When we look at what kind of CPC video ads there are in Yandex.Direct, there are obvious similarities between the three formats: you can start any of them even with a small budget, they are part of Text & Image campaigns, and have clips that last 15 seconds. But what about the differences?

Video ads are a separate ad type. You can create a campaign with only video, set separate bids, add your own copy and title. You can use your own video or content from the library. 

Video extensions are an addition to Text & Image ads. The clip can be your own or taken from the library. Bid adjustments can be set. Text for the video is taken from the Text & Image ad.

Default video extensions are additions to Text & Image ads generated automatically from the ad's image. Bids are set using adjustments, and if the bid is sufficient, the ad appears in the Yandex Video Network. Text for the video is taken from the Text & Image ad. 

These ads appear in the Yandex Video Network — more than 300 sites in the Yandex Advertising Network — and are seen by a unique and loyal audience of 37 million users each month.

Now let's look at how to create effective CPC video ads in Yandex.Direct:

1. Making creatives

1.  Creatives for default video extensions

• Add relevant images for default video extensions (the system will automatically create an animation from image you upload). The image should not contain logos or text, to ensure that the overlaid text is legible.

  Image unrelated to text:

  Image clearly linked to text:

• Make sure that the ad text makes both the product or service being advertised and USP clear to the target audience.
• Add clear, relevant sitelinks. They will appear above the image after the ad text.

2. Clips for video extensions and video ads

• Add a video clip that is relevant to the product or service being advertised. Don't worry if you don't have or don't know how to make your own video clip — you can use one from the library. It's a better idea, however, to use your own clip — doing so increases the frequency with which your ad can appear, as video clips from the library are distributed among users.
• Our data have shown that video ads featuring clips that are relevant to the product or service being advertised have lower CPA in comparison to ads with more abstract clips.

  

• Upload your own video clips to increase your conversion rates.

  

• If the subject of your ad requires licensing, you should add video (your own or from the library) along with the necessary legal information. This legal information must be added manually, so ads for licensed subjects with default video extensions will not appear in the Yandex Video Network.
• Be sure to check the cropping of your video and preview — did all the important elements stay in the visible area?  Clips up to 30 seconds in length can be uploaded, but they will be cropped to 15 seconds.
• Add a relevant title and text to appear above the video.  The ad's button should feature a call-to-action like "Order," "Buy" or "Find out more."

  

• Add an audio clip to your video ads. Our statistics shows that ads with music or speech have lower CPA than ads without sound. Don't have your own audio — you can choose from our library.

  

• Make your offer clear in the first three seconds of your clip, so the user can quickly figure out whether your ad is interesting before they get distracted by something else. Ads aiming to create intrigue by revealing the product or service at the end of the clip show worse CPA.
• Add scrolling text to your clip so that users with muted volume can still get information about your offer.
• Make sure you add any required warnings for licensed topics.
• Remember about the post-view effect.

  

  There's currently no way to assess the post-view effect, but you should keep it in mind once you've launched your campaign.  At times it can be obvious, if only one display campaign was launched during a specific period and there was a clear improvement in your key indicators that increased over time. You can track it by comparing periods in Yandex.Metrica. The post-view effect can also be seen in query dynamics in the WordStat service.

2. Setting up targeting

• To increase your conversions, use display criteria — goals and segments from Yandex.Metrica and segments from Yandex.Audience. 
  
  Let's say you are advertising real estate. Create a Yandex.Metrica segment of users who previously visited your site. Show this audience segment a video clip with new information, for example, about properties now available or a new promotion. Users that are already familiar with your brand are more likely to be interested in your offer. One advertiser in the real estate industry used retargeting with their video ads to reduce their CPA to a third of that of their ads for keywords and get 3.8 X higher CR.
• Setting up retargeting

  Retargeting makes it possible to cover the entire sales funnel — first you work on brand awareness, raising interest in your product via display campaigns, and then aim for sales by reaching out to those users who already know your brand and are likely to convert with CPC banners in Yandex.Direct with call-to-action buttons.

  

3. Setting up the campaign

• Just like regular Text & Image ads in ad networks, we recommend you use automated strategies. Once you set your weekly budget limit, you should check to make sure that it isn't too restrictive. If you regularly reach your limit before the end of the week, you might want to think about raising it.
• To manage your impressions in the Yandex Video Network more flexibly, create separate campaigns with video ads — that way you can control your budget and bids separately.
• For more narrow topics with smaller traffic amounts, you can create video ads in your existing Text & Image campaigns and set separate bids for them. This makes it possible to gather better statistics that can improve the performance of conversion-based automated strategies.  

4. Bid adjustments

Alongside your standard bid adjustments, like demographic or device type, you can add bid adjustments for video extensions. In Report Wizard, analyze the statistics for your ads with video and set bid adjustments in line with their deviation from your target CPA.

5. Working with host sites

• In Report Wizard, analyze the host sites where your video extensions or video ads appeared. Disabling sites is something that should be done carefully, and based on real evidence of low-quality traffic. Keep in mind that the system takes site statistics into account and does its best to avoid showing your ads on sites likely to be ineffective.
• Review the list of your disabled host sites once a month or quarter. Publishers are always working on improving their sites' content to increase their visit rates and raise the quality of their audiences. If a host site has improved, you don't want to miss out on the traffic it can offer.

It's easy to measure the performance of video advertising in Yandex.Direct — Report Wizard offers detailed statistics by campaign that you can use to assess the effectiveness of individual keywords and ads. Our clients' results show this much more clearly.

One advertiser in the real estate industry saw lower CPA as a result of video ads' effect on their conversion rates:

An advertiser in the medical industry used video ads to decrease their CPA with lower CPC and more precise targeting:

For additional help, you can always reach out to your Yandex manager or contact the International Sales Team. As always, if you have your own lifehacks for setting up CPC video, we'd be grateful to read your comments. We'll keep them in mind for our future . Good luck with your campaigns!