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Ever wonder why Smosh gets millions of views on every video posted to their channel? Or how Michelle Phan is able to attract and retain an audience of more than 6M subscribers who tune into her videos every week?

To demystify what makes these top channels tick and help you better understand how to create a successful strategy for your brand on YouTube, we developed the new YouTube Creator Playbook for Brands. Similar to the Creator Playbook, which has helped over 2 million of our creators grow their audiences, the Creator Playbook for Brands walks you through the steps to help you create, plan, and implement a YouTube content creation strategy; from tips on how to create videos to video promotion.

To dive right in, download the full playbook here. But to give you a taste of what you'll find, we thought we’d do some myth busting on the five most commonly misunderstood fundamentals about creating content for YouTube:

Myth #1: Virality is the only measure of YouTube success. The most successful creators release episodic series to generate high sharing and viral activity, as one video will often break out and then introduce massive audiences to the entire series.

Myth #2: I can only be successful on my own. While you should optimize your own channel for discovery, authentic collaborations with YouTube creators can be a hugely impactful way to help new viewers discover your brand.

Myth #3: All videos must provide utility. Don't get us wrong, how-to and informational videos play a key role in a content strategy, but tapping into the cultural moments and memes that your audience is a part of on YouTube is an integral part of reaching new viewers.

Myth #4: People will watch my video where I want them to. In reality, a significant percentage of your audience will discover your video from a social feed, search result, or a related video placement. You’ll know you’ve done your job when every episode of your show can be fully appreciated by a first time viewer.

Myth #5: To keep viewers interested, I need to constantly reinvent my videos. Most top creators agree that consistency is crucial to success on the site. Stay true to who you are and be consistent - in format (a recurring series), elements (intros and outros), and voice. This will set a clear point of view that accurately reflects your brand and keeps your fans coming back for more.

Check out Think Insights for more tips on how to build your audience and engage them over time.

Posted By Vanessa Pappas, Global Head of Audience Development, YouTube

Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog

Since getting online, Green Mountain Bee Farm in Fairfax, Vt. experienced a 5x increase in sales, and Christine Fitzpatrick Hair and Makeup in Birmingham, Mich. attracted 50 percent more clients. Getting online can make a big difference for small businesses—and stronger businesses makes for stronger communities. Online businesses are expected to grow 40 percent faster and create twice as many jobs as those that aren't online,* but more than half of America’s small businesses currently don't have a website. That’s the inspiration behind Get Your Business Online Week, when we come together with local partners to get businesses in our communities online and growing. Starting today, we’ll broadcast free virtual workshops for business owners, available to anyone with an Internet connection. Here’s a glimpse of what you can look forward to:
  • Conversations with businesses that have prospered online, like Barkbox, GoldieBlox and Dollar Shave Club
  • Step-by-step demos on building a website and getting found on Search and Maps
  • Interviews with small business experts like SmallBizLady Melinda Emerson
  • Workshops on Google tools for businesses (Google Apps, Google Trends, Google Alerts), online advertising (AdWords), and measuring your success online (Analytics)
  • Free help and advice from experts over Helpouts by Google
We’re also teaming up with small business organizations across the country including local chambers of commerce, Small Business Development Centers and SCORE chapters to host live broadcasts of our trainings. You can find a screening closest to you on our website. We’re excited to welcome small business everywhere to join us for this special week. Even if you don’t own a business, we encourage you to take part by spreading the word and inviting your favorite businesses to sign up.


See you on the web!

Posted by Amber Shapiro, on behalf of the Get Your Business Online team,

*Source: BCG Report, "The Connected World: The $4.2 Trillion Opportunity," March 2012

NOTE: As of March 10th 2015, The Engagement Ads Certification Badge was renamed to Custom Lightbox Certification (Learn more).

Studio Certified developers, do you want to tell the world that you can create innovative ads designed for users to connect with brands? With DoubleClick Studio's Engagement Ads Certification, you can get certified in building ads that marry the art of brand building with the science of performance display.

Engagement Ads are tuned to user engagement – not clicks, letting brands connect with users through multiple creative formats. Ads are available on a cost-per-engagement (CPE) basis, allowing advertisers to bid and pay only for user engagement.

Watch this video:


Engagement Ads fit in standard display units, allowing them to scale across the web and then expand to a larger format after an innovative two-second hover delay. This delay eliminates nearly all accidental expansions, providing a better user experience and more accurate reporting to advertisers.

With this flexibility, the richness of a campaign using Engagement Ads depends on the story the brand wants to tell and the type of content they want to promote. Creatives can range from rich, interactive videos built in DoubleClick Studio to immersive brand experiences using HTML5, CSS3, and WebGL – all without leaving the ad format on the publisher's website.

Check out an Engagement Ad format in action.

