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Measure video ad performance

In AdWords, you can see your video campaigns under “All campaigns” alongside any other campaigns you may be running. By selecting Video campaigns from this drop-down menu, you can view a summary of only your video campaigns’ performance. In this view, only the columns and features related to video campaign performance will automatically populate with performance data.

Some key metrics for your video campaigns include:

• Core performance:
  • Views show you the number of times people watched or engaged with your video ad. Note: TrueView video ads views will also count towards your video's public YouTube view count only if a video is longer than 11 seconds.
  • View rate shows you the number of views or engagements your video ad receives divided by the number of times your ad is shown (video and thumbnail impressions).
  • Avg. CPV is the average amount you pay when a viewer watches 30 seconds of your video (or the duration if it's shorter than 30 seconds) or engages with your video, whichever comes first. Note that your average CPV may not be the same as your maximum CPV. Your maximum CPV is the most you’re willing to pay for an ad view.
• Click performance:
  • Clicks show you the number of times people clicked on your video. Clicks can help you understand how well your ad is appealing to people who see it. Engaging ads are more likely to receive clicks.
  • Clickthrough rate (CTR) is the number of clicks that your ad receives divided by the number of times your ad is shown, expressed as a percentage.
• Engagement performance:
  • Engagements show you the number of clicks on interactive elements such as teasers or icons to expand any cards that may be on your video.
  • Engagement rate is the number of engagements that your ad receives (for example, clicks on card teasers and icons) divided by the number of times your ad is shown, expressed as a percentage (engagements ÷ impressions = engagement rate).
• Reach and frequency:
  • Unique cookies is the number of cookies (which store preferences and other information that’s used on webpages that they visit) specific to an individual browser on people's computers.
  • Unique viewers by cookie is the number of times your video ad was viewed by a unique cookie over a given time period.
  • Avg. impr. freq. per cookie is the average number of times your video ad is shown to a unique cookie over a given time period.
  • Avg. view freq. per cookie is the average number of times that a unique cookie viewed your video over a given time period.
• Video viewership (also known as "quartile reporting")
  • Video played to: 25% shows how often a video is played to 25% of its length.
  • Video played to: 50% shows how often a video is played until the middle of its view length.
  • Video played to: 75% shows how often a video is played to 75% of its length.
  • Video played to: 100% shows how often a video is played to its completion.
• YouTube engagement: Earned actions happen when a viewer watches a video ad and then takes a related action on YouTube. The following are different types of earned actions:
  • Earned views increment if a YouTube viewer watches subsequent videos on your YouTube channel or Watch pages. This type of earned action increments whether or not someone chooses to watch the same video again or any other video on your channel.
  • Earned subscribes happen when a viewer subscribes to your channel. This type of earned action provides unique value because the content from these YouTube channels and the channel avatars themselves may be viewed on the YouTube home page.
  • Earned playlist additions happen when a viewer adds the video to a playlist.
  • Earned likes happen when a viewer likes the video.
  • Earned shares happen when a viewer shares the video.

Many of the robust reporting features available for Search and Display campaigns are also available for video campaigns, such as:

• Advanced filtering - Filter your account statistics to search for the data that interests you the most, for example, "YouTube earned actions" or "Max. CPV." You can either filter by label or create your own filter. Once you've created a filter, you can save it for easy access in the future.
• Segments - Use segments to split your data into rows based on the options that matter most to you, such as format, network, device, etc. This makes it easier to view the data by isolating exactly what you want to see. You can also segment by view type to split out your performance by in-stream views versus video discovery views. Your segment choices vary, depending on the tab of your AdWords account that you're viewing.
• Automated reporting - You can find specific performance data about your video campaigns that interest you, by customizing the statistics tables of your AdWords account using columns, segments, and filters. Once the tables look exactly how you want, you can download them as reports in a variety of formats and save them. You can also set up reports to run at specific intervals, and schedule them to be emailed to you or other people who have access to your account.
• My Change History - The My Change History tool lists the changes you've made to your account. It shows each change within a timeline, mapped to your account data. You can view all changes for a particular time period, filter the results by the type of change (such as budget adjustments or ad group edits), or see changes for a particular video campaign. By comparing your changes with the timeline of performance data, you can find out which changes may have contributed to changes in your performance.
• Modifying columns - When you're viewing your AdWords account from the "All campaigns" view, some columns might be pre-populated with information not relevant to your video campaigns. You can add and remove columns on any tab, by clicking Modify columns on the "Columns" drop-down menu. Whatever you unselect will be hidden the next time you sign in to your AdWords account. When you select "Video campaigns" on the campaign type drop-down menu, you'll see the following predefined types of columns:
  • Views - Use these columns to monitor your video views and audience engagement.
  • Audience - These metrics help you track the growth of your YouTube audience.
  • Branding - See how well your video ads are building brand awareness.
  • Conversions - Analyze clicks and conversions on your website.