Research Methodology
The Data presented in this report was collected using our weekly data compilations of sponsored videos on YouTube and TikTok. From this, we identified the different types of campaign initiatives used by brands in their content. We then analyzed the campaign type, content type, and call to action of each video and used diagnostics to pull averages and statistics to find what types of sponsored ads were the most successful and common on each platform. These averages and statistics allowed us to compare and contrast the campaign type, content type, and call to action across YouTube and TikTok.
Content Types
We identified the main content types that brands used in their videos across YouTube and TikTok. Many YouTube videos used intro cards, end cards, integrated, dedicated, and description only, whereas TikTok ad videos used mainly integrated, dedicated, or description only content types.
YouTube Content Types
Intro Card
When the sponsored content is at the very beginning of the video. This means that not only is the sponsor mentioned at the beginning, but the full ad read is at the start of the video.
End Card
When the sponsored content is mentioned at the very end of the video OR video content ends on a sponsored thank you.
Integrated
When the sponsored content is mentioned within the video – there is still content before and after the sponsored shout-out. This usually involves a break in the content for the sponsored message.
Dedicated
The whole video is dedicated to the sponsor and sponsored content. This can involve playing a video game or a clothing haul from the sponsoring brand.
Description Only
The sponsor is only mentioned in the description of the video – not within the video content itself. Often, this can be a brand that sponsors many videos of the same creator.
TikTok Content Types
Integrated
The sponsored product is either in the frame of the TikTok video or is mentioned briefly and is not necessarily connected to the rest of the video.
Dedicated
The whole TikTok video is dedicated to sharing the sponsor’s product. This could include a skit about the product.
Description Only
The sponsor is mentioned only in the description of the video, but the video itself has nothing to do with/has no mention of the sponsor.
Ad Type Metrics
YouTube
Number of Videos By Content Type
This graph shows the frequency of the content type used on YouTube. Integrated was the most common of the content types used, having more than double the number of videos than any other content type. Whereas the end card content type was used the second least, with only 450 videos.
Average Ad Length By Content Type
This represents the average ad length per video in seconds based on the content type used. Dedicated, which is when the whole video is dedicated to the ad, took up the most time with an average of 1,187 seconds. Intro and end card ads average the same length of just over a minute.
Average Views By Content Type
This visual represents the average views based on the content type used in their sponsored videos on YouTube. End cards had the highest average views, while description only ads have the lowest average views. Integrated and intro card ads perform very similarly, both having an average of about 136K views.
Total Spend By Content Type
This visual represents the total spent on different content types for campaigns. The largest total spent was on Integrated content with 261.5M dollars, more than triple any other content type. Despite there being fewer intro card videos produced, more money was spent on these than on description only videos.
Average Likes, Comments, and Dislikes by Content Type
These graphs represent the average amount of likes, comments, and dislikes based on the content type used on YouTube. End Card received the most likes and comments, while description only received the least for both. Integrated videos received the most dislikes, averaging 58 per video.
Average Likes/Dislikes to Views Ratio by Content Type
This visual helps to represent the ratio of the average number of likes/dislikes received versus views based on the content type used. While there are overall consistent ratios across content types, end card ads have the highest likes-to-views ratio and lowest dislikes-to-views ratio with 5.93% and 0.01%, respectively.
Most Popular Content Type By Industry - YT
This graph represents the most popular content types used by different industries. As you can see, the most popular content type across industries was integrated. Photography and travel brand have the highest percentage of dedicated ads 33% and 32%, respectively.
Average Ad Length by Industry
This graph represents the average ad length on YouTube sponsored videos based on the brand’s industry. Gaming and toys had the longest average ad length. Dedicated gaming videos tend to be longer than those of others industries, allowing for a longer average ad length.
Percent of Video that is Ad by Industry
This graph represents the percentage of the video that is taken up by the ad on YouTube by industry. For industries with a higher percentage of dedicated ads, it follows that more of the videos' total time will be ads. Fashion and gaming ads also tend to take up a larger portion of their respective sponsored videos.
TikTok
Number of Videos by Content Type
This graph represents the number of videos of sponsored ads on TikTok categorized by content type. Dedicated was the most popular content type on TikTok. Very few videos have description only ads on TikTok.
Average Views by Content Type
This visual represents the average views on TikTok based on the content type used. The content type that received the most views on average was description only, while the least viewed content type was dedicated.
Average Diggs, Comments, and Share by Content Type
These graphs represent the average number of diggs, comments, and shares received on TikTok videos based on the content type used in the ad. Description only videos received the most amount of shares. While the diggs and comments are similar for each content type, integrated ads, and dedicated ads have the highest average diggs and comments, respectively.
Average Diggs to Views by Content Type
This visual represents the average diggs (or likes) to view ratio based on the content type used. Despite a similar ratio for each content type, videos with integrated ads received the largest average diggs to view ratio.
Industry by Content Type
This chart shows the distribution of content types in each industry. Dedicated ads are the majority across every industry. The travel, finance, and tech industries have the highest percentages of end card ads at more than 20 percent.
