Home · Tools · Benchmarks · Video advertising
Channel
Video advertising benchmarks
YouTube, Meta Reels, TikTok video, Connected TV. Brand-building plus increasingly direct-response capable. Sequenced storytelling drives the strongest lift.
Share of digital ad spend: ~17% of US digital ad spend (2026, video formats)
Channel snapshot
YouTube TrueView CPV $0.04–0.14. CTV CPM $22–38. Reels CPM $5–22. Avg brand-recall lift +11–18 ppt.
How to operate this channel
Operator playbook
- Hook in 5 seconds — skippable's structural constraint.
- Sequenced storytelling beats single-ad campaigns by 30%+ on recall.
- Connected TV: optimize completion rate (90%+), not CTR.
- Vertical-native creative for Reels/TikTok/Shorts — horizontal underperforms 2:1.
- Brand-Lift studies on >$50K video spend — view-through ROAS is unreliable.
Platforms in this channel
How to read these benchmarks
Treat these Video advertising figures as a diagnostic range, not a goal. a result inside the range usually means the constraint is elsewhere - offer, landing experience, or measurement - while a result well outside it points straight at targeting, creative, or bid strategy. Compare like with like - same funnel stage, same objective, same season - because a top-of-funnel number judged against a bottom-of-funnel benchmark will always mislead.
How to use this page. Find the funnel stage you are buying, read the range, and calculate the gap to your live numbers. Model the revenue impact of closing that gap with the break-even ROAS and CAC payback calculators, then pressure-test the plan against the full 2026 benchmarks compendium.
Sourcing. Ranges are RGM's 2026 synthesis of platform-reported figures and aggregated account data, expressed as medians and typical spreads rather than single points. They move with season, auction pressure, and creative quality, so re-check them each quarter.