Short-form videos have become increasingly popular worldwide. People need more patience to watch longer videos, leading to YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Reels becoming highly popular.
As a YouTube creator, advertiser, or marketer, you can opt for YouTube Shorts Ads to target your audience. However, the ads are not the same as long videos, and there are certain aspects you must understand about these types of ads.
So, if you want to drive more revenue for your channel or brand through ads, you are in the right place. Our ad experts have created a comprehensive guide to help you run ads on YouTube Shorts.
Does YouTube Shorts Have Ads?
Yes, but the format in which they appear is different. For example, you can skip the ads on YouTube Shorts because they are image or video ads that show up between the Shorts videos in the feed.
As a rule, the Shorts Monetization Module will enable your channel to get shared revenue from the ads. While you can add various types of content to your YouTube Shorts Ads, here are some you must avoid:
- Tobacco-related content
- Drug-related content
- Derogatory or hateful content
- Dangerous acts
- Adult content
- And more
You can read all about YouTube Shorts advertisement policies here to ensure your ad content stays within the guidelines.
Can You Run Ads on YouTube Shorts?
Yes, you can run YouTube Shorts ads as long as you follow the Monetization Module. These terms will enable you to earn from ads and YouTube Premium from the Shorts feed.
Remember that your ad revenue sharing will apply to the eligible Shorts views for your channel from the date you accept. Before the acceptance, you will remain ineligible for sharing Shorts ad revenue.
How to Turn on Shorts Feed Ads on YouTube?
You can turn on Shorts Feed ads on YouTube and begin monetizing with the following steps:
- Open YouTube Studio.
- Click on the Earn tab on the left-hand side.
- There will be various options to choose from. You have to click Get Started beneath the option of Shorts Feed Ads.
- Click the Turn On button beneath the Earn from Ads and YouTube Premium in the Shorts feed.
- The Shorts Monetization Module will show up. Read the terms and click Accept.
- Begin running YouTube Shorts ads on the Shorts feed.
How to Run YouTube Shorts Ads?
Now that you have some basic guidelines down, it is crucial to understand how to run ads.
Follow our complete guide to successfully begin running YouTube Shorts ads:
1. Create a Google Ads Account
If you don’t already have a Google Ads Account, you must create one. Otherwise, you can log into your existing Google Ads account through the platform.
Learn More: A Complete Guide to Managing Google Ads
2. Start a New Campaign in the Account
After logging in, there will be an option for All Campaigns. You must click on the plus icon in this option to begin a new ad campaign for YouTube Shorts.
3. Select the Type of Campaign you Want to Run and Goals
Google allows its advertisers to create an ad that satisfies its objectives. When you start a new ad campaign, you must select your campaign type first.
However, to create YouTube Shorts ads, select Video from the campaign type options. After choosing the video option, it is time to select the campaign goal.
There are various goal options you will get, such as:
- Increasing leads
- Boosting web traffic
- Creating brand awareness
- And much more
If you don’t have any campaign goals in mind, there is also an option to create your ad campaign without goals. We recommend you think about the goal to provide some direction regarding your YouTube Shorts Ads.
4. Lay Out the Details of the Campaign
When you have goals and types selected, you can lay out some important details. These include the following:
- The name of your campaign
- Budget you want to set for your campaigns
- When you will start the campaign
- The end date of your campaign
Such details are important to create an effective campaign for YouTube Shorts ads.
Learning YouTube Shorts ads and Google Ads pricing, in general, will put you in a much better position to lay out the budgeting details. Then, you can move on to targeting locations and other things, which brings us to our next point.
5. Set a Location for your Ad
The location of your ads on YouTube Shorts will determine the target audience you want to target. Location settings will also determine the places where your ads will show up.
Set up your ad’s location, and then select the YouTube Videos option so your ad can begin displaying in the Shorts.
6. Select the Type of Bidding for Your Ads
Ads have bidding strategies to help you make the most of your ad budget and spend. There are various bidding strategies at your disposal, which include the following:
- CPA (Cost-per-acquisition): CPA will enable you to pay for the ad when someone performs an action on your ad, such as clicking.
- CPV (Cost-per-view): You will have to pay when someone views the ad you post.
- CPM (Cost-per-mile): You must pay for every 1000 impressions you receive on the ad.
Remember that the type of bidding will also depend on the video ad format. Once you understand this in detail, you can easily select a bidding type for your ad that will provide you with the highest revenue.
7. Select Target Audience
The purpose of running YouTube Shorts ads is to reach your target audience, wherever they may be. Because of this, YouTube provides you with an option to select your ideal audience for the best results.
There are audience targeting features you can benefit from to ensure ads display for the people you want to target. You can select your target audience by choosing:
- Location
- Gender
- Age
- Other demographic information
Create a buyer persona before you decide to select your target audience. Doing this will help you target your ideal audience in the right way and get more subscribers to your channel.
8. Add your Image or Video
Finally, once everything else is ready, it is time to add the image or video for your ad. Think carefully about it because this is what your target audience will see when they come across the ad.
Here are the steps you need to follow to ensure that you add any media to your ad the right way:
- Upload the video to your channel to begin adding media
- Choose the video for your ad campaign
- Search for the video on the platform or past the YouTube URL of your video
Follow these steps to successfully add the relevant media to your YouTube Shorts ads. Make sure the content is good enough to convert your target audience.
9. Add Some Finishing Touches
By now, everything is ready, and all you have to do is add some finishing touches to launch your campaign. For this, you will have to create a CTA, ad URL, type of ad, and more.
You can launch your ad as soon as you add these final touches. It will start showing up on YouTube Shorts, and from there, you can begin tracking the performance of your YouTube Shorts ads.
Are YouTube Shorts Ads Effective?
