Apples and oranges: Youtube and Facebook

Nowadays online video content is a big part of social media. According to Cisco Forecast video will represent 80% of all consumer-based Internet traffic by 2019. So there is no surprise that businesses spend more money on video advertisement. According to Business Insider video will account for 41% of total desktop display-related spending in 2020. The two top platforms for video advertisement are Youtube and Facebook. In January 2016, Facebook announced that people watch 100 million of hours of video a day. In February 2016, Google’s CEO reminded its investors that Youtube users watch hundreds of millions of hours of video a day. It was indirectly pointed out that Youtube users watch more videos than Facebook users. So what is the difference between Youtube and Facebook?

Youtube is a video-sharing website owned by Google. It was founded in 2005 by Paypal employees and in 2006 acquired for US$1.65 billion by Google. Youtube has a wide selection of videos, generated by users. Unregistered users can watch videos on Youtube, but in order to upload one the user needs to be registered. Nowadays Youtube has over a billion users.

Facebook is a social network website and is designed for connecting people. Facebook was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and Harvard University students. Facebook is a website, that enables to post your personal information in the profile, add other people as friends, share photos and communicate via messages or online chat. Facebook users can also join “online communities” called groups, that can be managed and organized by individuals, institutions, organizations etc. In addition to all these features, Facebook allows to upload and share videos, as well as live stream (Facebook Live). It was announced that Facebook had 1.86 billion monthly active users as of the end of 2016.

Lessons for Others

In Youtube advertisement you are charged per view. A Youtube ‘view’ is counted after 30 seconds or the full duration of the video if it is shorter than 30 seconds, or when user engages with your video. Facebook, on other hand, favors much shorter form-videos than Youtube and counts ‘view’ after only 3 seconds. It’s useful to keep in mind that Youtube view and Facebook view is not the same, when you compare performance of your campaigns purely based on view count.

Facebook set an informal standard for muted, autoplay video clips. Approximately 85% of Facebook videos played without sound as of May 2016. For example, businesses that want to put their videos in front of as many people as possible, may find this muted autoplay video strategy appealing. However, businesses that care about completion rate should keep in mind this Facebook feature.

Overall, both Youtube and Facebook are great video platforms. It is important to define goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) before setting up any advertising campaigns. It is also important to keep in mind differences in platforms and metrics when comparing performance of the advertising campaigns.

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site, please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

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