Keywords

Advertisements, Attention; Retention, Millennials, Youtube, Youtube Categories.

Introduction

Communication plays an integral role in human interaction today as it is a necessity we cannot do without. “Communication is the interchange of facts, ideas, attitudes, or emotions by two or more people”. Meyer & Pradhan (1991) described communication as a mechanism for members of an organization to communicate meaning and understanding through the use of words, letters, symbols, or messages. Communication is therefore the act of transferring information and messages from one place to another and from one person to another (Stevenson, 2010).

Over the years, technology as a means of communication has evolved. Messages were once sent via smoke signals and messenger pigeons, but with the advent of the telephone and email, the way we communicate has changed dramatically (Noll, 2007). According to Noll, changes in communication and technology advancements go hand in hand. Landlines supplemented the telegraph, and landlines were replaced by cell phones. With the emergence of the internet, a new era of personal communication began. Emails have taken the place of letters in the mail, and social media has taken the place of SMS messages. YouTube is one of the most popular new age platforms of communication in recent years (Dullaart, 2012).

Communication has employed new media as a means for the exchange of messages and of all these new communication technologies, YouTube has played a distinct role. YouTube is one of the most preferred platforms for video sharing among the various platforms. According to Anthony et al. (2020), this content is created by users all around the world. The platform provides the ability to create, upload, share, like and comment on videos freely. YouTube has proven to be the most popular social media platform in the United States. (US), (Smith & Gevins, 2004).

YouTube statistics also show that YouTube is a media channel with over a billion users and YouTube exists in over 88 countries (Huang, 2021). YouTube accounts are used by 79 percent of internet users (Dullaart, 2012). Every day, these individuals watch nearly one billion hours of videos on the platform that has racked up billions of views (Huang, 2021). It is a well-known video streaming service, according to Rich (2018), where registered users can upload and share videos with anyone who has access to the internet. The videos can also be uploaded on other websites and embedded in them.

Businesses can use YouTube to communicate with customers and prospects through a variety of channels. This communication between customers and businesses is regarded as advertising. Advertising is defined as any paid form of non-personal information exchange about a company, brand, service, or concept by a known sponsor, according to (Belch & Belch, 2004). It is a non-personal information sharing that is typically paid for. It also entails a designated sponsor using numerous channels to persuade a specific product or service (Firat, 2019).

YouTube is used by 62 percent of businesses to post video content (Huang, 2021) and this in turn helps businesses that supply goods or services, sell their merchandise, learn about new products and services, as well as enhancements to existing ones, through advertising (Rich, 2018). These definitions have a common ground to relate to their millennials through a selected media. Advertising media varies from traditional media to new media. Traditional media according to Desmet (2015) is a film about mass media in a developing village.

It refers to traditional means of mass communication that have utilized by various worldwide communities as well as cultures since the dawn of time (Melkote & Steeves, 2015). This includes television, radio, tax press and other print publications (Noll, 2007). New media encompasses the use of social media, search engine optimization and so on. YouTube is used as a viable publicity platform because it has grown to become one of the largest online video digital channels with over 2 billion users enabling advertisers to expose their products and services to potential customers (Mir & Rehman, 2013). YouTube improves advertiser-customer relationship by providing an avenue for viewers to leave comments regarding products by these advertisers (Yüksel, 2016). This relationship engenders consumer engagement, brand performance, company reputation, image, and brand equity (Yang et al., 2017).

Individuals with a high subscription rate generally include YouTube advertisements into their posted videos. The number of subscribers an average YouTuber has, the more paid adverts are merged into their content for these subscribers to stumble upon as subscribers are therefore likely to come across adverts within their niche and the content, they make use of (Wattenhofer et al., 2012). This enables them view adverts that could potentially attract their attention and spur consumer interest for the benefit of the organization.

YouTube advertisement categories are those internet adverts that appear on the YouTube platform and take on various formats to suit viewers taste (Peters, 2020). They vary in terms of visual appearance, duration and so on and is a well-known means for advertising products and services to potential consumers based on the wide reach of the platform (Athni, 2017). Businesses can utilize a range of ad forms on YouTube to keep their clients interested, depending on the type of business, products and services they offer. The categories of YouTube advertisements according to Arantes et al. (2018) are divided based on Skippable advertisements, Non-skippable advertisements, Video discovery advertisements and Non video advertisements.

