TikTok vs. Reels Ads: Which Performs Better? An Experiment Reveals!
Which ads perform better: TikTok or Reels?
Since the launch of Instagram Reels, the internet has been comparing them to TikTok — often harshly. Their rivalry is more evident now that Reels commercials are a thing. So, which ad format is more effective: TikTok or Reels? Creatopy, a creative ad platform, conducted an experiment in which they competed. You may be astonished by the outcome!
TikTok vs. Reels ads: The hypothesis
Due to its strong engagement and exponential development, Creatopy’s PPC team and Social Media Manager predicted that TikTok would win the ultimate award after much internal debate.
Both Instagram and TikTok are among the most popular social media networks, with one billion monthly active users apiece. However, TikTok took five years to reach this milestone, while Instagram took 7.7 years.
“Given TikTok’s popularity, evolution, and virality, I figured the commercial would do better on this platform.” And, among all social media channels, I must say I’m a great lover of Instagram,” said Andreea Mehedin, Creatopy’s Social Media Manager.
Experiment setup
Creatopy kept the variables the same to acquire accurate data from which they could make unambiguous conclusions:
- For the same time (September 14 — October 5, 2021), they ran the same 15-second product video on both platforms with the same aim (reach), ad copy, daily budget, total expenditure, location targeting, etc.
- To combat ad fatigue, they added a bespoke frequency cap. After all, the last thing any marketer wants is for their commercials to dull or irritate people.
- They exclusively targeted people between the ages of 25 and 44 who had expressed an interest in education, technology, or apps (rather than retargeting users who had already interacted with advertisements).
You can see the whole setup in the table below:
Instagram Reels ad outperformed the TikTok ad in all areas:
- Reach and impressions: TikTok only had 199,477 users and 228,538 impressions, while Instagram Reels had 389,298 users and 604,350 images. In addition, reels had a cost per 1,000 individuals reached of $2.60 compared to $5.03 for TikTok.
- Clicks: The Reels ad had 38 clicks compared to only 28 for TikTok. It’s worth noting that, unlike Facebook Ad Manager, TikTok Ads Manager does not distinguish between link and ad clicks. Therefore all clicks on the TikTok ad were tallied together.
- Costs: Although both platforms’ CPC and CPM were pretty high due to many impressions and low clicks, Instagram Reels was still less expensive than TikTok, with a CPC of $28.08 vs. $35.72 a CPM of $1.67 vs. $4.38. A larger audience at a lower CPC and CPM? Please, yes!
- Conversions: On either platform, there were no conversions, which was to be expected. The principal purpose of both efforts was to raise brand awareness. Thus conversions were not a priority.
- Audience: The team also looked at the top ten most popular states regarding impressions in the United States. California, Texas, Florida, and New York were determined to be in the top four for both platforms. Again, the results were expected, given that these four states had the largest populations.
You can find the top five states for both platforms in the table below:
Considering all of these, we can confidently declare Instagram Reels the winner of this race. This came as a surprise for anyone betting on TikTok’s win. It’s clear that even though TikTok has shown impressive and consistent growth, Instagram still has a few tricks up its sleeve. Here are 19 creative Instagram Reels ideas to try out.
Caveats
It’s critical to reach certain conclusions but not become too fixated on them. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Age difference: The Instagram Reels ad’s performance may have been aided by the demographic differences between these two social media networks. According to Sprout Social, the most popular age group on TikTok is 18–24, whereas the most popular age group on Instagram is 25–34. According to Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, Instagram users are aging slowly but steadily. As a result, when the team targeted people aged 25 to 44, they reached a greater audience on Instagram.
- Content: Using the same video across all platforms is a common cross-channel advertising blunder. Unless you’re doing a specific test, it’s advisable to research the platforms’ characteristics and audiences before tailoring your ads.
- Every business is different: Instagram Reels aren’t sure to win all of the time. Reels was chosen as the winner in this experiment, but just for this ad and Creatopy’s audience. A different style of advertisement, with a different structure, running at a different time frame, may quickly provide different results. It’s essential to test your ads to see which one works best for your company.
- TikTok did bring results: To be fair, Creatopy’s first-ever TikTok video — a more lighthearted post with a human approach that was uploaded shortly before the ad went up — saw a massive increase in views after the ad ran, hitting over 100k viewers.
TikTok vs. Instagram Reels ads: experiment observations
If there’s one thing we can learn from this experiment, never dismiss a platform until you’ve given it a shot. Remember to test, test, and test whether you’re promoting on TikTok, Instagram Reels, or any other social media platform (this is one of our paid media strategy musts!). Have a fantastic time, and good luck!
Disclaimer:
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LEGAL:
Any earnings or income representations are aspirational statements only of your earning potential. There is no guarantee that you’ll receive the same results or any results at all. Your results will depend entirely on your work ethic, experience, etc. As always, there is a risk with any business. I am not a financial advisor, and nothing in this video should be considered legal advice.
