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Knowledge For You: How Sam and Colby Boosted Their Revenue By Changing Their Ad Settings

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Creators
March 12, 2024

Hi there, YouTube will reportedly be shutting down its standalone Kids app for TV in July. The YouTube Kids app will be removed from all TV platforms, but this won’t affect the app on iOS/Android mobile devices. TV viewers will still be able to access the Kids app through the main YouTube app. It remains to be seen how this adjustment will affect viewership for family channels, but it’s something to keep an eye on – especially given the rise in YouTube views from living room TVs. 

Speaking of viewership, in this edition, we’re sharing knowledge about how a change in ad settings boosted views and revenue for one of our creator partners. 

—The Spotter Creator Team

Increasing Ad Frequency Leads to Higher Revenue for Sam and Colby

Can increasing ad frequency and video length lead to greater revenue and viewership? For Sam and Colby, the answer has been yes. 

Sam and Colby are an American YouTube exploration and comedy duo consisting of Sam Golbach and Colby Brock. Since 2020, they have mainly posted videos in their Overnight and Exploration series. These series feature haunted exploration videos as they go ghost hunting and explore haunted locations. 

After Spotter presented them with their ad settings insights last year, they took the recommendations and hit the ground running. The advice was about optimal ad spacing, and in their case, it was to insert more mid-roll ads with a frequency recommendation that is specific to their channel. Spotter analyzed their average view duration and found that increasing ad frequency would not hurt their performance. By following Spotter’s advice on raising mid-roll ad frequency and increasing the length of their already-long videos, they have seen great results, including a 33% increase in ad revenue.

Strategy

To improve their ad strategy and earning potential, Spotter suggested the following strategies: 

  • Increase mid-roll ad frequency. They started giving YouTube the opportunity to place an ad every 4 minutes, down from every 10 minutes in their previous strategy.

  • Increase video length even further. They were already doing hour-long videos, but began posting even longer ones. 

The change in ad settings allowed Sam and Colby to tap into the earning potential that their videos already had – just by making a simple change. With their new ad strategy, they have seen great results, including increases in revenue and viewership. 

*Please note: The suggested recommendations are customized for each creator. Please contact your Spotter Creator Success Manager if you’re interested in receiving your personalized ad settings analysis.

Results

Soon after making the change, Sam and Colby’s Sam Golbach stated, “The difference between our Karl video two months ago, and then our hotels video a week ago, is astronomical in our RPMs, and that’s literally just the difference in the amount of ads we’re placing.” 

Key Takeaways

  • Ad optimization is critical. Gaining insights on this and experimenting can lead to increased revenue by simply adjusting ad settings. 

  • Increasing ad frequency in long-form videos can increase revenue without reducing viewership. In fact, views may even go up, as they did for Sam and Colby.

  • Even if you’re already posting long videos, experiment with even longer ones (which will also allow for more ads). Sam and Colby were already posting hour-long videos when they increased the length even further.

Questions? Feel free to reach out if you’d like to learn more. 

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– Tom and David Kelley