For YouTube advertisements prior research has been done in determining the roles attention and retention has to play in terms of viewers buying behaviour and whether it influences their purchase decision or not (Sama, 2019). In terms of purchase decision Duffett (2020) posits that consumers tend to purchase a brand if it influences their interest effectively and refuse a brand purchase if the advert is not in line with their preferences.

Over the years, the communicative role of YouTube has reached rather significant heights, especially in the context of online advertising. According to Rich (2018), 90% of people make use of the digital video consumption platform. One of the most commonly used such platforms is YouTube (Soukup, 2014). Huang (2021) posits that YouTube served more than 2 billion views a day and later made a leap of about 1 billion monthly active users within the same year. According to Cetin (2021) about 2.3 billion users utilize YouTube worldwide. Advertisers, therefore, exploring the platform, utilize YouTube through various formats like; pictures or banners, animated images, videos, audio, web pages such as online stores among others (Wang et al., 2014).

Despite the infusion of adverts in YouTube content, there have been arguments and counter arguments with respect to the attention and retention span given by viewers, especially millennials to these advertisements on which according to Subramanian (2017), viewers of today have an attention span likened to a goldfish with an eight seconds limit which is much less compared to the average goldfish; this posits they pay little to no attention to advertisements thereby affecting their purchase decision negatively. Trivedi et al. (2020) have also claimed that today's viewers have far shorter attention and retention span than they had 20 years ago, and that companies on YouTube now only have a short window to engage and maintain their millennials interests in terms of the advertisements they offer. Furthermore, Ye (2020), opined that children, youth and adults with the advancement in technology now have a wide range of interests which allow them to pay more attention to those that fit the specific content that attracts them allowing sustained attention and retention span in terms of the advertisements they are exposed to.

While several studies have been conducted on YouTube as a means of communication by advertisers with authors like (Anthony et al., 2020; Arantes et al., 2018; Duffett, 2020; June et al., 2014; Adesina et al., 2021); there is a paucity of data on millennials attention and retention of YouTube advertisements categories, as well as how these factors influence their purchase decisions of the brands featured in these advertisements, particularly in Nigeria. This study therefore intends to examine the categories of YouTube advertisements millennials pay attention to; how millennials retain YouTube advertisements and to what extent do YouTube advertisements influence buying decisions of millennials?

Conceptual Review

YouTube, the world's second most popular search engine, is one of the most effective venues for businesses seeking new clients (Rich, 2018). With over two billion monthly visits, the site has a lot of potential for helping brands interact with new people and build a devoted following (Huang, 2021). Given YouTube's importance in a successful digital strategy, it's hard to believe YouTube advertising has just been around for a decade (Duffett, 2020). According to Firat (2019), YouTube is one of the most cost-effective ways to construct a marketing campaign: The average Cost Per View (CPV) is $0.026, with a 31.9 percent average number of views and a 0.514 percent average click-through rate. We need to look at the history of the YouTube platform to put it in context, which the researcher did. Businesses can use a variety of YouTube ad formats to keep their customers interested, with the types differing based on the type of business. The platform provides a wide range of advertisement options to keep customers interested. Arantes et al. (2018) divides the types into four categories: skippable advertisements, non-skippable advertisements, video discovery advertisements, and non-skippable advertisements.

True View Advertisements

This is a unique YouTube format. The majority of these advertising may be seen on Google's display networks as well as YouTube. Advertisers are only charged for True view ads if the video is seen for at least 30 seconds or less than 30 seconds. This style of advertisement requires the viewer to watch the entire thing. There are two types of advertisements in this category: in-stream advertisements and discovery advertisements.

In-Stream Advertisement

True view commercials are those that appear before, during, or after a YouTube video has finished playing. They are skippable advertising that are retained for five seconds, but advertisers are not penalized if viewers choose to skip the advertisement. Call-to-actions can be customized to fit your message and will appear as overlays on in-stream video ads. When it comes to YouTube Ads, most businesses go for True View In-Stream ads, but they can be challenging to get right. It's critical to remember that users have the option of skipping the video after five seconds. Discovery Ads, unlike In-Stream Ads are predicated on seeming both relevant and compelling to people trying to watch other videos.

