If videos are your primary type of content, you would have wondered about which platform to use. YouTube? Or Facebook?

Although YouTube was and still is the leading platform for video content, Facebook videos have been getting a lot of popularity. Facebook is turning out to be a great platform for videos. It’s common to find videos on Facebook that have gathered millions upon millions of views.

In April of 2015, Facebook reported 4 billion daily video views. A mere 6 months later, this number jumped to a staggering 8 billion daily views. 3 months later, they announced that people watch somewhere around 100 million hours of video a day on Facebook.

While all of this may seem super impressive, people who have compared both platforms have pointed out a few interesting details. According to some of them, the way Facebook calculates their video stats is designed to make their numbers look good. In reality, if Facebook calculated their stats just like YouTube, they would fall behind.

If you want to show your video to as many people as possible, Facebook would be the right choice for you. But if you want quality views, people who watch your videos with attention, you should probably stick to YouTube. 

Cost per view on Facebook is cheaper when you compare it to video ads on YouTube. Facebook video ads are also known to get 3 times more impressions for the same budget when compared to YouTube ads. 

The problem:

Facebook has not been straightforward. Their stats cannot be compared to YouTube’s because they are calculated differently. For example, YouTube counts a view only when someone has watched a video for more than 30 seconds. In the case of Facebook, it is just 3 seconds. If anyone has seen a video for more than 3 seconds, Facebook counts that as a view. To make things worse, Facebook has an autoplay feature. You don’t even have to click on the video. It starts playing. Oh, and in most of the cases, the video that plays automatically will be muted as well (you can change this in the app settings). So what we’re basically saying is,  you do not need to click on the video, or unmute the audio, or even be interested in it! If the video just happens to play (for more than 3 seconds) while you browse, it gets counted as a view!

What’s the verdict?

Facebook or YouTube? How do you choose between uploading videos on Facebook or YouTube? Well, it depends on what you want. If you want your video shown to as many people as possible, you might want to use Facebook. But if it’s quality watch time that you need, YouTube may be a better option. We recommend using both. Use both channels to expand your reach. Find out what works best for you on a smaller scale first. Then implement it on a larger scale. 

YouTube has some obvious benefits. Nobody really has to create an account to watch videos. You’ll need an account to “like” or leave a comment. Other than that, all public videos are open to everyone with internet access.

YouTube is more niche friendly. Videos of similar topics get recommended to viewers. Videos that might interest them are recommended more. Facebook, on the other hand, is a great way to increase your reach. People search for businesses and brands on Facebook. 

Videos that are less than a minute long, work best for Facebook. On YouTube, videos can go up to the ten-minute mark. People are on YouTube for the sole purpose of watching videos. They are ready with their headphones and whatever they need. Many consider YouTube as a much more comfortable video viewing platform.

We can conclude with this: Facebook is good for brand/product awareness, YouTube is better for lengthy videos that have more content (reviews, user manual videos, tutorials, vlogs, etc). Plan out your strategy well and use both for effective marketing! If you need help with anything, be it Facebook ads, or social media marketing in general, be sure to hit us up.