Research firm Pixability released a video advertising research report – [2019 Insights Report: State of Digital Video], which conducted a detailed study on the three major overseas mainstream platforms of Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, which mainly rely on video advertising.

The study sorted out that Facebook can provide the best click-through rate (CTR), averaging 1.15%, while Instagram and YouTube are 0.47% and 0.11%, respectively. This indicates that Facebook’s video advertising is the most accurate and effective in identifying users’ interests and behavioural characteristics.

In terms of age groups, on Facebook and Instagram, the average respectively of CTR for consumers aged 65 and above is 3.42% and 1.8%. For consumers aged 55-64, the average CTR is 2.38% and 1.73%. As for consumers aged 18-24, the average CTR on Facebook and Instagram is only 1.05% and 0.46%. Namely, the young users are less likely to click on ads. This may be related to their content consumption habits or simply because they are better at recognising ads.

For advertisers, the cost per thousand impressions (CPV) on Facebook and YouTube has decreased. Compared with the data in 2018, in 2019, Facebook’s CPV decreased by 11.4% year-on-year, and YouTube’s CPV decreased by 32.5%.

Meanwhile, as Instagram gradually rises, its CPV increased slightly by 4.5% in 2019. This indicates that Instagram is being recognised by the market and advertisers, and is starting to have higher commercial value.

In addition, although we mentioned earlier that video ad CTR is generally higher among older people, most of the views still come from younger people. According to statistics, 69% of video ad impressions on Instagram come from adults aged 18-34, while YouTube’s mainstream user group is older, with 65% of impressions coming from 25-44-year-olds. As for Facebook, 58% of video ad impressions come from adults aged 35 and above.

The degree of mobility of the three platforms can also be compared through this indicator. The respectively proportion of mobile device ads on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube is 98%, 81%, and 64%. This also indicates that almost all users use Instagram on mobile devices such as smartphones, while YouTube is not necessarily the case. 

In addition to the CTR mentioned above, the completion rate is also important for advertising. According to statistics, Facebook and Instagram’s video ad completion rate is rapidly increasing. In 2019, Facebook’s video ad completion rate increased by 240% year-on-year, and Instagram’s increased by 190% year-on-year. However, YouTube’s change was small, with a completion rate increase of only 20% year-on-year.