Discovery Advertisements

True View Discovery adverts appear on YouTube search results pages and in the right-hand sidebar as related videos. Businesses, unlike In-Stream Ads, are paid every time their Discovery Ads are clicked regardless of how long viewers watch the movie. Discovery Ads are most commonly used for how-to or product demonstration films.

Non-Skippable Advertisement

These are advertisements that play for the entire time allotted and do not allow you to skip them. Pre-roll and bumper commercials are included in this category, as seen below;

Pre-Roll Advertisements

Pre-roll advertising is the more profitable of the two ad types that can't be ignored. Commercials can be played before, during, or after a video and can last up to 20 seconds, however most are about 15 seconds. A Pre-Roll ad will appear in the midst of a 10-minute or longer YouTube video. Advertisers are charged for each ad view, whether or not it is really seen.

Bumper Ads

Bumper ads, like Pre-Roll ads, are non-skippable and cost businesses money every time they air. These commercials are incredibly brief, lasting no more than six seconds, and they appear on YouTube videos. Bumper Ads are suitable for creating product based brand awareness compared to advertising a brand because of their short runtime.

Non-Video Advertisemen

Non-video adverts are also available on YouTube for advertisers looking for a less expensive option. While a video is playing, this ad kind appears as a display ad on the right-hand side of the results page. This advertisement has an image or even sometimes a text that comes at the right side of the display image along with a a link to the prescribed website. Also, a banner ad overlay that appears during a video from a channel that has elected to monetize can be served.

Individual Difference Theory

Individual differences theory is a mass communication theory that states that people respond to the media differently depending on their psychological needs, and that people consume the media to meet those needs. In 1970, Henry De Fleur proposed this theory. De fleur believes that humans are genetically, biologically, physically, and mentally distinct. Even if we are identical twins, De fleur believes that we will respond and behave differently since we are genetically, biologically, physiologically, and psychologically unique (Akinfeleye, 2008).

Individuals consume mass media or advertising messages to fulfill their desires by responding and behaving in different ways to advertising or mass media messages, depending on the situation. Some of the needs (e.g., by providing excitement) or narrator/narrator/narrator/narrator are informational (giving a sense of belonging to a group of people who share common interests), integrative (giving a sense of belonging to a group of people who share common interests), and effective (giving a sense of belonging to a group of people who share common interests) (helping to release pent up emotions). According to Anaeto et al. (2008), this theory assumes that: mass media millennialss are made up of a diverse group of people (in terms of psychographic features); and a large number of people would react to the same media messages in different ways.

Based on the difference in their psycho-graphic characteristics. To put it another way, this theory refutes the Laulet Theory's assumption of a uniform reaction to media content. It claims that people's opinions, personal preferences, perceived values, and psychological makeup all influence how they react to media messages. It states unequivocally that people selectively use media content because communications contain stimuli that interact with the millennials's specific personality traits, resulting in differences in perception, cognition, and behavior.

The Individual differences theory in relation to this study discusses how the audience based on their various characteristics and preferences pay attention to and perceive messages passed across by the advertisers and how their reactions to these messages vary. Relating this theory to YouTube advertising and how they influence the attention and retention of their audience with the major aim being to ensure a positive purchase decision on the products and services they offer. The advertisements should have the right appeal that will spark the interest of the specified audience ensuring they pay rapt attention to the message passed across and therefore are influenced positively enough to shape their perception of the products through the medium of YouTube.

The advertisers and advertising agencies may create an advert that will appeal to the audience, but it is still the choice of the consumers to expose themselves to the message (selective exposure), pay attention to the message (selective attention), perceive the message (selective perception), and recall the message (selective retention) and this is where the categories of YouTube advertisements play a major role.

YouTube advertisements exposes us to the variety of choices open to advertisers and allow them productively to utilize these categories ensuring they make use of advertisements that best capture the essence of their products and services to ensure effective reach and in-depth knowledge on the kinds of adverts and advert categories that appeal more to the target audience.

