Yelp’s new Spotlight Ads provide brands with the ability to promote 7-30 second videos or static images on Yelp’s homescreen. Yelp says the new ads are an evolution of their Seasonal Spotlight Ads, which allowed brands to promote static ads related to seasonal or holiday offerings.

Yelp added that after launching Seasonal Spotlight Ads they saw increased demand from brands wanting visible homescreen ads even beyond the holidays.

Yelp Store Visits. The Spotlight Ads may also give brands another way to measure impact through their first-party data attribution tool, Yelp Store Visits. Brands using Spotlight Ads will only reach people physically near their stores, who are most likely to convert into customers. To see Spotlight Ads, users must opt-in to location targeting.

How it works. Spotlight Ads run for 28 days and brands can test as many different creatives and messages as they want during that period. Regional brands can also buy Spotlight Ads, which will give them access to some homepage inventory previously available only to brands with a national
footprint.

Why we care. National and regional brands with physical locations such as restaurants or storefronts should test Yelp’s new Spotlight Ads. Yelp didn’t give us any indication of the costs involved, but you can reach out to their team here.

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