More Revenue – YouTube Ads vs. Ad Network Ads?

In this post, we're talking about whether you should upload videos to YouTube and embed them in your blog posts, or upload your videos to your ad network, and embed THOSE in your blog post... Which is more valuable? This is my first ever Video Pursuit Podcast Official Experiment!

Listen to Episode 15: More Revenue: YouTube Ads vs. Ad Network Ads?

Listen to more episodes of the Video Pursuit Podcast in your Apple Podcasts app or search "Video Pursuit Podcast" in your favorite podcast player. 

YouTube Ads vs. Network Ads: What's better?

To start things off, let's cover a few basics about ads and ad revenue when it comes to networks and YouTube ads.

Ad networks allow you to upload a video that you can embed in your blog post. That video shows ads before or during its duration. Some examples of networks like this are Mediavine and AdThrive. I use Mediavine ads on my blog, and they are a fantastic ad network!

Why Embed Videos using an Ad Network?

You can earn revenue through the ads whether those ads play on YouTube or through your ad network, but the CPMs (cost per thousand) are usually higher in ad networks. CPM is the advertiser's cost per thousand impressions. You can also think about the RPM or revenue per thousand impressions. It's the overall revenue on the ads.

You can think of your RPM as your revenue as you are the publisher and the content creator. Usually, you'll find the RPMs of ad Network ads are higher than what you would get on YouTube.

Hypothesis: Bloggers can earn more money through embedded Ad Network videos than they can with YouTube ad revenue.

So for the purposes of this post, I wanted to experiment with this and see for myself whether ad networks would generate more revenue than the ads on my YouTube videos.

The Experiment

On May 24th, 2018, I uploaded my video to Mediavine, and embedded it into the highest trafficked page on my site (at that time).

I added my GoPro Software Options video to my GoPro Studio Download post, under the GoPro Studio Alternatives section: http://vidpromom.com/gopro-studio-download/. This post previously did NOT have any video associated with it at all.

The Results

I have a handful of takeaways on this topic, based on my experience and on this experiment itself.

1. If you're just going for ad money, then skip YouTube altogether and upload videos to your ad network. If you're getting a boatload of traffic to your site, and hardly anything happening on your YouTube channel, then do that.
2. You can embed an ad network video in a post AND upload a video to YouTube... Just because you have a YouTube video, it doesn't mean you have to embed it on your site. You can have it on YouTube to reap the benefits the platform has to offer (growing an audience, building a community, establishing yourself as an authority) and then also embed the same video in your post to bring in revenue through your ad network.
3. If you don't feel that you're missing out on tons of ad revenue by using YouTube videos on your site, then you can stick to embedding videos from YouTube. The benefits of the YouTube embed might be greater than the monetary benefit. If it makes your readers aware of your channel and helps grow your channel, that's something to consider!
4. YouTube embeds will help you get more views on your videos. If you have a brand spanking new YouTube channel and you want to at least get to the point where you can apply for monetization (1000 subscribers and 4000 watch time hours), you can give your channel a jump start by embedding YouTube videos in your high-trafficked pages. It won't help a ton with subscribers or engagement on the video themselves, but it will help with your views and watch time.
5. Last but not the least, you must test it out and make your own decision as the results it might be on a page by page bases. You can do it one way then change it up later, nothing is set in stone with this!

At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself why you're even doing YouTube, and base your decision on that. I think people often lose sight of what YouTube is. If you're a YouTuber, a non-blogger YouTuber, YouTube is everything. It's THE platform. It's THE ONLY algorithm that matters.

But if you're a blogger, you have lots of algorithms to answer to, so decide what your desired outcome with YouTube and video is before you change anything up on your blog.

RELATED: Find out the YouTube tools I use to increase views and grow my channel.

Since YouTube is owned by Google, embedding a YT video on your page or post might help with your Google juice. I hear that a lot, and I don't think I've EVER seen or heard anyone actually test that theory and prove that it's true (or false). There's also no proof of the opposite that if you embed a none-YouTube video in your post, it will hurt your Google juice. This is an experiment that I 100% plan on doing. If you have experimented with this or know of some solid evidence on this topic, PLEASE let me know!

But either way, test things out for yourself. Your audience is different, your content is different, it all depends on the environment that you have created with your content.

Whether you're all in on YouTube or just want to make the most of whatever you are uploading there, you should grab my YouTube for Bloggers cheat sheet and checklist! I created it just so you can take advantage of the algorithm every time you upload. You can also hed over the Video for Bloggers Facebook group or head to vidpromom.com/youtubechecklist.

Connect with me on Instagram, shoot me a DM, my handle is easy, it's vidpromom. You can also tweet me, at meredithmarsh on Twitter.

Listen to more episodes of the Video Pursuit Podcast here or in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast player. Leave a review! It helps other people find my podcast as well.