Material and Methods

Study Design

The quantitative survey method was used in this study. The survey method was used to examine the categories of YouTube advertisements Covenant university students pay attention to; how YouTube advertisement categories influence the retention span of Covenant university students and to determine the extent YouTube advertisements influence the buying decision of Covenant university students. For this study, the population consists of the students at Covenant University, Ota. According to records obtained from Covenant University Registry, Covenant University has a student population size of 7,641. The justification for selecting Covenant university students for this research is because the students have access to the internet and are given 15 gigabytes of data every month by the school management, so it is assumed they utilize YouTube more compared to other universities.

Sample Size

For this study, a 384 sample size was employed. The justification for this selection is based on the proposition of Krejice and Morgan (1970) who proposed for a population of 7000, a sample size of 364 is appropriate at a 95% confidence level and 5% sampling error. This study however went beyond the sample size.

Sampling Technique

The multistage sampling technique was adopted for the study. The technique which is a probability sampling method was used in delimiting the large population of Covenant University into a manageable size. The institution currently has four colleges namely; College of science and technology, College of management and social sciences, College of Engineering as well as College of Leadership and development studies. To this end, the lottery method was used in selecting three colleges. The College of Leadership and Development Studies (CLDS), College of Management and Social Sciences (CMSS) and the College of Engineering (CoE) were the outcome of this selection.

At the second stage, each of the three colleges selected have departments under them with CLDS having two, CMSS having and COE having 2 under the selected college. The lottery method was employed in selecting one department from each college. The selected departments are Languages and General Studies under CLDS, Chemical Engineering under COE and Business Management under CMSS.

Lottery method was further employed in selecting one programme from each department with the outcomes being English language under CLDS, Chemical engineering under COE and Accounting under CMSS. The simple random technique was therefore employed in selecting 384 students from the three programmes.

Data Analysis Procedure

Data were quantitatively analyzed using the ANOVA and T-test method of analysis as the data generated were exported to Statistical Package for Social Statistics (SPSS) version 25 for proper analysis in cross-tabulation format.

Results

A total of 391 (Table 1) persons participated in this study as the questionnaire was distributed to the male and female undergraduates of Covenant university, Ota; most of whom were female (52.9%). Most participants belonged to the 19-22 age group (66.2%) with only a few participants being older than 26 years of age (3.6%). 390 out of the 391 participants stated that they used YouTube and were retained for further analysis. Persons who also noted that they never used the YouTube platform (N=9) were also dropped form the analysis presented here. A total of 381 responses were retained. Therefore, in all the researcher received 100 percent of the questionnaire copies from the respondents.

Table 1 Demographic Characteristics of Study Participants
Demographics		%
Gender	Male	47.1
	Female	52.9
Total		100
Age Group	15-18	17.9
	19-22	66.2
	23-26	12.3
	27 and above	3.6
Total		100
Do you make use of YouTube	Yes	99.7
	No	0.3
Total		100%

Findings as indicated in Table 2 show that majority of the respondents (34.7%) pay more attention to Skippable advertisements on YouTube compared to other categories, 34.2% preferred Non-skippable advertisements, 16.6% of respondents indicated that they would rather go with Video discovery advertisements and 14.5% of the study respondents aligned with Non-video.

Table 2 Categories of YoutubeAdvertisements Students Pay Attention To
Categories of YouTube advertisements	Paid attention (%)
Skippable advertisements	34.7
Non-skippable advertisements	34.2
Video discovery advertisements	16.6
Non-video advertisements	14.5
Total	100

Table 3 presents the percentage of individuals that pay attention to Skippable advertisements on YouTube with 50.7% agreeing and 12.1% strongly agreeing thereby implying that majority of the respondents pay attention to skippable advertisements, 24.4% disagreed and 12.9% strongly disagreed and with the implication that they pay attention to Skippable adverts. For the second part based on the implication of those who pay attention to Non-skippable advertisements 48.8% agreed and 13.1% strongly agreed with the implication of paying attention to Non-skippable YouTube advertisements, while 24.4% disagreed and 13.6% strongly disagreed to paying attention to Non-skippable advertisements. This shows that a majority of the respondents are interested and pay attention to Non-skippable advertisements on the YouTube platform compared to the minimum that do not.

