YouTube Ads Vs Facebook Ads: Key Differences And Verdict (2025)
YouTube Ads and Facebook Ads are two extremely potential platforms with a growing number of monthly active users. What are the main differences between the two platforms? Which is superior and more profitable for businesses in 2025? This article provides a comprehensive comparison between YouTube ads vs Facebook ads, covering theories and practical scenarios, to help you choose the best-fitted advertising channel for your business.
The Basics Of YouTube Ads Vs Facebook Ads
Let’s break down the basics of YouTube ads and Facebook ads to make it clearer for advertisers new to both advertising platforms.
Overview of YouTube ads
According to Engaiodigital, YouTube has more than two billion monthly logged-in users, with 500 hours of video content uploaded to the platform every minute.
On average, each visitor spends 11 minutes and 24 seconds on YouTube every day, and each visit to YouTube results in 6.5 page views on average.
YouTube Ads focus on audiences who watch videos on the platform. It receives a large amount of data and a complex keyword search algorithm from Google. Therefore, the effectiveness of advertising with YouTube Ads is also very high.
Going deeper, because of the search algorithm, advertisers can easily target keywords with higher purchase intent (such as focusing on the keywords ‘Review’, ‘How to’, ‘Buy’, ‘Get’, etc. This also makes generating revenue from YouTube Ads more feasible.
Overview of Facebook ads
According to Sproutsocial, the platform boasts 3.065 billion active users on a monthly basis. This makes it the most used social media platform worldwide.
This is also an extremely potential platform for advertisers running paid ads. This platform has countless useful tools to find potential customers. It also has Ad Objectives and Ad Types for advertisers to deploy Ad Content to maximize revenue.
Besides, the measurement ability of Facebook Ads is also very good. It can export report files, and there are two versions of Meta Ads Manager available on computer and mobile for you to conveniently track ad campaigns anytime, anywhere.
YouTube Ads Vs Facebook Ads: A Quick Comparison
Here, I have summarized a few criteria for a general comparison of these two platforms. I’ll leave it below. If you want to go into a thorough analysis, continue reading the next content.
More specifically, I will summarize and analyze the most important things about the two platforms in the table below:
| Feature | YouTube Ads | Facebook Ads |
| Content Format | Video-centric, long-form content, storytelling | Diverse formats (image, video, carousel, text), short-form content |
| User Intent | Actively seeking information, entertainment, tutorials | Casual browsing, connecting with friends, discovering content |
| Audience | Diverse demographics, a wide range of interests | Broader audience, diverse interests, and demographics |
| Targeting | Keyword-based, interest targeting, demographic targeting, placement targeting (specific channels, videos) | Detailed demographic, interest, behavior, and custom audience targeting |
| Ad Formats | Skippable/non-skippable in-stream ads, video discovery ads, bumper ads, out-stream ads, masthead ads | Image ads, video ads, carousel ads, slideshow ads, collection ads, instant experience ads, lead ads |
| Cost | Varies depending on targeting, format, and bidding strategy | Generally lower cost per click (CPC) and cost per mille (CPM) |
| Engagement | High potential for engagement with long-form video content | Varies depending on ad format and targeting |
| Brand Awareness | Strong potential for building brand awareness through storytelling | Effective for reaching a large audience and increasing visibility |
| Lead Generation | Can be effective with lead form extensions and call-to-action overlays | Strong lead generation capabilities with lead ads and custom audiences |
| Conversion | Can drive conversions with targeted calls to action and retargeting | Effective for driving conversions with retargeting and various ad formats |
| Measurement | Detailed analytics on views, engagement, click-through rate, conversions | Robust analytics on reach, impressions, engagement, clicks, conversions |
| Best for | Brands with strong video content, products/services that require explanation, reaching a wide audience | Brands with diverse content formats, products/services that are easily explained, targeting specific audiences |
YouTube Ads Vs Facebook Ads: Breaking Down The Similarities And Differences
The next section focuses on specifically analyzing Facebook vs YouTube advertising platforms. I will break down the similarities and differences of each criterion, going from basic to complex.
Audiences
The first is about audiences from YouTube and Facebook. You must pay attention to this because they are the basis for generating revenue for you.
It has the following differences:
YouTube ads audiences
- Users aged between 25 and 44 years old make up the majority.
- Users are interested in entertainment content, tutorials, music, and gaming.
- Tend to watch long videos and interact more with video content.
Facebook ads audiences
- Younger demographics, users aged between 18 and 34 years old account for the largest audience.
- Users visit Facebook to connect with friends and family, keep up with news, and get entertainment.
- Tend to watch short videos and interact less with video content.
Targeting options
Both platforms allow you to target ads to specific audiences based on a variety of factors, including:
- Demographics: Age, gender, location, income, education, etc.
- Interests: User’s preferences, interests, and behavior.
- Advertising target: User’s search and browsing history.
- Audience list: Your email list, customer ID, or phone number.
Usually, for Facebook Ads, I might use a few specialized skills like how to target Facebook Groups, create Custom/Lookalike/Saved Audiences, etc. It’s like being able to work with more industries with a lot of cool options for how to target and reach audiences.