You might wonder whether YouTube Shorts ads are effective or not. Fortunately, there are many benefits to posting your ads on YouTube Shorts.
These include the following:
1. High Return on Investment
The good thing about ads on YouTube Shorts is that they offer a high return on investment, with the average cost ranging between $0.10 and $0.30 for each view.
However, the return you get will depend on the ad format, targeting, and your bidding amount. So, if you want to get better returns on your ad spend, we recommend opting for YouTube Shorts.
2. Targeting Billions of People
YouTube Shorts have become highly popular in a short span of time. These videos get more than fifty billion views daily.
With billions of people watching these videos, your ad campaigns have the potential to be highly successful. So, they can be incredibly effective if you want to reach many people.
In the long run, these ad campaigns can help you create more brand awareness and target a high number of people.
3. Launching Targeted Campaigns
Uploading YouTube Shorts Ads is not just about creating an ad campaign with a stunning video or image. Instead, you have to create a targeted campaign to reach your audience.
Fortunately, YouTube Shorts allows users to create targeted campaigns with ease. As we discussed before, you can set the demographics based on your target audience and launch relevant campaigns.
You can also launch retargeting campaigns that will enable you to show your Shorts ads to people who have visited your channel or site. So, if you want to launch targeted ad campaigns, then YouTube Shorts are highly effective.
4. Quick Results
Creating and posting ad campaigns takes time. What takes even more time is to wait for people to click on your ad after you launch it.
However, YouTube Shorts ads are effective because they ensure quick results. With billions of daily views, people will start clicking on your ad as soon as you launch the ad campaign.
If you have a new campaign you want to launch and witness quick results, then YouTube Shorts ads can be a great option. Launch your first campaign, and see the results for yourself.
Ad Revenue for YouTube Shorts: How Does it Work?
While launching an ad campaign is well and good, you might think of how you will share the ad revenue. YouTube has a complete guideline to help you understand how ad revenue sharing works.
These are the steps that will help you understand revenue for your YouTube Shorts ads better:
1. YouTube Pools the Shorts Feed Ad Revenue
Every month, YouTube adds together the revenue from ads that run between the Shorts video feed. Then, it allocates this revenue to reward the creators and help cover the cost of music licensing for them.
2. Calculation of Revenue for the Creator Pool
Next, YouTube calculates the revenue from the pool to a Creator Pool. YouTube calculates this revenue based on the music usage across the Shorts and views on the content.
Here are two things you must remember about revenue allocation:
- Monetizing Shorts with Music: If this is the case, then YouTube will split the revenue based on the views between the music partners and the Creator Pool, and the number of tracks used in the video.
- Monetizing Shorts without Music: The revenue from all the views will go into the Creator Pool.
Let’s understand this way: you are a monetizing creator, and you have uploaded a Short with one track.
When you do this, half of the revenue from your views will be allocated to the Creator Pool. However, the other half will be used to cover the music licensing costs.
In this way, YouTube will allocate the revenue to cover all types of costs associated with YouTube Shorts ads.
3. Time to Allocate Revenue to the Creator Pool
Now that the calculation is complete, YouTube will distribute the total amount from the Creator Pool to all the monetizing creators. Such allocation will happen based on the total views share by the creators in each country.
For example, if a creator gets 2% of all eligible Shorts views uploaded by monetizing creators, then they will be allocated 2% of the revenue from the Creator Pool.
4. Applying the Revenue Share
Finally, monetizing creators on YouTube will keep 45% of their allocated revenue even, if music was used or not. Remember that there are some things that will be excluded from the Creator Pool.
This includes any revenue associated with:
- Shorts views uploaded by music partners
- Views of Shorts uploaded by creators who have not accepted the Monetization Module
- Views of Shorts uploaded by non-monetizing creators
- Ads showing while opening the Shorts feed
- Ads on navigational pages in the Shorts player
- And more
When you understand all of this, it will become much easier for you to begin monetizing ad revenue from the Shorts.
YouTube Analytics: Check Estimated YouTube Shorts Ad Revenue
Even if you run YouTube Shorts Ads, you must track insights and see what you can do better. YouTube Analytics is an important part of this that will display estimated daily Shorts Feed ad revenue and other metrics you must use.
When you open the YouTube Partner Program, you will find a Revenue tab in YouTube Analytics. This tab will show the content earning the most revenue and the sources of revenue that are most profitable for your channel.
You might witness changes in this tab as YouTube changes its monetization and other policies. You can also see a detailed breakdown of the revenue for your channel.
The Shorts Feed ad revenue in YouTube Analytics will provide you with the estimated revenue for Feeds ad and YouTube Premium for the date range you select.
FAQs
Will YouTube Shorts Have Ads?
YouTube Shorts has ads in the Shorts feed. It shows up in between the various Shorts.
How Can I Advertise on YouTube Shorts?
You can begin advertising on YouTube Shorts by logging into your Google Ads account and creating an ad campaign.
How much do YouTube Shorts Ad Pay?
YouTube Shorts ads revenue is calculated by creating a Creator Pool and then allocating revenue from it based on various metrics. The revenue will depend on this allocation.
Why did YouTube Add Ads to YouTube Shorts?
YouTube wanted brands and creators to have more ways to advertise. Because of this, they also created Shorts Ads as the consumption of this type of content has grown popular in recent times.
Final Thoughts
YouTube Shorts ads are a great way to monetize your brand and channel. You can begin launching these ad campaigns if you want more ways to grow your revenue and reach people.
Remember that launching such a campaign is not easy. If you need help, you can opt for Dreams Marketing Agency to help.
Our experts understand the ad world in the best way possible. We can help maximize returns on your ad spend for YouTube Shorts ads.