Engagement Ads badge certification gives you:
  • A badge that identifies you as a Studio Certified user able to create Engagement format ads
  • Promotion as a via DoubleClick Rich Media properties and associated sites
You also receive the benefits of the Studio Certification Program, including exclusive access to betas and product features, DoubleClick hosted events and workshops, and a badge you can use for self-promotion.


Pass the exam and get the badge to demonstrate your expertise in creating rich ads to boost user engagement. Take the Engagement Ads exam and get certified.

Note: You must be Studio Certified in Core Flash or HTML5 to take the Engagement Ads certification exam.

 Not Studio Certified? No worries! Get Certified today. We have these Studio Certification badges available:
  1. Core Studio Certification exam for Flash and HTML5 developers
  2. Integrated QA Certification
  3. Advanced Badge Certification for Dynamic creatives, VPAID creatives, and YouTube Mastheads
Learn more about Studio Certification in the Rich Media Gallery.

Posted by Paige Birnbaum, Program Manager, DoubleClick Studio Certification

What makes an ad worth spreading?

For the fourth year, TED’s Ads Worth Spreading and YouTube are partnering to celebrate advertising that goes beyond a simple commercial message. Each year, TED speakers and stars from the advertising industry select 10 ads that tell a story and forge a connection with their audiences, prompting them to share that story with friends and family around the world.
This year, we’ve added a new component that focuses on identifying the ad submissions that are “spreading” on YouTube. We passed the nominees through our YouTube Ads Leaderboard algorithm to determine which of these ads have already caught on with the YouTube community.

See the Special Edition TED Ads Worth Spreading YouTube Ads Leaderboard here and the winning TED Ads Worth Spreading honorees here.

TED’s Ads Worth Spreading is a call to action for all of us who are in the profession of communicating ideas to elevate our game from creating messages that are memorable to those that are shareable.

Cross-posted from the DoubleClick Advertisers blog
Marketers and agencies have countless opportunities to engage audiences with rich formats across channels and devices. But today, organizations are using an average of 4.7 ad tech platforms to execute what should be a seamless experience across search, display, video, mobile, and more.

Many forward-thinking organizations know the real opportunity lies in creating unified, cross-channel experiences that span multiple touchpoints. In a new Think Insights article, Marco Bertozzi, Executive Managing Director at VivaKi, explains the benefits of adopting a unified solution to unlock the full potential of digital marketing. Check out the article on the Think Insights page here.
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The YouTube Ads Leaderboard showcases the most creative ads that people choose to watch each month.

Last month’s Leaderboard revealed the ads that were getting the most buzz leading up to the big game. This month we look at those that are continuing to capture consumers’ attention long after the final whistle, including Chrysler and Bob Dylan’s “America’s Import,” Coca-Cola’s “America Is Beautiful” and Microsoft’s “Empowering.” We also welcome some new players to the Leaderboard; luxury automakers grabbed the interest of consumers with the U.S. launch of Maserati’s Ghibli and Hennessey’s demonstration of the world’s fastest legal street car.

See who else made the list and watch the videos on Think with Google.

Ads are determined for the YouTube Ads Leaderboard by an algorithm that factors in paid views, organic views and audience retention (how much of a video people watched). For additional coverage of the YouTube Ads Leaderboard, go to Adweek.com.

Cross-posted from the DoubleClick Advertisers blog

During the 2013 holidays, we shared some tips and tricks on how to adjust your bid strategies to take advantage of seasonal opportunities. Today, we wanted to take a look back and highlight one of our holiday success stories with the DoubleClick Search Performance Bidding Suite for real-time bid optimization. The following story comes from the VivaKi Search Hub -- VivaKi’s marketing support service that uses a deep knowledge of DoubleClick Search to drive results for their advertisers’ search programs.  

 One of the VivaKi Search Hub’s advertisers, a large retail brand, looked to the team to overhaul their current strategies for maximizing results over the 2013 Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping days. To prepare for this peak time, the team turned to the DoubleClick Search Performance Bidding Suite to automate bids based on real-time conversion data, and respond immediately to market changes. 

 Timothy Lackhouse, Team Lead for Bid Strategy at the VivaKi Search Hub, was in charge of managing the advertiser’s bid strategies. “The bid strategies in DoubleClick Search are incredibly clear to set up and modify,” said Lackhouse. “With near real-time and granular reporting, we don’t need to spend countless hours or days waiting for the data. We’re able to get a deep level of insight into our performance right away -- assessing what’s working, what’s not, and making tweaks as necessary.” 

 Within days of launching the new bid strategies, the positive results were irrefutable. During Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the VivaKi Search Hub was able to increase its advertiser’s conversions by 360 percent while lowering CPO by 27 percent -- all while saving 90 minutes a day. 

 To get the full scoop on the VivaKi Search Hub’s success with the Performance Bidding Suite, read the full customer story here. Stay tuned to the DoubleClick Search blog and Google+ page for even more customer success stories.