After introducing the idea of the “bumper” ad format back in 2016 – a six-second ad played before the YouTube video the user wants to view –, YouTube is now unveiling a new Machine Learning (ML) based tool that automatically creates a six-second version of a longer ad.
Originally, much skepticism existed around the concept of a six-second ad, with brands primarily concerned whether they could successfully tell their “story” in six seconds.
But a 2017 investigation from YouTube found that 90% of advertisers saw an increase in ad recall after it tested 300 mobile bumper ad campaigns. And research from the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) found that these short-form ads capture 8-11% more attention per-second than their longer counterparts.
Titled ‘Bumper Machine’, YouTube is currently alpha-testing the tool which will scan longer ads for ‘key elements’ – which they state could include voiceovers, tight focus on humans, key logos etc. – to generate a shorter form, bumper ad with the “final CTA in the last 2-to-3 seconds” said Debbie Weinstein, Google’s Vice President of YouTube.
I’m personally excited to see exactly how brands and advertisers put Bumper Machine to the test – will it be to create a six-second teaser ad to a longer one? Will it be used simply to create Bumpers for brands with as little time and resource as possible? Or simply to create a starting point for advertisers to draw inspiration from when designing their bumpers?
Check out the example of what Bumper Machine can do here, where GrubHub used the tool to generate a bumper ad from a 13-second ad.
As I say, I’m interested to see where the technology goes from here, but I think it’s safe to say that it’s early doors (they’re only alpha-testing at the moment), and human review of the generated bumper ad will be essential.
What do you think of this new tool? Let us know in the comments!
