Facebook Vs. YouTube: Which Platform Rules for Video Marketing?

Facebook has spent the past year building a video infrastructure to challenge YouTube, but which platform is the best choice for video marketers? To find out, Visible Measures, an engagement platform for branded videos, researched the topic.

In a nutshell, Facebook is a better outlet for trending videos, but it can't touch YouTube for long-term views and total video viewership. Facebook needs to be a part of any video marketing campaign, but it can't be the only part. When marketers want to make a splash, Facebook is tremendous at driving impressive growth for timely content.

Looking at brands that posted campaigns to both YouTube and Facebook, Visible Measures found that Facebook lead with immediate views. Over time, however, YouTube views caught up and even dominated. Consider the numbers: Facebook campaigns reach 85 percent of their total viewership in the first week after launch, while YouTube campaigns only reach 63 percent of their total viewership by the first week.

Fifty Shades of Grey, Facebook and similar social media sites are incredibly effective for driving the spread of timely content due to the trending nature of the newsfeed," says Brian Shin, CEO of Visible Measures. "But the strength of Facebook to promote trending content also highlights how powerful YouTube remains as a platform for continued viewership."

If Facebook really wants to compete with YouTube, it will have to ramp up its video discovery and search options, Shin adds.

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net