Average View per Content Type for Each Industry
In this section, we take a deeper look at the average number of views based on the content types used across all industries. We can see how the performance differs for each content type across industries for YouTube and TikTok.
YouTube
Average Views per Content Type for Each Industry
These charts show how the content type affects the average views on YouTube videos for each industry. Videos containing an end card ad, have the highest average number of views in almost every industry. Description only ads tend to have lower views than other content types for many industries, as well. For Finance brands, end card ads more than tripled the views than any other content type.
TikTok
Average Views per Content Type for Each Industry
These charts show how the content type affects the average views on TikTok videos for each industry. There is more variety in which content type gains the most views for TikTok than for YouTube. While Description only ads have a lower average for most industries, it has the highest average views for Finance and Gaming brands. For some industries, such as Beauty and Food & Drinks, the views are similar for each content type, while for others they vary greatly, like for Jewelry and Finance.
Top Performing Videos
This section dives deeper into some of the top performing ad placement videos across YouTube and TikTok, looking specifically at the most viewed video of each content type.
YouTube
I Built Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, Mr. Beast
In this video, Mr. Beast recreated Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and invited other creators over to compete in his competitions there. This video, which was sponsored by Honey, received 123.6 million views and 4.8 million likes!
Dude Perfect Goes to SPACE, Dude Perfect
Best known for their sports content, Dude Perfect is one of the top sports channels on YouTube. In this video, MoonDAO sponsors Colby’s trip to space. Using a description only content type, this video received 17.5 million views.
Facing 100 Fears in 24 Hours!!, Ben Azelart
This video, sponsored by Epic Games, features multiple popular creators from YouTube and TikTok conquering their biggest fears. Using an Intro Card to announce the sponsorship, this video received 24.9 million views.
Archery World Records, Dude Perfect
In this video, Dude Perfect attempt to break multiple archery world records. Sponsored by Bass Pro Shop, this video received 7.7 million views and 206.1k likes and used a dedicated content type.
iPhone 14/Pro Impressions: Welcome to Dynamic Island!, Marques Brownlee
This video is a review and opinion on the new iPhone 14/Pro and is sponsored by Anker. The video includes an end card, where Marques Brownlee mentions Anker and their products at the end of the video.
TikTok
Pepsi, Camilla Cabello
Falling into the dedicated content type category, Pepsi sponsored this TikTok by popular musician Camila Cabello announcing that she will be performing at the UEFA Champions League final opening ceremony. It received 96.1 million views and 1.4 million likes.
Lenovo, Kurt Schneider
This video, sponsored by Lenovo, received 66.1 million views and 932.9k likes on TikTok. Lenovo used the content type integrated by having the creator Kurt Schneider use their new Yoga Slim laptop throughout the video.
HP, McKenzi Brooke
Using the content type description only, HP sponsored this video showing off Coachella on TikTok, which received 9 million views and 118k likes.
Future Predictions
Based on the data in this report, we are able to make a couple of future predictions about ad placement vs. views across YouTube and TikTok.
YouTube
With the success of ad placement videos on YouTube, we see the number of videos using different content types continue to grow. Using YouTube as the main platform, we expect that more brands will explore using end cards to take advantage of the high average rate of likes and comments received by this content type. Although end cards may become more popular, we predict that integrated content will still be the top content type used on YouTube.
TikTok
We predict that the content types dedicated, integrated, and description only will be the main content types used for ad placement on TikTok. Because of the time constraints for TikTok videos, it’s not likely that we will see intro or end cards frequent the platform the way they populate YouTube-sponsored videos.
Key Takeaways
- On YouTube, ‘integrated’ ads are significantly more common than other ad types, while on TikTok, ‘dedicated’ ads are much more common
- This could be due to the average length of TikTok videos being shorter than videos on YouTube
- On YouTube, videos with the ads placed at the end of the video had the most average views, likes, and comments despite there being much fewer ads with this placement.
- On TikTok, ‘description only’ ads average the most views, while on YouTube these ads average the least amount of views
- On TikTok, the placement of the ad has less of an effect on the views, likes, and comments than it does on YouTube
- There is less variation in ad placement on TikToks
- On YouTube, ‘integrated’ and ‘intro card’ ads perform very similarly in views and engagement, even though, there are many more videos with ‘integrated’ ads than ‘intro card’
- The only industry where ‘description only’ ads have the most views on YouTube is photography, for most other industries ‘description only’ ads have significantly less views than other ad types
Editor’s Note
Influencer Marketing is becoming one of the most popular ways you can market your business. In this report, we take a deeper look at how ad placement correlates with views. We look at two popular platforms, YouTube and TikTok, and analyze how the content type of the ad affects views, likes, comments, and shares. The content types used in these campaigns are different based on the platform the ad is appearing in, YouTube uses five different content types, integrated, description only, end card, intro card, and dedicated, whereas TikTok only uses three content types, dedicated, integrated, and description only. In this report, you can see examples of the top-performing videos on these platforms for each one of the content types.