Table 3 Responses To Questions Assessing Categories of Youtube Advertisement
Responses	SA	A	SD	D	Total
I pay attention to Skippable YouTube advertisements	12.1%	50.7%	12.9%	24.4%	100%
I pay attention to Non-skippable YouTube advertisements.	13.1%	48.8%	13.6%	24.4%	100%
I pay attention to Video discovery YouTube advertisements.	12.3%	35.2%	17.8%	34.6%	100%
I pay attention to Non-video YouTube advertisements.	8.9%	34.4%	20.5%	36.2%	100%
I like specific YouTube advertisements because they expose me to new products, services and ideas.	24.9%	52.0%	7.3%	15.7%	100%
I like specific YouTube advertisements because they educate me.	22.8%	51.2%	8.4%	17.6%	100%
I don’t like any categories of YouTube advertisements.	8.1%)	10.8%	27.0%	54.1%	100%
No categories of YouTube advertisements capture my interest.	5.5%	12.3%	31.0%	51.2%	100%
I do not understand any categories of YouTube advertisements.	3.1%	13.1%	31.2%	52.5%	100%

For Video discovery advertisements 35.2% agreed and 12.3% strongly agreed to the implication that they pay attention to video discovery advertisements while 34.6% disagreed and 17.8% strongly disagreed with the implication that they pay attention to video discovery advertisements. Therefore, majority of the respondents respond negatively to Video discovery advertisements compared to those that prefer it.

Furthermore, 34.4% agreed and 8.9% strongly agreed that they pay attention to Non-video advertisements while 36.2% disagreed and 20.5% strongly disagreed with the implication that they pay attention to Non-video advertisements. This shows that majority of the respondents do not pay attention to Non-video advertisements in comparison to the minimum that do pay attention to this category. The Non-video advertisements as indicated from the results is the least preferred advertisement category on YouTube.

The fifth part of the table indicates the percentages of respondents that like specific categories of YouTube advertisements because they expose them to new products, services, and ideas. Based on this 52.0% agreed and 24.9% strongly agreed with this while 15.7% disagreed and 7.3% strongly disagreed and with this. This implies that majority of the respondents agree that based on their preferred advertisement category they are exposed to new products services and ideas compared to the minimum percentage that do not agree.

Table 4 presents the association between gender and the categories of YouTube advertisement. The chi square is used to determine if there is an association between the categories of YouTube advertisements and gender, if the result shows a p value less than 0.05 there is a significant association and if the value is more than 0.05 there is no significant association between the variables. Therefore there is no significant association with skippable advertisements and gender with a p value of 0.105, while for non-skippable advertisements there is a significance with a p value of 0.014, for video discovery there is a significant association with a p value of <0.001 and for non-video advertisements there is no significant association with a p value of 0.091.

Table 4 Relationship Between Gender and Category of Youtube Advertisement
Categories of YouTube advertisements	Gender		Chi Square P value
	Male	Female
Skippable advertisements	63.9%	55.7%	0.105
Non-skippable advertisements	52.2%	64.7%	0.014
Video discovery advertisements	38.3%	19.9%	<0.001
Non-video advertisements	28.9%	21.4%	0.091

There were statistically significant associations between gender, Skippable advertisements with (63.9%) male respondents which is significantly more compared to the females (55.7%), Non-skippable ads and Video discovery ads. Female respondents (64.7%) were significantly more likely to pay attention to Non-skippable adverts as compared to males (52.2%). Similarly, male respondents (38.3%) were significantly more likely to pay attention to video discovery advertisements as compared to females (19.9%), (28.9%) male respondents paid more attention to Non-video advertisements compared to females (21.2%). This indicates that gender plays a major role in determining the categories of YouTube advertisements the respondents are more likely to pay attention to. It is therefore important to note that male’s interest is captured more with Skippable, Video discovery and Non-video advertisements while the females relate more with Non-skippable advertisement.

Table 5 presents the association between age group and categories of YouTube advertisement. The chi square is used to determine if there is an association between the categories of YouTube advertisements and age, if the result shows a p value less than 0.05 there is a significant association and if the value is more than 0.05 there is no significant association between the variables. Therefore there is no significant association with skippable advertisements and age with a p value of 0.693, while for non-skippable advertisements there is a significance with a p value of <0.001, for video discovery there is a significant association with a p value of 0.004 and for non-video advertisements there is a significant association between the variables with a p value of 0.009.

