Create & manage promotions on YouTube

You can create ad campaigns with Promote on YouTube on your computer or Android device. Promote helps bring new subscribers to your channel, increase your views and engagement, and get more clicks to your website.

Learn more about Promote on YouTube or visit our troubleshooting guide.

Video requirements

To be eligible for a new promotion, videos must meet the following:

• Be public or unlisted
• Be at least 10 seconds long
• Adhere to Google’s editorial advertising policy. Review the “Understand promotion policy review” section below to learn more.
• Adhere to Google’s video ad requirements
• Adhere to Google’s YouTube ad requirements

New promotion

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. In the left menu, select Content.
3. From the top menu, select the Promotions tab.
4. Click New Promotion on the right.
   • First time using Promote: Click Get started.
5. Account: Select your Google Ads account from the drop-down menu.
   • First time using Promote: Link an existing Google Ads account or click “Create a new account” to automatically generate a new one.
   • Note: All active Google Ads accounts with completed billing setup will be shown here. Google Ads account selection is only required the first time that you create a promotion, and only one Google Ads account can be linked to the "Promotions" tab at a time. You may unlink and switch Google Ads accounts once all promotions have ended or paused.
6. Goal: Choose a goal for your promotion in the prompt.
7. Video: Your most recent video is selected by default. To choose a different video, click Change video then select a new one. The description automatically uses the video's current text, which you can edit along with the promotion headline.
8. Targeting: Define the language, country, age, gender, or specific interests of viewers that you want your promotion to reach.
   • Note: Your promoted video will be shown to people who are most likely to engage with your channel. Learn more about targeting for video campaigns.
   • Note: Interest targeting is currently only available on desktop.
9. Budget: Define your budget and end date. We recommend a promotion duration of 10 days.
   • Note: Set up Google Ads account billing if you're using a new Google Ads account.
10. Select Promote.

Edit promotion

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. In the left menu, select Content.
3. Select Details on an ongoing campaign.
4. Change your settings select Save.

Stop a promotion

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. In the left menu, select Content.
3. Select Details on an ongoing campaign.
4. Click the “Status” dropdown select Pause promotion.
   • To resume the promotion, click the “Status” dropdown again select Active.

Rerun a promotion

Select the promotion you want to rerun. Then click Promote again on any previous promotion to start a new campaign with the same settings.

Understand your promotion’s performance

When viewing your Promote campaigns in YouTube Studio, use the following metrics to understand your campaign performance:

• Cost: The amount you've spent on the promotion so far, which will not exceed your set budget.
• Impressions: The number of times a thumbnail of your campaign is shown.
• Views: A view is counted when someone watches your content for a certain amount of time. Read more information about YouTube ads and view metrics.
• Subscribers: The number of people subscribed to your channel after watching at least 10 seconds of your video or clicking your promotion within the past 3 days.
• Website visits: The number of clicks on the website link included within your promotion.

Subscribers and watch-time earned through Promote don’t contribute towards YouTube Partner Program eligibility.