid-day; "limited by target" means the CPA target is too strict to join enough auctions - loosen it (target 700 vs actual ~930, Google suggests 875). Add View-through conversions and cost per all conversions columns: a video campaign at 911 per conversion looks worse than its 600 target until view-through is counted. Tools > Measurement > Attribution: pick purchase actions, a lookback window, group conversion paths by campaign type, filter path length > 1, and read the assist-to-last-click ratio (video 4.77). Switch the account to DDA.

Reach Planner: new plan > location and currency > dates > demographics > budget > audiences > devices > frequency cap > format (Demand Gen) with one action > conversion rate (use historical, or "always take a conservative approach" with no history) > read conversions, CPA and the budget curve > export slides. DV360 (theory only - the trainer has no account) solves fragmented visibility, duplicate conversion claims between platforms with different lookback windows, and over-exposure, for a tech fee.