Is YouTube Promotion Worth It?: Basics and How-To’s
YouTube promotions offer marketers a quick and convenient way to achieve specific platform goals at remarkably low costs. Promoting a YouTube video for fresh channels and videos seems like a no-brainer – but is it really worth it?
What Are YouTube Promotions?
Sometimes called “creator promotions,” YouTube Promotions is a tool designed to let channels advertise their videos to a wider audience. Promotions offer specific goals, and you can adjust the goal as often as you’d like while the promotion is active.
Anyone can use YouTube Promotions, and it’s considered an effective way to build channel awareness, increase video views, and achieve other marketing goals – we’ll get into the details later. Importantly, you don’t have to be a part of the YouTube Partner Program, which is currently limited to about 3 million content creators out of 65 million creators – and 2.4 billion YouTube users.
How to Promote YouTube Videos
Setting up a promotion is very similar to creating a Google Ads campaign but much easier. All you’ll need to get started is:
- A Google Ads account (it’s free)
- Admin-level access to a YouTube account
- A video to boost
Once you have these accounts activated and ready to rock, here’s how to boost your YouTube video, step-by-step:
- On your YouTube account’s watch page, go to your content list and select the three-dot menu next to the video you want to boost (example above).
- Follow the prompt to link your Google Ads account.
- Set your goal. YouTube offers three goals:
- Audience growth, which will increase channel subscribers
- Boost YouTube views of the selected video
- Website clicks
- Confirm your selected video and add a link to your desired landing page.
- Target your audience. YouTube will automatically serve your boosted video to users it thinks are most likely to engage with your channel. You can control where it’s served by limiting it to specific countries or languages.
- Set a budget. This is based on total spend over a specific period. So, a $75 budget over three days will spend about $25 per day.
- That’s it! You’re ready to boost videos on YouTube.
Can You Boost Your YouTube Channel?
You can’t boost your channel specifically, but setting your promotion goal for audience growth is the next best thing. The most effective way to grow your channel is to be vocal—ask viewers to like and subscribe (yes, that actually works) and include subscription as a CTA in video descriptions, too.
Are YouTube Promotions Worth It?
There are dozens—hundreds—of videos highlighting YouTube Promotions tests and research. The results vary widely by channel size, budget, goals, and video quality. While not exactly scientific, there are plenty of interesting tests worth checking out.
In our experience, results have been mixed at best. We tested YouTube Promotions on several videos for a client looking to increase views—and it worked. While more views may have increased brand awareness, they didn’t do much for the channel long-term.
In March 2024, we spent $500 across several videos and achieved the following:
- 10,200 views
- 583.7 hours of watch time
- 63 new subscribers
But once the money ran out, the channel reverted to form. The boosted views accounted for 88% of total views, 91.9% of watch time, and 33.8% of all new subscribers for the whole year, all in a single month.
We also found that those new viewers weren’t exactly the most committed bunch; in the 90 days after the promotion ended, just 10 viewers came back to watch another video. We also lost 7 of the “new” subscribers gained during the promotion test.
So, should you pay to promote YouTube videos?
Unless you have a mature channel with plenty of high-quality videos and a specific goal in mind, probably not. Especially if your goal is to drive website clicks, a strong Google Ads campaign (run by an experienced PPC team) is a much better route. If the goal is more views, consider a YouTube audit and a strategic optimization project to get more out of your existing content and guide future content creation, too.
Give Your YouTube Channel a Real Boost
YouTube is the most underrated marketing platform on the planet, and we’re singing its praises to everyone we know. Realize the true value of video marketing with a data-driven approach to YouTube; our experienced team of SEOs and content creators have the skills to ratchet up views and cultivate a strong community of subscribers. Get in touch or call (231) 922-9977 today to press play on your YouTube strategy.
