David Farnor | On 19, Jun 2016

Hoping to advertise on YouTube? There’s an app for that, as the video site targets small businesses.

YouTube is always keen to emphasise its potential for advertisers. This week, research commissioned by the streaming giant highlighted its engagement with younger viewers compared to normal television – the kind of claim that is designed to woo spenders away from traditional marketing. YouTube is certainly growing: watch time on YouTube is up at least 50 per cent year-over-year.

Now, YouTube is taking a more direct approach with the creation of YouTube Director, an app to help businesses with lower advertising budgets to create a video ad for their company right from their phone.

“We know that creating a video ad can be challenging. To make it easier for every business— from a dog walker to a barber shop owner—to get started with advertising on YouTube, we’re launching the YouTube Director suite of products,” says Max Goldman, Product Manager of YouTube Director.

The free app is being released first in the US and Canada, making it easy for people to edit together an advert without any experience. YouTube highlights Woody Lovell Jr., owner of the The Barber Shop Club in Los Angeles and a trial user of the app, as a success story: Woody reportedly shot and edited a video ad by himself, uploaded it to YouTube, and worked with an AdWords expert to run a campaign.

“As a result, Woody’s business saw a significant increase in potential customers being able to remember and recognise his ad,” says YouTube.

In select US cities, the video site is also offering YouTube Director onsite, a service that sends a professional filmmaker to shoot and edit a video ad for free whenever a business spends at least $150 to advertise on YouTube. The service is available in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington D.C., with more cities on the way. If successful, you can expect it to expand worldwide in the near future.

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