YouTube Expands ‘Director Onsite’ Service To Attract More Small Business Advertisers

YouTube is expanding an advertising initiative that aims to get more small businesses using the video platform.

Called YouTube Director Onsite, the service promises, “We’ll shoot your ad for you…when you spend at least $350 advertising it on YouTube.” In other words, if a local business wants to pay $350 or more to distribute their advertisement on YouTube, someone from the company will come shoot their ad, edit it, and upload it to the platform at no additional cost — and in seven to 10 days of the initial shoot, no less.

YouTube Director Onsite actually launched last year, though it was only available in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. As of today, businesses in “over 170 cities across the U.S.” can use the service, wrote Nicky Rettke, YouTube’s group product manager, in a Google blog post.

As for which 170 cities now offer Director Onsite, YouTube provided this helpful map (see below). There doesn’t seem to be a written list, but it’s safe to say that if your business is located in one of the Dakotas, you’re out of luck.

Rettke writes that YouTube Director Onsite has “produced many video ads for small businesses,” providing a single case study for Warmoth Guitar Products. The company saw a “13x return on ad spend and 130% increase in revenue from the video ad.” Other companies that have used the service include Island Creek Oysters, which has a restaurant in Boston, and Kay Chesterfield, an upholstery store in the San Francisco Bay area.

Video ads made through Director Onsite fit 30-second spots. And businesses that place ads through the service will be making use of TrueView — a YouTube advertising format that lets advertisers pay only for what viewers actually see. They’ll also benefit from a recent update to Google AdWords, in which YouTube serves up business ads to viewers who recently searched for that business on Google.

Not every kind of business can use the service, however. Ineligible businesses include drug companies as well as those that sell alcohol, gambling services, adult products, guns, explosives, and counterfeit goods.