Video advertising in Yandex.Direct

Video ads are served via auction model and are now available even to small businesses. The minimum budget starts at 300 RUB per day with a minimum order amount of 1000 RUB. But that's not all, video ads in Yandex.Direct have launched with expanded features.

Сall-to-action packshot

For your creatives you can use your own video content, 6-60 seconds in length. This can be as simple as recording a clip using a smartphone with a decent camera, or you can purchase stock video.

You can now also add a packshot, a clickable image that remains for several seconds after video content finishes playing. A packshot keeps the image of the product being advertised in the user's field of view and, if they are interested, gives them a chance to click on it.

You can also add a call-to-action button: choose its colors, shape and location, add some text, and add age limits if necessary.

New settings and targeting types

Video ads in Yandex.Direct offer new bid adjustments by inventory type — you can set bid adjustments from -100% to +1200% for ads in streaming video, textual content and mobile apps.

Like display campaigns, your video ads can be targeted via user profile — demographic characteristics, family makeup, profession, number of children, interests as well as data from Yandex.Metrica and Yandex.Audience. Keyword targeting, however, is not available, given that video ads are oriented toward raising brand awareness and generating demand. To respond to existing demand, it's better to use PPC video ads. 

Like other placement types, Yandex offers brand safety when placing video ads — our technology makes sure that they appear on sites free of unpleasant or shocking content. In addition, you can disable impressions on up to 20 sites in the Yandex Video Network.

Additionally, you can cap the frequency with which your ads appear to individual users. If a campaign contains both display and video ads, impression frequency caps will take them both into account, so you can run two ad formats simultaneously without worrying that they will appear to any one user more often than you wish.

Create a segment of users who saw your video ads

Once you have launched video ads in Yandex.Direct, you can segment users who saw video ads from your display campaign and use this segment for retargeting, i.e. set positive bid adjustments for such users in your performance campaigns to increase the chances of repeat interaction. To do so, you can set up retargeting for users who saw your video ads when creating or editing your video ads.

Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) in Yandex.Direct

Now you can launch outdoor advertising campaigns on digital billboards via the Yandex.Direct interface. It is served via auction with a minimum daily budget of 300 RUB. There are currently 115 advertising surfaces available in Moscow, and we are constantly adding new operators in the biggest cities in Russia.

Outdoor advertising is available in Yandex.Direct by request. To receive access in the interface, contact your Yandex manager or the International Sales team.

Payment for impressions

Digital outdoor advertising is sold on the basis of 1000 OTS (Opportunities To See), or the number of people who come into contact with your ad. Outdoor advertising is seen, as a rule, by several users at once, which explains one ad appearing once can have a higher OTS value than one. OTS is calculated in real time using mathematical models based on data related to users' location, as well as their speed and direction. Auctions take place just like they do for online ads — the advertiser with the biggest bids gets the most traffic, but, specific to outdoor advertising, their ads appear at optimal times, i.e. when the number of cars passing by is highest.

Full placement control

Once you have added a creative, you can choose from a list of digital billboards where your ads can appear. You can use placement statistics to launch and stop your campaigns via the interface without facing any fines.

You can also assess the situation on the roads where digital billboards are located, e.g. the speed of traffic passing by the billboard either currently, on a concrete day of the week, or on average over the past two months.

Gather audiences who saw your outdoor ads

You can gather audiences for retargeting in your settings. Yandex.Audience will automatically create a separate segment on the same account you use for Yandex.Direct. You will be able to reach out to users in this segment with new ads and exclude them from your other campaigns.

For example, to avoid missing loyal audiences, you can set positive bid adjustments for users who saw your ads on digital billboards and show them ads for specific products. You can also analyze your selected audience in Yandex.Audience by gender, age, interest and device type.

Once ads are created, they are subject to two-step moderation: the creatives are first checked by Yandex, and then by the operators of the advertising surfaces you selected.

How will Yandex.Direct campaigns compete with those from Yandex.Display?

Campaigns from Yandex.Direct and Yandex.Display will participate in a combined auction on equal terms.

What will happen to my existing campaigns in Yandex.Display?

Existing Yandex.Display campaigns will continue to operate without any changes. We will let you know in advance when we plan to fully transfer outdoor and video campaigns to Yandex.Direct.

If you have any questions, you can contact the International Sales team or your Yandex manager. We would be glad to receive any feedback you have about working with video and outdoor advertising in Yandex.Direct.