Youtube has created a way for you to purchase what you see on your TV as you’re watching it

Google is known, especially as of late, for innovating in very creative and unusual ways. Today, I happened across something pretty interesting that YouTube is doing. Over on the Ads & Commerce Blog, it’s detailed a tool called Video action campaigns that help drive engagement with brands and increase sales for marketers. While these already existed before today, the ability to push these to connected televisions (CTVs) has not.

To help consumers more easily learn about the products and services they’re interested in, we’re making YouTube ads on connected TVs more shoppable. Today, we’re expanding Video action campaigns to CTVs to help advertisers drive more online sales or generate leads, and grow their business. 

Google Ads & Commerce Blog

Now, any connected TVs – that is, any TVs that supports connection to the internet and streaming capabilities – that exist inside of your home are able to be presented not just with ads, but a way to interact with them on a deeper level. For those moments where you’re interested in what’s being discussed on a commercial break between your Youtube videos (if you don’t have Youtube Premium), you’ll now be able to click and be redirected to purchase those tomatoes, lightbulbs, or anything else that’s being advertised using your phone or desktop. The video stream won’t be interrupted while you do this either.

If you’re already seeing ads, I suppose they may as well provide more value, right? Google says that a quarter of logged-in Youtube CTV viewers are watching via the TV in their living rooms (over 120 million as of December 2020), and that it’s an essential place for brands to drive conversion with new audiences. In an early experiment for Video action campaigns on TV screens, over 90% of conversions coming from CTV would not have been reachable on mobile and desktop devices. That’s a staggering number!

Using something called Conversion Lift beta on TV screens, advertisers can also convert viewers to visit websites, sign up for things, and more right from the couch. We live in a world where your attention and loyalty to a brand are paramount to their success, and as much as I detest ads, I know their importance. If it were up to me, we’d live in an ad-free society, and we’d get money other ways.

For now, if you’re going to see ads on your living room TV, they may as well help you in some way instead of just being an annoyance or something you have to remember for later, I think. Taking action on something right away will certainly increase sales, and if it happens to be something you need in your life, I suppose that’s worthwhile.