In a strategic move to help small businesses capitalize on Gen Z’s engagement with music, YouTube has launched innovative AI-powered music ad solutions. As a small business owner, these tools can offer you an effective avenue to reach and connect with Gen Z audiences who are highly active on YouTube.
The announcement came on the heels of the Coachella music festival, one of the industry’s largest stages. YouTube serves as a hub for festival content, especially among Gen Z. The platform is flooded with videos ranging from performance highlights to outfit inspiration, vlogs, and more, making it a fertile ground for businesses targeting this age group.
YouTube’s new music ad solutions aim to get your brand in front of trending music, such as from festival headliner BLACKPINK. They will be available across devices and formats, including long-form, audio, and, in the near future, YouTube Shorts.
According to research agency TalkShoppe, Gen Z audiences split their viewing time across many different video formats, with no single format taking up more than 22% of their viewing time. This multi-format consumption pattern has prompted YouTube to develop two new music ad solutions, Gen Z Music and a Trending Music on Shorts pilot, which will be rolled out to advertisers in the coming months.
The Gen Z Music package aligns your brand with music currently trending among Gen Z audiences. This package, available now for long-form and audio, leverages AI-powered signals across YouTube to identify songs popular with Gen Z, enabling you to connect with them through the music they love.
Given that music is a universal connector, surrounding the music Gen Z continually plays with your brand’s message could be an excellent opportunity to resonate with this audience.
In the coming months, YouTube will also pilot Trending Music on Shorts for advertisers, providing another opportunity to reach Gen Z. YouTube Shorts has gained significant popularity, boasting over 1.5 billion monthly logged-in users and over 50 billion daily views. This short-form video format allows Gen Z to participate in pop culture, discover new music, and engage with their favorite artists.
A recent example of this interaction was when Gen Z fans used Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers’ as the backdrop music for their Shorts, expressing self-love. This trend garnered millions of views, demonstrating the creative ways Gen Z uses short-form videos on YouTube to express themselves and connect with artists. Your brand can soon participate in these trends by surrounding Shorts using trending music.
According to Pew, YouTube is used more by U.S. teens than any other social platform, with 59% of Gen Z (18-24) agreeing they use short-form video apps to discover longer versions of content, as per Ipsos. This makes YouTube a versatile platform for businesses to meet Gen Z listeners wherever they are in their music journey.
As a small business owner, utilizing these new YouTube music ad solutions could be key to expanding your reach and connecting with the dynamic Gen Z audience. As YouTube continues to evolve, staying on top of these changes and leveraging them for your business’s benefit is important.
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