YouTube has launched a “Fan Finder” program which allows the YouTube partners to advertise their Channel at no cost.
YouTube user has to submit his Channel ad video to the YouTube Fan Finder program which will promote the ad Video across YouTube, including on watch pages and search pages. It will show the Channel ad video as skippable TrueView ad too, at no cost.
YouTube says,
Fan Finder uses a matching science that looks at what people are already watching on YouTube to find people that might enjoy your channel. It brings you the people that will keep coming back to your channel over and over again.
YouTube Blog post has listed below tips for creating effective Channel Ads for making use of the YouTube Fan Finder properly.
- Keep your channel ad short and engaging: Introduce the viewer to your content; don’t assume they have heard of you or your channel before. Remember, your channel ad will run as a TrueView ad which the viewer can skip after 5 seconds, so get to the point.
- Entertain the viewer: When in doubt “show” what your channel is about, don’t “tell”. If you have a comedy channel make sure your ad is funny, if you have a music channel make sure your ad has music. You get the drift.
- Aim for a strong message: Keep your channel ad focused on your channel and why viewers should subscribe or check out your content.
- Have a clear call to action: What do you want your viewers to do? This should be scripted and annotated in your channel ad. Don’t forget to explain what subscribe means (example: want to see more content? Subscribe here).
- Branding matters: Make sure your branding is clear and reiterated throughout the ad. You want viewers to remember your channel.