Overview
Driving brand awareness and ad recall with YouTube Audio Ads
Services: Paid search | Creative
Markets: US
The challenge
Part of AMC Networks, Shudder is a premium streaming service for both casual and super fans of thrillers, suspense and horror. Shudder was looking for new avenues to increase the reach of their customer acquisition activity and improve brand awareness.
In early 2020, Google released a new alpha product for audio ads run across the YouTube Music platform. This was a great opportunity to use digital audio campaigns to improve brand awareness and ad recall across the US market.
The Croud difference
Croud’s creative team utilised the power of the Croudie Network to develop 15-second audio ads – one with a female voice, and one with a male voice. The ads incorporated the best-performing PPC ad copy into the script and were unskippable. The music and SFX treatment was produced in line with Shudder’s product and brand guidelines.
The results
YouTube Audio Ads demonstrated an effective new way to support awareness and reach-oriented campaigns, while delivering positive brand lift, in an audio-first format that was not previously possible on YouTube and YouTube Music.
Off the back of the campaign, both Brand Lift 2.0 studies and Search Lift showed extremely positive results. The campaign managed to deliver over 2.8 million audio impressions, as well as driving a significant uplift in brand searches. The ad creatives proved effective, with listeners surveyed reporting a higher brand recall and brand awareness compared to the control group.
audio impressions
%
lift in ad recall
%
uplift in brand interest on Google Search
We were keen to test out Google’s new alpha project for audio ads and with Croud having an established relationship with YouTube, it was the perfect partnership. Working closely with Croud’s creative team, and network of experts, we saw fantastic results and met our targets for both awareness and reach.
Mike Strashun, Director of Growth Marketing, Shudder at AMC Networks