Video advertising: Is YouTube or Facebook better for your budget?

Video’s big business. An astonishing 2 trillion people are estimated to have watched videos on Facebook this calendar year, with a whopping 309% increase seen in Facebook video views between Q3 2014 and Q1 2015.

There’s also been a 60% increase in spend per advertiser from the top 100 UK advertisers on YouTube during 2015. On top of that new advertisers are flocking, with 30% of advertisers that invested in the "Google Preferred" service new to YouTube.

Both Google and Facebook are rubbing their hands with glee. $16.1 billion is set to be spent on online video advertising over 2015, while online video consumption is also estimated to rise by 23.3%.

Stats, stats, lovely stats. It’s all wonderful news, but is it something that should convince you to throw your wallet at video advertising? The above is great information to outline the positive trends that the video market is reaping, but every business, model, and strategy is different.

The question you need to ask yourself is, if you are going to be investing in video, which paid social platform is best for your business’s growth?

What’s the difference?

Of course some companies have the resources and budget to attack both Facebook and YouTube at once which, if planned well, will help see quicker growth, higher engagement rates, and a great ROI.

But smaller companies don’t have that luxury. There’s no doubt a good video can help you grow, but as much thought needs to be put into the platform you’re hosting it on as well as the creative message behind the video itself.

There’s another statistic that’s probably more relevant than all of the above combined. It’s expected that, in 2016, global traditional linear TV viewership will begin to decline for the first time in its history according to ZenithOptimedia.

That’s huge. Smaller businesses may not have the budget to advertise on local, regional, or national television but it’s more about the cultural impact. The world’s turning to the internet for its viewing habits, with the power shifting to a younger web-savvy audience.

Facebook or YouTube?

Plan properly and you can use that information to your advantage with a strong video strategy. But Facebook or YouTube? It depends on what you want to achieve; both can get you fantastic results, but there are differences between the two platforms.

YouTube is the established player and has a number of options for advertisers to make use of including its TrueView platform and Google Preferred. It has an enormous user base and more people than ever before are flocking to the homepage to search for and discover new videos.

Depending on what you want to achieve you can go the simple route; create and upload videos, and try to amass subscribers and views to establish yourself as a content creator.

Facebook, though, is investing more in its video offering to try and become a rival to whatever YouTube offers and bring in more revenue from advertisers.

But it has one envious advantage over YouTube; it’s shareable nature. Facebook’s targeting features have helped a number of advertisers reach new audiences based on their interests and data. It is also launching similar services to YouTube, such as suggesting similar videos and pre-roll advertising.

Both YouTube and Facebook boast calls to action for people to visit websites to discover more, buy products, and learn more about the brand. And the interesting thing is that both platforms are only going to get better with their offerings – keep in mind that Facebook also has Instagram in its armoury...

Biddable box office brilliance

The real winner from all of this is the viewer who will be spoiled for choice when it comes to discovering new online content at a click. But countless companies have used video marketing to reinvent and grow their brands – Old Spice, Dollar Shave Club, John Lewis, Samsung, and many others can attest to.

Growth, though. It’s as much about the video as it is the platform – are you going to create a series? What’s the message behind it going to be? What’s the incentive going to be for people to subscribe to your channel, visit your website, or share your video with their friends?

Your choice on whether to use YouTube or Facebook may come down to what you feel you can achieve with your budget, especially if you decide to go down the biddable route. YouTube offers targeted in-stream and in-display video advertising, meaning your video can be attached alongside popular content to give your brand a more immediate boost.

However if conversions and starting a local social conversation is your aim then Facebook’s specific targeting options may just help you command an instant audience that you can speak to, with them potentially becoming long-term fans of your business on the social network.

There are also other platforms to consider, too, including Twitter and Snapchat. All provide a better level of interactivity and connectivity than linear television ads with their audience, and give far greater options and a more trackable ROI than traditional means.

Video’s a great way to communicate with customers on an inbound or outbound level, no matter which platform you choose. But you’ll get greater results if you refine your creative message and use the right platform properly when promoting your company, and how you can help enhance people’s lives.