Google's installed app ads top three billion
Google has rolled out the latest version of its Universal App Campaign alongside a TrueView ad format for YouTube with a customised call to action for users. The search engine giant has reached a milestone with its app ads, with more than three billion being installed, up from two billion in May this year. Universal Ad Campaigns has a global reach, linking brands and users via its online services including Google Play. TrueView makes video ads more actionable and is intended to encourage users to make purchase decisions. 

by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, September 14, 2016

Google has hit a milestone of more than 3 billion installs for app ads, up from 2 billion in May, and released the next generation of Universal App Campaigns along with a new TrueView ad format for YouTube, once again turning the focus Wednesday to mobile advertising at the Dmexco conference.

Universal App Campaigns analyzes signals to create ads based on copy, images and signals in real-time. The programmatic platform now globally connects brands with consumers across Google's global properties such as Google Search, Play, YouTube, and the millions of sites and apps in the Google Display Network.

Machine-learning algorithms keep track of where consumers engage with ads once in-app activities are defined in AdWords and marketers set the cost-per installs in campaigns.

"For example, we may learn that the users who tap into the most hotel deals are those who watch travel vlogs on YouTube. So, we'll show more of your ads on those types of YouTube channels," Sridhar Ramaswamy, SVP of ads and commerce at Google, wrote in a post.

advertisement advertisement

The hotel search app trivago, one of the first to test the latest version of Universal App Campaigns, helps travelers find the perfect room away from home. Marketers choose the in-app activity to optimize the campaign and can use Google’s app measurement solutions like Firebase Analytics or tools from third-party measurement partners to measure activities.

Universal App Campaigns found that consumers are more likely to click on hotel deals to book a room in the trivago app, allowing the brand to acquire customers who are about 20% more valuable to its business across devices running the Android and the iOS operating systems, Ramaswamy wrote.

Google also announced TrueView for action, an ad format for YouTube campaigns that encourages users to take any online action that is meaningful for their business such as "get a quote," "book now" "sign up," or "schedule a test drive."

The new format, which Google will begin testing this year, makes video ads more actionable by displaying a tailored call-to-action that marketers can customize during and after the video runs.

Data from a recent study suggests that 47% of U.S. consumers ages 18 to 54 say the content on YouTube helps them at least once monthly make a decision about buying something. Google estimates that about 70 million people going to YouTube every month for help with a purchase, according to the data from the Google/Ipsos Connect, YouTube Sports Viewers Survey, U.S., March 2016.