Get ready, 360-degree video ads are coming to YouTube

We knew these were well on their way, and the time has come. Google is ready to take YouTube video advertising to the next level by introducing support for 360-degree video ads.

This peculiar interactive videos were introduced to the most popular video streaming service in the world just last March. Since then, we have seen a plethora of content creators put together great ways to interact with their viewers. Multi-directional video takes advantage of the ability to drop the spectator right in the middle of the video, giving him a first-person perspective of any situation.

These 3D ads became available today in Chrome, as well as the Android and iOS YouTube apps. Whenever you encounter one of these commercials, simply drag the image with your cursor, or move your smartphone around to experience the content in a much more realistic manner.

Google has been testing this for some time with major brands like Coca-Cola and Nike, achieving amazing results. It turns out Coca-Cola’s 360-degree video on the 100th birthday of their bottle design achieved in stream view-through rates of 36%, which is very high compared to standard expectations.

Bud Light is now entering the game, becoming the first advertiser to run 360-degree TrueView video in YouTube. The ad throws you right into the party at Whatever, USA. Want to check it out? Here’s the video!

Those interested in making 360-degree video will need a Ricoh Theta, Kodak SP360, Giroptic 360cam or IC Real Tech Allie. Start creating your content with these cameras and follow Google’s steps to upload your videos. Then you can set up TrueView ads in AdWords.

Some believe YouTube has been going a bit too nuts with ads the past years. I can’t really argue against that. Advertising has never been too fun, but I, for one, will be more excited about seeing an interactive commercial like this one. Do you think it will be an annoyance to see much more complex 360-degree commercials before watching your favorite YouTube videos? Will it hurt or improve your experience? Let us know in the comments!