Yesterday afternoon 77 attended YouTube’s presentation for media agency partners and clients where the Mountain View super search giant Google discussed the myriad opportunities display advertising offers brands worldwide.

Francesca Mortari, Head of YouTube, expressed that brand’s main challenge relies on three different factors: finding the right target audience, sending relevant and effective communication, and understanding the dynamics and behavior of the target audience. All of which could be possibly tackled using a powerful instrument such as the user-generated video platform YouTube.

“Our Google Content Network has a vast audience which can be reached effectively not only through search but can also be engaged using display ads,” Mortari explained.

Today, YouTube is the 4th most visited website in the world representing a monthly audience of 9,1 million unique users which is equal to 42% of the entire online population; facts which prove to be a good enough reason for advertisers to invest in such medium.

The Google folks also presented a study ran by OTX with the collaboration of GM, Mindshare and Motorola which revealed interesting data with regards to users attention in relation based on advertising via YouTube versus that on TV.

Numbers revealed that video ads that are streamed online are far more effective in terms of brand recall when compared to their Television counterpart.  User attention regarding YouTube display advertising is 1.5 times more than TV ads. Equally so, brand recall through YouTube ads is amplified approximately 140% compared to TV.

In addition, a brand promoted on YouTube is perceived as young and dynamic.

To conclude, the combination of advertising on YouTube and TV increases the efficiency of an ad up to four times.

I guess we can all agree it is quite a quest to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time. It’s officially the biggest challenge for all advertisers.

The segments that came relevant to this study include:

Ads on emerging media vehicles- ads delivered using new media channels (ie: mobile)

Ads on the road- billboards, outdoor advertising, etc.

Ads in mass media- ads that have the highest reach, vehicles include magazines, TV, Internet.

Ads on paper- ads delivered through print.

Ads at events- product placement ads at shows, events, sports or through TV programs.

Ads averse- or plainly ‘ad blinded’.

I’d like to highlight the 9% of US citizens pertaining to the ‘Ads on Emerging Media Vehicles’ segment. This is a reflection of the individuals who have been hit with the new ways of the Internet and advancements that enable users to access the online world from devices other than a personal computer.

Traditional advertising seems to be preferred by 17% of US adults, while 13% get driven by product placement in public environments or over TV shows.

A high percentage of US adults, however, seem to just ‘tune out’ the advertising.

The chart above also shows you which statement, 9% of US adults who fall under the ‘Ads on Emerging Media Vehicles’ category, mostly agree on.