Table 5 Relationship Between age Group and Categories of Youtube Advertisement
Categories of YouTube advertisements	Age Group				Chi square p value
	15-18	19-22	23-26	27 and above
	%	%	%	%
Skippable advertisements	56.1	59.5	66.7	53.8	0.693
Non-skippable advertisements	42.4	63.0	68.9	23.1	<0.001
Video discovery advertisements	45.5	24.1	33.3	15.4	0.004
Non-video advertisements	19.7	23.3	31.1	61.5.4	0.009

There were statistically significant associations between age group and Non-skippable advertisements, Video discovery advertisements and Non-video advertisements. Persons in the 19-22 and 23-26 age groups were more likely to pay attention to Non-skippable advertisements as compared to other age groups. Persons in the 15-18 age group were the mostly likely to pay attention to video discovery advertisements while persons who were 27 and above were most likely to pay attention to non-video advertisements on YouTube. Based on this age plays a major role in determining what interests’ individuals considering their age group and this shapes their preferences in terms of what adverts they would pay attention to in relation to these categories.

Table 6 presents the response of the respondents to their preferred YouTube advertisement categories when they come across them on the platform. 9.4% of them indicated that they make use of ad blockers when they come across the, 34.4% simply ignored the advertisements, 46.2% stated they look, listen, or watch the advertisements before returning back to what they were doing and 10.0% indicated the others response. This shows that majority of the respondents look, listen, or watch the YouTube advertisements while a bare minimum makes use of ad blockers.

Table 6 Respondents Response to Youtube Advertisements Based on The Categories
Questions	Response	%
Based on the category selected above, how do you respond to such YouTube advertisement on your device	I make use of ad blockers	9.4
	I simply ignore it	34.4
	I look, listen, or watch the ad before returning back to what I was doing	46.2
	Others	10.0
	Total	100

The Table 7 reveals the retention of respondents on the products advertised on YouTube based on their preferred category. The study shows that 69.6% of the respondents noted that they recall products advertised on YouTube and 30.4% did not recall the products advertised on YouTube. This shows that majority of the respondents remember the advertisements they come across based on their preferred advert category compared to the minority that do not.

Table 7 To What Extent Do Covenant University Students Retain Youtube Advertisements?
Respondents’ retention		%
Do you remember the product advertised during the advertisements on YouTube based on your preferred category	Yes	69.6
	No	30.4
Total		100
How long do you use in remembering the product advertised during preferred YouTube advertisement category	30 minutes	29.9
	1 hour	21.3
	2 weeks	20.5
	A month	17.3
	A year and above	11.0
Total		100
Have you ever told a friend about a product you came across during an advert on YouTube with details on this product	Never	34.1
	Sometime	52.2
	Frequently	13.6
Total		100
Do you remember your preferred advert category as compared to other categories of YouTube advertisements	Rarely	33.3
	Sometimes	47.0
	Very often	15.5
	All the time	4.2
Total		100

The study further reveals how long the respondents use in remembering the products or services being advertised using their preferred advert category. 29.9% indicated that they remembered the adverts for a maximum of 30 minutes, 21.3% stated that they retained the advert for an hour, 20.5% stated that they remembered the products or services for about a month and 11.0% indicated that they remembered the products advertised for a year and above. This shows that a maximum percentage of the respondents remember the products or services they come across for 30 minutes while a minimum of the respondents remembered these products and services for a year and above.

In addition, the study sought to find out if the respondents have ever told a friend about a product or service, they have come across in an advert along with details on these products and services. The result shows that 34.1% had never, 52.2% indicated that they have done so sometimes and 13.6% indicated that they did so frequently. This indicates that a majority of the respondents have told others about a product or service with details indicating that the advert appealed to their interest therefore allowed them to retain information based on the product compared to the minimum respondents that never have.

The last part of table 8 indicates if the respondents remember their preferred YouTube advertisement category compared to other categories. 33.3% stated that they rarely remember, 47.0% stated that they sometimes remember, 15.5 indicated they very often remember their preferred advert category and 4.2% indicated they remember all the time. This shows that majority of the respondents remember adverts in their preferred category formats compared to those that do not remember.

