YouTube gets Super Bowl 50 ads weeks before the main event

By Saqib Shah January 20, 2016

youtube superbowl ads super bowl levis stadium 50 denver bronco new england patriots — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Super Bowl ads are an event unto themselves. Brands now spend millions both on producing their game day ads and of course on their placement.

YouTube has realized the value of its service in regard to live events such as the Super Bowl, and is offering advertisers the ability to get their hallowed TV spots online early via its AdBlitz platform.

A YouTube channel and separate website, AdBlitz — which has been available for the past seven years — is already seeing brands upload sneak peeks and clips of their Super Bowl 50 ads, weeks before kickoff.

AdBlitz currently features clips from KFC and website builder Wix.com, with more to come. The platform also allows users to vote for and share their favorite game day ads. And, according to Google, it’s been a massive success.

In 2015, people watched the equivalent of 1,600 years of Super Bowl ads on YouTube, with 40 percent of that viewing time taking place before game day. An additional 300,000 hours of ads were watched online during the game itself.

In order to further capitalize on those blockbuster figures, Google today announced that it is launching a real-time advertising tool. The new feature will work across all of Google’s platforms, allowing brands and marketers to run ads timed to big moments during live events. The feature, which is currently in beta mode, was reportedly utilized by a Marco Rubio Super PAC during a candidates’ debate night and will also be applied during this year’s Oscars.

Google is acutely aware that both YouTube and its other platforms act as mere second screens compared to the main event. The numbers, however, prove that may still be enough to attract advertisers. The Web giant claims that advertisers that publish spots online before the Super Bowl accumulate 2.2 times more views than ads scheduled for game day.

Meanwhile, the price for Super Bowl spots has increased a massive 76 percent over the last decade, according to Kantar Media. CBS executives have reportedly revealed that their Super Bowl rate for this year is north of $5 million. All that for a fleeting clip during an already noisy broadcast. No wonder advertisers are seeking out new avenues for their investments.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Saqib Shah is a Twitter addict and film fan with an obsessive interest in pop culture trends. In his spare time he can be…

Audio / Video

YouTube TV adds Magnolia Network and other FAST channels

YouTube TV on Apple TV.

YouTube TV has added a handful of channels of the FAST variety — that is, the sort of thing you'd find on an ad-supported service like Tubi or The Roku Channel. The additions are hardly the only FAST channels on the largest live-streaming service in the U.S., which has more than 5 million subscribers as of June 2022.

New to YouTube TV are Magnolia Network, Charge!, TBD TV, and T2. The CW also makes an appearance in the list of new channels after a new deal was reached earlier this spring.

Computing

These are the 10 most-viewed YouTube videos of all time

Being popular is about the only thing the current most-viewed YouTube videos have in common with their top-performing predecessors. Even though YouTube videos like Chocolate Rain went viral during the first few years of YouTube's content, they probably wouldn't be among the kinds of videos that go viral on the platform now.

In fact, children's programming and music videos are now among the most-viewed content on YouTube. Music videos, in particular, have enjoyed great success on the streaming site and, until recently, had been the majority of the most-viewed videos in YouTube's history. Music videos still account for 40% of the top 10 most-viewed videos, however. The other 60% is content for young children. If these view counts are anything to go by, the video-sharing site could be considered a leading platform for music videos and kid-friendly content, rather than just the memeworthy viral videos the site was known for in its early days.
What is the most-viewed YouTube video of all time?
Baby Shark Dance is the most-viewed video ever on YouTube. The children's song overtook the all-Spanish version of Despacito in November 2020.
What are the top 10 most-viewed YouTube videos?

Audio / Video

YouTube TV details fixes for audio sync, better 1080p quality

YouTube TV on Apple TV.

YouTube TV — the most popular live-streaming service service in the U.S. with more than 5 million subscribers — this week gave an update on Reddit on some bug squashing and upcoming features, plus some welcome improvements. It's an interesting bit of transparency in an age in which app changelogs are all but useless.

Probably the most interesting is that YouTube TV is "testing transcoding changes, including a bit rate increase for live 1080p content." Resolution — that's the 1080p number — is just one part of what makes up the quality of the picture on your screen. Bit rate is another. Basically it refers to the amount of data being pushed to make up that resolution — like the difference between a 1,080-piece puzzle with a picture made up of five colors, or one made up of 500 colors. Think of it like that. The higher the bit rate, the better the picture. And as we've discussed before, we'll take a 1080p stream with a higher bit rate over a bad 4K stream any day of the week, particularly when it comes to sports (which is exactly what we've seen with Apple's excellent MLS streams).