YouTube has made some changes to the engagement and conversion elements of its TrueView ad program.

Users now only need to watch at least seconds of an advert for it to count as an engagement. Prior to the change. users needed to watch at least 30 seconds. 

The conversion window for TrueView has also been adjusted from 30 days to just three, meaning users have three days to move from seeing an ad to purchasing a product through it. 

However, advertisers can still work with Google to customise their conversion timeframes, and the platform will attribute conversions according to an advertiser's chosen timeframe.

This gives consumers time to research the product they've been exposed to before making a purchasing choice.

"That video you saw on YouTube didn’t drive the click, but it planted the seed." YouTube manager Nicky Retkke wrote in a blog post detailing the changes. 

Rettke also explained that the platform "conducted large-scale experiments to analyze the incremental conversion volume driven by TrueView for action ads across a broad range of advertiser industries and conversion types". 

The post also states that 90 per cent of consumers say they've discovered new products and brands by watching YouTube videos, though the source of that statistic is not cited.