These Are the Top Advertising Spenders on YouTube in Pakistan [Analysis]

By Saad Zaki

Youtube Masthead has been one of the most popular advertising options in Pakistan since 2016. It does not do granular audience targeting and is only limited to the target country, which is Pakistan in this case.

It serves, on average, 50 – 60 Million impressions per day, with nearly 5 Million unique impressions and is sold on a standard rate of over $14,000. This year, the start of the month had shown extremely low demand for Masthead where only 7 Ads were filled.

Below I have compiled data to show which brands, in 2019 – January-August, have spent their advertising dollars on it. Out of the 243 days between January and August, I have recorded 237 days, 165 of which were recorded with an ad, and 72 days were recorded as empty or unsold.

The above figure indicates a month-wise comparison of Masthead’s monthly sales in Pakistan. The months of March and April followed by May and June had shown some significant sales, however, the volume went down in July.

Top Industries

Mobile Phone manufacturers have continued to put their trust and advertising dollars into Youtube Masthead by purchasing 74 mastheads between January 2019 and August 2019. Which contributes a share of 45%, which is followed by Food & Beverages with a 23% share.

Banking and Finance was not the conventional sector or traditional banks, it was merely Telenor Microfinance Bank with their Easypaisa taking the chunk with 12% share that counts to 20 mastheads during the mentioned period.

Soap & detergent 7.8% or 13 Mastheads was followed by fashion & apparel with 3% or 5 mastheads.

The other sectors include Beauty Products (Unilever and CP brands), Telco (Telenor Pakistan), Electrical Appliances (PEL & Dawlance), Pharmaceutical (GSK), Ride-Hailing (Uber & Careem), Sanitary Napkins (Unilever brand) and sports (PCB).

Mobile Phone Brands – Share of Spend

Mobile Manufacturers have added new spenders in 2019 as compared to 2018. Even after Google Pakistan’s announcement that they will soon be shifting the mastheads from CPD to CPM. Mobile phone brands have been advertising in September, but this time, very few days are being bought, leaving most of the days unfilled.

Oppo has bought 18 mastheads in the reporting period, whereas Huawei and Samsung have bought 14 mastheads each. Honor has bought 12, Vivo 11 and Nokia and Infinix have bought 2 mastheads each.

Food & Beverage – Share of Spend

Nestle’s Brands have remained on top with 15 mastheads, where Pepsi Battle of the Band bought 9 when their show went on air. National Foods acquired 7 mastheads, where K&Ns and Unilever’s Brands in this category bought 2 mastheads each. CocaCola, EBM, Mondelez & Kashmir Cooking Oil showed their presence with 1 Masthead each.

Banking & Finance – Share of Spend

It was only Telenor Microfinance Bank’s Easypaisa with 19 mastheads and 1 Masthead for purely Telenor Microfinance Bank. No Other Banks from traditional banking have tested Youtube Mastheads.

Soap & Detergent – Share of Spend

The Soap & detergent is between the three parents – Unilever, P&G, and CP. Where Unilever had acquired 9 mastheads and distributed it into their brands such as Surf Excel. P&G bought 3 mastheads and distributed them among their brands. CP bought 1 Masthead only.

Top 5 Spenders – 2019

Easypaisa and other brands from the list are continuing to spend on Mastheads with very few bookings and most of the days going unfilled. Soon, the buying method will allow every advertiser to bid for space as announced by Google.

A comparison of Sales between 2018 and 2019

Perhaps, this is one of the reasons that Google Pakistan has decided to discontinue Youtube Masthead in Pakistan. But I must reiterate, I do not have confirmed news regarding the future of Masthead in Pakistan.

In India, it is estimated that Youtube Masthead serves around 1 Billion Impressions a month, with 100 Million unique impressions. The cost for a single day is 14 Million INR.

In one of the news article, it mentioned that Google India has sold out the entire inventory of 2019 for Youtube Masthead in India. This had happened in Pakistan as well in the year 2017 and was fairly close in 2018 as well.

Youtube Masthead in Pakistan is sold at around $14,000 per day. knowing the number of mastheads bought by each category a fair estimate can be made about the advertising costs, Youtube Mastheads to be more specific.

Saad Zaki is a Digital Media Manager and has previously worked with PakWheels and the Jang Group.


  • The objective was to capture only the market spends on the medium, and not how it performs


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