Pixability (www.pixability.com), a leader in AI-driven contextual targeting, brand suitability and performance advertising on YouTube and CTV, today revealed the results of a major survey of U.S. & UK Media Agency executives, buyers and planners. The study asked agency leaders about current video advertising behaviors and how they foresee YouTube and CTV budgets and strategies shifting in 2025.
According to agencies based in the US, 86% predict that advertiser spending on YouTube will stay steady or increase in 2025, with 42% indicating budgets will stay the same and 44% planning to increase them (pg 3). Only 3% said they predicted a decrease in budgets for YouTube. The respondents also said that CTV and YouTube were the big winners in 2024 (pg 4), with over half of the agencies reporting increases in spending on both, in contrast to Meta and Tik Tok who had flatter investments (with only 40% and 31% reporting increases in 2024). Linear TV recorded the biggest decrease in spending, with 32% of agencies citing a decrease (vs. just 3% for CTV and 9% for YouTube). Results were consistent with this for UK agencies surveyed.
“YouTube continues to increase in importance to advertisers, emerging not only as a leader in CTV, but also now as a leader in short-form too,” said David George, CEO of Pixability. “And while investment in YouTube will continue to grow, our survey reveals that some recent shifts in behavior and sentiment will make it even more complex and challenging for agencies and brands to get YouTube right.”
Adapting to YouTube as a CTV Leader: YouTube continues to assert its position as a leader in CTV, in addition to its well established role as a video leader.
“While brands have long recognized YouTube’s value as an online video advertising and social platform, it’s time to fully embrace it as a Connected TV (CTV) leader,” said Erin Mullaney, Media Director at Connelly Partners. “YouTube is not only the No. 1 streaming platform in terms of TV viewership and reach, but also stands out with its predominantly ad-supported model – a sharp contract to competitors like Netflix, which heavily rely on ad-free subscriptions.”
Agencies are adapting and beginning to unify their individual TV, YouTube, and CTV teams too. In the U.S., 29% have unified teams now and 40% expect to have them in the near future (pg 5), with a similar pattern emerging in the UK.
Defining YouTube as a Social Shorts Platform vs. a Video or CTV Platform: With YouTube Shorts growing exponentially, it’s become harder for agencies to define YouTube and to determine which buying teams should be responsible for the platform. When U.S. agencies were asked, 66% of them see YouTube as a stand-alone video platform, overlapping with the 45% who see it as a CTV platform and 38% who now see it as a social shorts platform, (pg 16).
“With the growth of YouTube Shorts, YouTube has become a leader in short-form social video right alongside Tik Tok,” said Melissa Sierra, EVP, Media Integration at USIM. “Increasingly we’re incorporating Shorts into our social plans for clients, using them alongside other tactics that also drive high audience engagement and maximize reach and performance.”
Using YouTube for Performance: As Google provides more solutions to drive performance, introducing tactics like Demand Generation, agencies and brands are increasing their use of YouTube for lower funnel objectives. In 2024, while 76% of U.S. agencies used YouTube for awareness, 31% also used it for “Full-Funnel” activity. In 2025, the survey predicts that 55% will use YouTube for awareness and 47% will use it for Full-Funnel activities (pg 15).
Balancing Brand Suitability and Performance: While agencies in the U.S. continue to indicate that brand suitability is important on YouTube–estimating that 30% of their impressions run on unsuitable content in the absence of effective brand suitability solutions (pg 9)–they also don’t want to sacrifice performance in favor of suitability. For the first time this year, respondents did not list brand safety as the No. 1 or No. 2 objective, favoring mostly performance-focused objectives instead (pg 7).
“Brand suitability on YouTube continues to be a key priority for many of the brands we work with,” said Michael Consolazio, Vice President Group Director, Media Technology at Groupe Connect. “Advertisers aim to minimize risk by appearing only alongside content that aligns with their values while also ensuring strong performance that meets campaign objectives.”
“YouTube continues to be an incredibly important piece of the puzzle for the brands we work with,” said Jordan Pennino, VP, Digital and Programmatic for Dentsu. “With the complexity of YouTube campaigns only increasing, it’s critical that we ensure that we maximize outcomes for advertisers, while also running the campaign on content that aligns with the brand’s values.”