Table 8 examines the influence of YouTube advertisements on the buying decisions of Covenant university students and the first section of the table indicates the percentage of respondents that have purchased a product based on their exposure to YouTube advertisements.

Table 8 To What Extent Do Youtube Advertisements Influence Buying Decision of Covenant University Students?
Questions		%
I have purchased a product based on my exposure to YouTube advertisement	Yes	34.1
	No	65.9
Total		100
I am interested in purchasing a product based on my exposure to YouTube advertisement	Yes	54.6
	No	45.4
Total		100
I am a loyal customer of a product based on my exposure to YouTube advertisements.	Yes	28.3
	No	71.7
Total		100

The result shows that 65.9% have not purchased a product based on their exposure to YouTube advertisements while 34.1% indicated that they have purchased products based to their exposure. This indicates a larger percentage of the respondents have never purchased a product based on their exposure to YouTube advertisements compared to the minimum that have.

Furthermore, of the table shows the percentage of those interested in purchasing a product based on their exposure to YouTube advertisements with 54.6% indicating that they are interested and 45.4% that are not interested. This shows that a majority of the respondents are interested in purchasing a product based on their exposure to YouTube advertisements while a bare minimum is not interested.

Lastly, the third part of the table states the percentage of respondents that are loyal customers of a product based on their exposure to YouTube advertisements. Out of the respondents 71.1% indicated they are not loyal customers based on their exposure to the advertisements on the platform while 28.3% indicated otherwise. This shows that majority of the respondents are not loyal customers of products based on their exposure to YouTube advertisements while a minimum of the respondents are loyal customers based on these advertisements.

Discussion

This study was handled by the quantitative research with YouTube millennials and the categories of YouTube advertisements they pay attention to. Based on the results from this statement, most of the millennials prefer to a large extent Skippable advertisements as compared to the other categories of YouTube advertisements. The results address the various preferences the millennials have towards the various categories offered on the platform and how each respondent relates to them on a personal level that is defined by their unique individual preferences. As described by Pashkevich et al. (2012) who stated that YouTube advertisements in their various forms are relatable to various individuals based on their unique tastes and preferences. Kiswanto et al. (2020) also agreed with this point stating that YouTube advertisements as compared to other mediums utilized by advertisers are the more popular and gainful platform solely based on the wide variety of advertisement formats, they offer allowing them to provide suitable platforms that suit every millennials type depending on the target millennials of the advertiser.

Although studies have agreed with the effectiveness of the various categories of YouTube advertisements the platform offers others have disagreed with this notion, according to Peters (2020) YouTube advertisements as a whole tend to cause negative reactions to the millennials as they consider all advert types as interfering and annoying to a point that they pay little or no attention to the advertiser’s message. Anthony et al. (2020) also countered the effectiveness of YouTube advert categories as he explained that the nature of the YouTube platform diminishes the effectiveness of advertisements as the millennials goal is always oriented to their various spheres of interests offered by contents uploaded on YouTube, these adverts therefore serve as a sort of distraction that the millennials easily overlook and even when they do view or watch the adverts little to no attention is captured.

For further analysis, the relationship between gender and the categories of YouTube advertisements and how this variable influences the categories each gender group is likely to pay attention to was examined. From the data gathered male interests are captured more with Skippable, Video discovery and Non-video advertisements while the females relate more with Non-skippable advertisements. According Firat (2019), gender plays an active role in advertisements as it influences the millennials day to day decisions that are mostly shaped by their biological build. So, and so also posits that gender is a key characteristic that influences our general spheres of life as it not only shapes who we are but what interests us as well as the kind of content we allow associate ourselves with as compared to others.

The relationship between age group and the categories of YouTube advertisements was examined, highlighting the role it plays in the varied interest of the respondents in terms of YouTube categories. The results show that persons within the age group of 19-22 and 23-26 are more likely to pay attention to Non-skippable advertisements as compared to other age groups. Persons in the 15-18 age group were the mostly likely to pay attention to video discovery advertisements while persons who are within the age bracket of 27 and above are most likely to pay attention to Non-video advertisements on YouTube. According to Ye (2020), children, youth, and adults with the advancement in technology now have a wide range of interests which allow them to pay more attention to those that fit the specific content that attract them allowing a sustained attention and retention span in terms of advertisements they are exposed to.

