If you advertise online, you probably think of YouTube as something people watch on their phones.
Google shared a very different picture.
I just got back from Google’s annual Agency Leadership Summit in New York City, an invitation-only gathering for leaders from the top 1% of agencies in the Americas. I also recorded a quick video while I was there.
It’s always good to get some face time with Google to share what’s top of mind for our clients and learn what Google is most focused on.
Here are a few thoughts and takeaways from the event:
1. YouTube Is Growing Like Crazy
YouTube is a powerhouse that generates more revenue and watch time than Netflix.
And we’re not just talking about people on their phones.
Google shared that over 50% of YouTube watch time is coming from people watching on connected TVs.
That creates a lot of attribution challenges.
Advertisers who are addicted to last-click attribution don’t realize the impact their YouTube ads are having on getting people into their sales funnels.
We spent a lot of time talking about Google’s tools for YouTube ad attribution and how to understand whether people are searching for your brand after seeing your ads.
The bottom line: YouTube is worth investing in for many businesses, but you have to evaluate the success of those ad dollars differently from Search or Shopping campaigns.
2. AI Is Changing How Agencies and Brands Operate
To no one’s surprise, AI was a major topic of conversation.
We talked about how much AI is impacting how people find information and complete tasks online.
Ironically, some of the research studies that were shared already felt a little outdated. They were based on data from just a few months ago. That’s how quickly AI is changing.
Agencies are excited about AI reducing the time to complete tasks and allowing for faster data analysis and iteration on ads.
At the same time, AI can generate so much raw information and text to review that it’s easy for brands and agencies to end up spending more time processing AI slop.
The bottom line: We’re leaning into using AI to do things like creating custom dashboards for our clients so that we can focus on the precise metrics they care about and visually explain why those metrics are changing.
3. Trust and Authenticity
Advertising requires a lot of trust on virtually every front.
Brands have to trust that agencies are doing right by them. Agencies have to trust that brands will honor their agreements. Both have to trust that platforms like Google are an effective place to spend money.
But most important is gaining consumers’ trust that the brands being advertised are worth engaging with.
When a bunch of agency leaders get together, it’s tempting to nerd out about the latest and greatest in attribution, AI craziness, ad formats, and bidding strategies. The list is endless. But what matters most is the actual offer and quality of service that are being provided to the consumer.
The bottom line: We need to build every aspect of advertising around getting the right offer to the right consumer at the right time.
If you’d like a second set of eyes on how your marketing is doing that, tell us about your goals and we’ll put together a free, custom audit showing how StubGroup can drive more revenue for you.
Thanks for reading!
John.
