How CouponDunia clocked higher views for its YouTube ads

The digital campaign had a bouquet of 50 ads, custom-created for each YouTube channel that the ad was broadcast on.

Online coupon website CouponDunia recently concluded a digital campaign that extensively and effectively used YouTube to connect with its target audience. The campaign had a bouquet of 50 ads, custom-created for each YouTube channel that the ad was broadcast on.

These ads egged users to view the entire spot, even if they had the option to skip it. Categories such as comedy (AIB, Pretentious Movie Reviews), entertainment (Zee TV, T-series) and foreign sports (European football) were targetted to reach the brand's TG of 18-34 year olds. Each ad had a self-deprecating tone and was given a context based on the channel it was played on.

Sameer Parwani, CEO and founder, CouponDunia, says, "Digital is a great platform to select your audience and customise for them. Because the ads talk directly to the viewer, it is positively jarring and, hence, gets attention. A much higher percentage of people viewed this ad, as compared to our previous YouTube campaigns."

Around 32 per cent viewers saw the ads from this campaign completely, as against a YouTube average of 17 per cent. An increase of 77 per cent in the ad viewership was observed, as compared to the brand's previous ads on YouTube. This also reduced the cost per view (of the ad) for the brand. Interestingly, the brand's initiative has been appreciated on Twitter by viewers who found the ads amusing.

Nitin Bawankule, director, E-commerce, Retail, Online Classifieds, Technology, Education and Government, Google India, says, "Targetting the right audience through focussed selection of segment, genre and category is important for an ad to succeed on YouTube. For e-commerce category, everyone who is looking to buy online is on YouTube. Hence, targetted advertising catering to a certain demography, age-group, choices or inclination to shop online will help the brand reach its TG."

The True View ad format on YouTube allows the viewer to skip the ad, while the advertiser pays only if it is viewed for 20 seconds or more. "This is a good test for advertisers to see if the consumer stays interested in the ad and sees it till the end. CouponDunia created ads especially for digital medium and made them engrossing for the viewer, which is why this format worked well for them," he adds.

The campaign, which began in July and ends this month, hopes to increase brand awareness and reach out to the right consumer. Flixit video production services has worked on the execution of the 50 ads. While 50 per cent of the brand's sales happens in top five cities, this campaign tries to engage with audiences across the country.