LinkedIn is one of the most popular social media platforms for professionals and businesses. With over 740 million members worldwide, LinkedIn provides a great opportunity for companies to promote their products and services through advertising. One of the advertising formats offered by LinkedIn is video ads, which allow businesses to showcase video content to a targeted audience. But how much do these video ads on LinkedIn actually cost? In this article, we will look at LinkedIn’s video ad pricing model and the factors that influence the cost per view.
LinkedIn Video Ad Pricing Model
LinkedIn uses a cost per view (CPV) pricing model for its video ads. This means that advertisers only pay when their video ad is viewed by a member for at least 3 seconds. The cost per view can range anywhere from $0.10 to $0.50 based on several factors like targeting, positioning, and engagement.
Here are some key things to know about LinkedIn’s CPV pricing:
- The base CPV is around $0.10 to $0.30.
- Targeting a more specific audience or premium positioning increases CPV.
- Higher expected engagement also raises CPV.
- Video ads on LinkedIn’s self-serve platform tend to be on the lower end of the range.
- Professionally-managed video campaigns are usually on the higher end.
So the cost largely depends on the audience you want to reach and the type of targeting used. Let’s look at this in more detail.
Factors that Influence LinkedIn Video Ad Costs
There are several elements that impact the CPV for LinkedIn video campaigns:
Audience Targeting
More granular targeting translates to higher CPV. If you narrowly target your video ad by job title, industry, company size, geography, interests, etc., it will cost more per view than a broader targeting approach. This is because you’re only reaching your most relevant audience.
For example, broadly targeting “business professionals” may cost $0.15 per view, while specifically targeting “VPs of Sales at enterprise SaaS companies” could be $0.40+ per view.
Ad Position
Where your video ad appears also affects CPV. Like most platforms, LinkedIn charges a premium for top placements at the top of pages and in between content. Lower placements tend to be less expensive.
You can choose between competitive bidding for placements or paying an additional CPM fee to guarantee positions like Video Carousel, Conversation Display, or Message Ads.
Expected Engagement
LinkedIn evaluates the expected engagement on your video ad based on the content, creative, targeting, and historical metrics. Videos anticipated to have higher engagement are charged more per view.
Factors like watch time, click-through rate, and conversion rates of your other ads influence expected engagement. More compelling, relevant videos essentially cost more.
Video Length
Longer videos over 30 to 120 seconds may have slightly higher CPV pricing. This accounts for the extra content the viewer is seeing. However, this does not dramatically impact overall costs.
Video Production Quality
High quality, professionally produced video ads tend to achieve better engagement metrics. This signals to LinkedIn that the video should command higher CPV pricing. Low quality, amateurish videos will be cheaper per view.
Brand Awareness Campaigns vs Direct Response
Videos meant for brand awareness and reach will likely cost less than video ads focused directly on conversions. The CPV for conversion-driven videos is higher since that level of targeting and optimization requires more investment.
Managed Service vs Self-Serve
Working directly with LinkedIn’s managed services team to execute a video ad campaign almost always results in higher CPV pricing compared to self-serve video ads. The managed service provides more optimization and positions the video for better metrics, justifying the extra cost.
Typical LinkedIn Video Ad Costs
Taking all these factors into account, here are some typical CPV ranges for LinkedIn video ads:
| Campaign Type | CPV Range |
| Self-serve, broad targeting | $0.10 – $0.25 |
| Self-serve, focused targeting | $0.20 – $0.35 |
| Managed service, optimized for brand | $0.30 – $0.45 |
| Managed service, optimized for conversions | $0.40 – $0.50+ |
As you can see, CPV can vary significantly depending on the campaign objectives, targeting approaches, positioning, and other optimization factors.
How to Estimate LinkedIn Video Ad Costs
Estimating your potential LinkedIn video ad costs involves a few key steps:
- Determine your audience targeting settings, ideal placements, and campaign objectives (brand vs conversion focus).
- Set a target cost per view based on your goals and comparable campaigns. Start conservatively.
- Use LinkedIn’s estimated audience reach at different CPV levels to model out potential costs.
- Factor in a video view rate assumption (e.g. 10% view rate).
- Calculate your estimated total video views by multiplying reach by view rate.
- Multiply estimated views by your target CPV to get estimated costs.
- Use LinkedIn’s conversion tracking to optimize for better view rates and CPV over time.
Monitoring real-world performance and optimizing based on data is key to improving your video ad ROI over time. The cost per view will also likely decline as the algorithm optimizes your campaign.
Tips for Lowering LinkedIn Video Ad Costs
Here are some tips to help reduce CPV costs for LinkedIn video campaigns:
- Use broader targeting at first, then layer on more precision over time.
- Test lower quality placements to find a cost-efficient position that still delivers results.
- Focus on video content, thumbnail, and first 3 seconds to drive higher organic view rates.
- Analyze and optimize based on real-world CPV and conversion data.
- Set aggressive CPV bids but with automatic bid reductions to stay profitable.
- Create remarkable, relevant video content that stops thumb-scrollers.
- Partner with LinkedIn’s managed service team for optimization expertise.
With the right targeting, bidding, and creative strategies, it’s possible to keep CPV costs for LinkedIn video ads down to $0.20 or less in many cases.
Conclusion
LinkedIn video ads can be an effective way to reach and engage professionals, but the cost per view can vary substantially based on your targeting approach. Typically CPV ranges from $0.10 to over $0.50 based on factors like audience precision, ad placements, video quality, and overall engagement. By optimizing your video content, bidding strategy, and targeting – as well as analyzing performance data – you can aim to keep CPV costs on the lower side while still achieving branding and conversion goals. With millions of daily views on LinkedIn, video ads present a major opportunity to influence professionals and decision makers.