EDMOND—A recent YouTube advertising campaign by the Philadelphia Church of God online marketing department has brought tens of thousands of extra views to the Key of David and Trumpet Daily YouTube channels.

So far this year, the Trumpet Daily YouTube channel received 207,157 views, a 5 percent increase over the same time last year. This is largely due to a new, experimental YouTube campaign, which began January 9. During April 15-19, the campaign attracted 13,000 extra views for “Who and What is God.”

Compared to the week ending March 22, the week ending April 26 showed an increase in views of 150 percent. The growth is the result of Online Marketing’s taking advantage of YouTube’s new In-Display and remarketing advertising.

In-Display Advertising

YouTube In-Display ads appear at the top of YouTube searches and on the Suggested Videos pane. Online Marketing staff member Ben Young said these advertisements constitute the pcg’s most-viewed online advertising campaign for the Trumpet Daily in at least the past two years.

Online Marketing promotes one Trumpet Daily program per week with In-Display ads. “Who and What is God,” which offered Mystery of the Ages in February, has been the most-viewed program in the campaign. It logged 21,700 views during the three weeks it was promoted.

The views have resulted in dozens of literature requests, which have increased every week the program was offered. Requests for the week ending April 17 reached 65, nearly triple the total requests for the week ending March 20. Online Marketing reports that YouTube advertising has attracted a total of 145,954 views to date.

The ads appear on YouTube on a pay-per-click basis. The price Online Marketing pays for each click is determined in a giant, invisible, online auction. When a viewer searches for a video, an automated bidding war ensues to determine which video will be advertised on screen. The video is chosen based on its ranking, a combination of relevant keywords, popularity and the maximum price the advertiser will pay.

Online Marketing has invested a modest weekly budget to include TD videos in YouTube In-Display. When a Key of David or Trumpet Daily video is selected to appear, Online Marketing pays nothing. The department pays only if a user clicks on the video and watches at least part of it.

In July 2014, the television department and the online marketing department developed the ability to track the number of literature requests that result directly from its advertising campaign. Prior to that, viewers had to go to theTrumpet.com to request literature: Now they can click a link embedded in the video, called a YouTube Annotation (or a YouTube Interactive Card on mobile devices). Users who click the link go to a web address specifically for the ad traffic, enabling Online Marketing to track those requests that originate from the ad separately from other requests.

Remarketing

An added benefit to the YouTube campaign is that every person who follows a link to a Trumpet video or visits theTrumpet.com can be added to Online Marketing’s YouTube remarketing list. For 540 days, YouTube enables Online Marketing to users who have clicked on a Trumpet Daily ad before. Remarketed ads are cheaper and generally result in a higher success rate.

Online Marketing is developing In-Display advertising and remarketing strategies with The Trumpet Daily that it plans to adapt to promote the Key of David program.

“We started experimental advertising campaigns for The Trumpet Daily and are now applying what we’ve learned to The Key of David,” Online Marketing manager David Vejil said.

With a substantial remarketing list of over 100,000 people built up from the Trumpet Daily campaign, the department can advertise Key of David programs to a growing audience that has already viewed The Trumpet Daily.

“We’re throwing TheTrumpet Daily out there, and we’re capturing a lot of interested viewers,” Young said. “And now, we’re re-serving Key of David videos to that library of people.”

Young said that when he began experimenting with In-Display ads and remarketing early this year, he considered YouTube advertising “tried and tested and proven a failure.” The department had unsuccessful campaigns in the past, most recently in January 2014. But so far the campaign has delivered major results, he said.

Young attributes the campaign’s success to selecting videos with content suited to an online audience. Vejil said that choosing programs with titles that are “more searchable” has resulted in significantly larger response.

The department reports that online audiences search for basic, broad biblical subjects. Trumpet Daily titles such as “Who and What is God” are loaded with key words that boost the ad’s ranking and visibility in searches. Young said that Trumpet Daily presenter Stephen Flurry offers literature throughout the program, enabling Online Marketing to provide on-screen links earlier in the video. This likely produces literature requests that would not otherwise happen from viewers who do not watch the entire 28-minute program.

Young said that success attracts success: Videos with higher numbers of views tend to attract even more views, meaning that the campaign’s success has compounded and is likely to continue to do so.

As it has iterated its campaign, Online Marketing has found that viewers during “prime time” request more literature on average, so the department now runs its ads between 4 p.m. and 12 a.m. (cdt). The department also experimented with cost, and found that lowering the maximum bid made the campaign roughly twice as economical, Young said.

Young said that one of his hopes for YouTube In-Display advertising is that it will continue to produce a more and more affordable response.

“What we’re trying to do is find a way to reach an online audience that is interested enough to request literature like they do on tv and reach a point where the cost is comparable,” he said.

Young also said that viewers from YouTube are “far more engaged than any of our ad traffic in the past, by a long shot. … It’s really exciting.”