Majority of the respondents according to this study remember the products being advertised on YouTube based on their preferred category and a large percentage remember these adverts for at least 30 minutes. According to Savage (2015) retention span of the millennials is influenced greatly by the ability of advertisers to capture their interests. The only way advertisers can do this is by formulating modified methods to gain millennials interest which in turn influences their retention capabilities to a positive effect. Djafarova & Kramer (2019) also posits the influence of advertisements on the retention span of the millennials and how the millennials is influenced greatly based on the way advertisers craft their messages when passing across information. Beautemps & Bresges further discussed the importance of shaping media messages to align with the interest of the millennials as individuals have a positive attention and retention span to content they relate more with.

However, Priyanka (2016) argued that the retention span of the millennials over the years have been on the decrease as their mental processes are delayed due to exposure to several other content online so no matter the various modifications advertisers put in place in crafting messages the millennials will not be receptive. Khan (2017) further discussed how there is a decline in advertisement profit margin due to the lack of engagement the millennials have in relation to the adverts hey come across, this is due to the negative perception of adverts as misleading and false in their information so if the millennials refuse to pay attention the adverts provided by the advertiser there is no way they can retain information on the said advertisements.

Therefore, if the advertisers were to put the significance of the millennials preferred YouTube advertisement category into consideration, they would experience positive responses in terms of their advert effectiveness.

According to Verma (2016) YouTube advertisements influence the buying decision of consumers. Wang (2015) buttresses this adding that the millennials are moved by visual representations they come across on the various advertisements they are exposed to as this serves as a determinant on whether or not they will purchase a product or service. Furthermore Firat (2019) established that advertisers who consider their advert preferences of their millennials tend to have a larger return rate in profit compared to those that do not. Yüksel (2016) further contradicted this claim stating that it is hard for advertisers to spur profit from advertisements as non-traditional platforms are less likely to garner enough interest in the millennials to influence them making purchase decisions. Caecilia et al. (2017) also stated that millennials are more likely to buy a product based on personal experiences or word of mouth product promotions compared to advertisements as they believe advertisers tend to be dishonest in their advertisement messages.

Majority of the respondents have not purchased a product based on their exposure to YouTube advertisement, but a relatively high number of respondents are interested in purchasing these products. This implies that although the respondents have not made major purchase actions based on the products, they come across on YouTube advertisements they are still interested in making these necessary actions with only a little effort on the end of the advertisers.

This is backed up with the data that shows majority of the respondents indicated that they are not loyal customers of a product based on their exposure to YouTube advertisements which implies that they are not likely to constantly purchase from a single brand based on the advertisements they come across although they are likely to make at least a singular purchase action.

Conclusion

From the data collected, analyzed, and discussed, the following conclusions were reached. YouTube users pay attention to various categories of YouTube advertisements which varies based on demographic factors like age and gender, most YouTube users liked a wide range of these advertisements, while some liked a few and others only liked a single category which is all dependent on individual characteristics. The awareness level of YouTube users to YouTube advertisement categories is very high and they have always come across such advertisements when they visit the platform. For this reason, YouTube advertising is an important concept that should be studied. YouTube users retain advertisements they come across on the platform to a very large extent but only when these adverts are ingrained into YouTube advert categories that suit their taste. There is a relationship between the rate at which YouTube users pay attention to advertisement categories on the platform and the rate they recall advertising messages communicated by brands through various adverts on the YouTube platforms and almost half of the population although would like to purchase a product based on the YouTube advertisement they come across have hardly made a purchase based on their exposure to these advertisements and have neither considered being a loyal customer to a brand based on the advertisements they have been exposed to.

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Received: 01-Apr-2022, Manuscript No. ASMJ-22-11665; Editor assigned: 04-Apr-2022, PreQC No. ASMJ-22-11665(PQ); Reviewed: 18-Apr-2022, QC No. ASMJ-22-11665; Published: 02-May-2022