Meanwhile, YouTube Ads also have many ways to target audiences. It relies on Google’s algorithm to find the right audience. What’s more special is that you can target by keyword, target Affinity/In-market/Data/Custom/Similar Segments, or even Customer Match, things that Facebook Ads cannot do for me.
Ad types
Both platforms offer a wide variety of options for Ad Types. So you can deploy your advertising content in the most reasonable way. Basically, you can advertise on Facebook with many types such as:
I often use Video Ads, Image Ads, and Carousel Ads in many situations. Simply because I always get good results from these 3 types of ads.
Next, about YouTube Ads, this platform also provides a large number of Ad Formats for you to choose from. Here is a list of them:
I quite like using Non-skippable Ads because the audience can stay longer with my ads. This is the type of advertising that Facebook does not have available.
Advertising costs
YouTube ads vs Facebook ads costs are clearly different. Basically, advertising costs depend on many factors. However, I will list a few typical indicators for you.
YouTube ad cost lowdown
- In-stream: Average costs about $0.16 per view.
- Discovery: Average costs about $0.03 per view.
- Bumper: Average costs about $0.02 per view.
Facebook ad cost lowdown
- CPC: From $0.65 to $2 per click.
- CPM: From $5 to $15 per 1,000 impressions.
- CPA: The average cost across all industries is $18.68 (according to Blendcommerce).
For advertising costs, YouTube ads receive a cheaper cost proposal than Facebook Ads. Because the competition on YouTube cannot be as high as on Facebook today. Advertising experts also believe that costs for Facebook Ads will continue to increase in the future.
YouTube Ads Vs Facebook Ads: How To Choose The Right Platform?
Should you choose YouTube Ads or Facebook Ads? Which platform is more suitable for your product/service? Here are 4 key factors to consider when choosing your advertising platform.
Determine your advertising goals
What do you want to achieve with your advertising campaign? Increase brand awareness? Boost sales? Generate leads? You must clearly determine before you want to start with YouTube Ads or Facebook Ads.
Facebook Ads are great for dropshipping, E-commerce, or F&B projects (restaurants, drinks, food, cafes, bars, etc.) Simply because it has specialized approaches for this sector. However, high competition is also something worth considering.
YouTube is very suitable for B2B business, as long videos on YouTube are closely controlled by advertisers in real time. It helps advertisers show correct ads to audiences at a specific time, increasing conversion rates.
Identify your target audience
Who do you want to reach with your ad? You also need to identify the Customer Persona. What information do they have? The platforms they usually operate on are YouTube and Facebook.
For certain products, determining the audience is an important thing that advertisers must learn before thinking about choosing an ad platform. Because this is a long story, with a special focus on the audience. So please pay attention to this.
Determine your budget
How much money do you have to spend on paid advertising? You must determine a budget to run ads. If your budget is large, you can use Facebook Ads and think about steps to scale and generate revenue dramatically.
Vice versa, YouTube Ads are suitable for medium or small advertising budgets. However, the amount of money you need to spend to have quality long videos and short videos is something that must be considered.
However, if you are not too concerned about budget, you can choose both types of advertising. Because currently Short Videos on YouTube can be used in Facebook Reels. And these two approaches are getting more engagement and watch time from audiences in 2025.
What type of ad content do you have?
Do you have videos, images, or text to use in your ads? If you only have beautiful images of your products/services but have not prepared attractive videos. You can only run Facebook Ads.
If you have diverse types of advertising content, long videos, short videos, perfect images, etc. It’s clear that YouTube Ads is a platform that cannot be ignored.
However, keep in mind that a mix of content types and methods is best. Because you need to clearly understand how they benefit your business. From there, gradually filter the best-performing ad types to find the ‘Winning Ad’.
YouTube Ads Vs Facebook Ads: Which Platform Is Perfect For You?
I’ve broken down the theories of choosing the right advertising platform, but to make things simpler, here are some practical scenarios of when you should use one advertising platform over the other.
When should businesses use YouTube ads?
- When you rely mainly on video content, a video-focused platform like YouTube is a great choice.
- When you want to showcase your product or service in longer videos, YouTube is perfect for in-depth storytelling, detailed demonstrations, and tutorials.
- When you want to target audiences by keywords, YouTube ad targeting capabilities excel.
- If you badly want people to watch your ad, non-skippable video ads on YouTube can help ensure those who want to keep on watching the video must watch your ad. They give businesses around 15 valuable seconds to attract the audiences and pique their curiosity.
- If you want to utilize Google data, YouTube ads will give you access. You will be able to show relevant ads to those who recently searched related keywords on Google and YouTube.
When should businesses use Facebook Ads?
- When you want more ad formats than just videos, such as image ads, carousel ads, stories ads, messenger ads, etc.
- When you need to cross-advertise on other platforms of Meta like Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
- When getting more engagement and direct feedback is one of your goals.
- When you want to retarget website visitors, Facebook and Instagram followers, etc.
Summary
In short, choosing YouTube Ads Vs Facebook Ads requires considering many factors. The choice is yours. You Should consider all the best conditions that your product/service has. From there, you can compare the advantages of these two advertising platforms to make the final decision.
Choosing both of these platforms to advertise is not a bad idea. However, consider carefully to have a successful journey with paid advertising. Thank you for following my article. This article was written by an advertising expert from GDT Agency.
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