PPC, SOLUTIONS 8
Maximum CPV and Target CPM: Bidding Strategies for Video Ads
Many advertisers prefer using conversion-based bidding strategies like Target CPA or Maximize Conversions.
However, there’s a reason why manual bidding strategies like Maximum CPV and Target CPM exist. And if you know when to use them, they can help your campaign build better brand awareness.
The question is, which bidding strategy is better for your video ads campaign, Maximum CPV or Target CPM?
That’s exactly what we’re talking about in this post. Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
What is Maximum CPV or Cost Per View?
Cost per view (CPV) is the price you as an advertiser pays every time your video is viewed or played. When somebody watches 30 seconds of your video (depending on its duration) or interacts with your ad, you get charged whatever your CPV is.
Maximum CPV means the maximum amount you’re willing to pay. It doesn’t mean Google will always charge your max CPV, it could charge you less but it will never go above your max CPV value.
If you want to focus on getting the most amount of views, Maximum CPV might be a good bidding strategy for you.
What is Target CPM or Cost Per Mille?
If CPV is the amount you pay every time your video is viewed, CPM or Cost Per Mille, is the amount you pay for every 1,000 impressions (or how many times your ad is shown).
Using Target CPM is a good way to optimize for lower impression cost. If you’re trying to increase your brand awareness, this could be an option for you.
Where to find Target CPM and Maximum CPV in Google Ads
When you create a new campaign and choose some default goals, Target CPM and Maximum CPV might not appear.
For example, when you choose leads or sales as your objective, Google will lock you in to a TrueView for action. This means, you can only use conversion bidding strategies like Maximize Conversions or Maximize Conversion Value.
To be able to access target CPM and Maximum CPV, you can choose “Create a campaign without a goal’s guidance.” From there, you can choose different campaign types, say, Custom Video Campaign, and that should give you access to both bidding strategies.
Maximum CPV and Target CPM
Since both of these strategies are good for awareness or placement, it’s important to consider when to use them.
If you have good brandable videos and you want to get as many impressions as possible, using Target CPM will help you achieve that goal for a lower cost.
However, you have to be okay with possibly not getting enough conversions.
See, target CPM is like placing a billboard where there’s traffic. You’re basically paying for people to see your brand, regardless of the result. It’s not a good strategy for direct response marketing.
But it will get your brand out there.
On the other hand, Maximum CPV is a good strategy if you want to increase your viewership on specific placements.
For example, we placed an ad in one of the videos in Food Network channel on YouTube. That channel has over 2.11M subscribers.
Now, Food Network had a hot sauce video on their channel.
Since one of our client’s products is hot sauces, the video was a perfect fit. However, since it’s a very popular channel, a lot of competitors place their ads there, too.
This bumped our max CPV to $15––that’s what it cost for someone to view the ad!
Would it have been better if we used Target CPM? Well, if we did, it would have costed us $15,000. That’s a huge amount for something that doesn’t promise any conversions.
Conclusion
Using these bidding strategies can help you increase your viewership, regardless of whether your viewers are interested or not.
If you want to get conversions, we still recommend using an automated bidding strategy like Maximize Conversions or Maximize Conversion Value.
Doing so will help you gain new customers and have a little bit more control over your cost per acquisition.
If you’re interested in learning more about video ads, check out some of our blogs to get you started:
- Google Ads for YouTube: The Ultimate Guide
- 5 Video Ad Sequence Ideas For Your YouTube Ads
- How to Create Awesome Video Scripts for YouTube Ads (FREE Templates!)
Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss out on the latest Google news, Google Ads tips, and marketing strategies!
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