YouTube now calculates 'engagement' for YouTube for action ads at 10 seconds, not 30

YouTube now calculates 'engagement' for YouTube for action ads at 10 seconds, not 30
Google said the new attribution would better reflect the role of video in the customer's journey.

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YouTube announces changes in linking criteria for TrueView for action video ads. TrueView ads for actions are designed for performance advertisers and display call-to-action banners on the basis of video ads.

What changed? There are two key attribution points that change:

YouTube will now calculate 'Engagement' every time a user clicks or watches 10 seconds or more of TrueView for ad actions when using maximum conversion or target CPA bidding. That changes from 30 seconds.
'Conversions' will be calculated, by default, when a user takes action on an ad within 3 days of 'Engagement'. If you want this to be changed, you must ask Google representatives to adjust this time frame. That is a change of 30 days.
For users who click on your ad, YouTube will still associate the conversion according to the conversion window that you specified (the default is 30 days).
Why is there a change? YouTube says it changes the default attribution window from 30 seconds and 30 days to 10 seconds and 3 days to better reflect "the relationship between video ad exposure and conversion."

Nicky Rettke, YouTube group product manager, wrote, "We conducted a large-scale experiment to analyze additional conversion volumes driven by TrueView for action advertisements in various types of advertiser industries and conversion types."

What does it mean for advertisers? Shorter engagement-to-conversion windows will mean faster ramp-up times for the latest CPA target and reporting campaigns, Google said.

Advertisers are billed based on engagement for TrueView ads, but because TrueView for action campaigns that uses CPA Target and Maximize Conversions, is optimized to drive the majority of conversions at the target price set by advertisers, they will continue to be billed for basic impressions. Advertisers need to monitor their TrueView for action campaigns to understand the impact of this change on their budget and performance.

Correction: This story initially states that advertisers will be billed per engagement. This change only applies to campaigns that use Smart Offers, so fees will be charged based on impressions.