Targeting Competitor Keywords via YouTube for High-Intent Website Traffic via Google DV360

Client Overview

NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) is the Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, combining unified data storage, integrated data services, and CloudOps solutions to serve the world’s leading organizations. With $6.7 billion in trailing twelve-month revenue and record all-flash array quarterly revenue of $1.0 billion, NetApp operates at the intersection of enterprise storage and cloud-native data management. The company’s ONTAP platform is the only enterprise-grade storage service natively embedded in all three major public clouds – through Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP, Azure NetApp Files, and Google Cloud NetApp Volumes.

Campaign Objective

The campaign aimed to drive high-intent website traffic from YouTube to NetApp’s product comparison pages, all-flash array landing pages, and free trial sign-up pages. DV360 served as the buying platform for YouTube inventory, targeting users searching for competitor brand names and product-specific keywords. The Maximize Clicks bid strategy optimized for the highest volume of qualified landing page visits within a fixed daily budget.

The campaign sought to capture competitive evaluation traffic that NetApp would otherwise lose to organic YouTube content produced by rival vendors. By placing NetApp’s video ads in front of users searching for Dell PowerStore, Pure Storage FlashArray, or HPE Alletra reviews and comparisons, the campaign aimed to insert NetApp into active procurement evaluations at the research stage – where buying committees form opinions before contacting sales teams directly.

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Audience & Targeting

Competitor keyword targeting was the campaign’s core audience layer. DV360 custom intent audiences used keywords and URLs on YouTube inventory. Keywords captured users searching for competitor terms like Dell, Pure Storage, HPE, and IBM solutions, as well as storage comparisons and AI workloads, isolating high-intent users in active evaluation.

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Platform & Channels

All video inventory ran on YouTube through DV360. Placement targeting layered competitor keyword audiences on top of YouTube content categories covering enterprise IT, cloud computing, data storage reviews, and data center infrastructure. Content exclusions removed consumer electronics, gaming, and entertainment categories to maintain B2B contextual alignment. Verification through DoubleVerify ensured brand safety and viewability compliance.

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Creative and Formats

Each competitor segment received tailored video messaging. Dell-focused creatives highlighted NetApp’s unified data platform with one OS across all workloads and clouds, contrasting it with Dell’s fragmented portfolio. Pure Storage-focused creatives emphasized hybrid cloud flexibility, positioning NetApp as the only platform with native services across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

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Geo-Focus

The United States accounted for 55% of budget, reflecting NetApp’s largest installed base and strongest enterprise demand. The United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and Australia received the remaining 45%, aligned with NetApp’s international revenue contribution of 41% of total sales. Within the US, bid modifiers increased CPVs in metros with the highest concentration of enterprise IT procurement activity: the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, and the Washington DC corridor.