• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, July 31, 2019

After beta tests in select markets, YouTube is now making its masthead available for CPM-based buys to advertisers across global markets. 

In the past, the masthead, a video format that appears at the top of the YouTube Home feed on mobile and desktop, was sold only on a reserved-placement, cost-per-day (CPD) basis to a single advertiser per country. Those buys, which reach all YouTube homepage visitors, continue to be available.

YouTube began testing the CPM buy option (which is also on a reserved-placement basis) earlier this year.

These buys include the ability to target who sees the ad using demographics, interests and purchase intent data. Impressions are being guaranteed across campaign flights that can range from one to seven days.

L'Oréal is among the brands that have been testing CPM-based YouTube Masthead buys — in L'Oréal’s case, to target ads for its Diesel and Cacharel fragrances to audience segments in Germany. (Cacharel masthead mockup ads shown above.)

According to YouTube, in a 30-ad test run by Google and the Ipsos Lab in March 2018 among 3,000 U.S. adults, ads run in its masthead position lifted ad recall by 92% on average, and purchase intent by 46% on average.