# Video advertising for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

Gane Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "video advertising platform" and as "connected TV and online video ads platform", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/video-advertising/2026-09/smb

This is the permanent record of the September 2026 Edition, published September 15, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/video-advertising/smb/index.md

**Standing:** Meta Ads leads with 21% of first choices; verdict contested. 52 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Meta Ads](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/meta-ads/index.md) | 21% | 9% | 35 |
| 2 | [LinkedIn Video Ads](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/linkedin-video-ads/index.md) | 19% | 38% | 29 |
| 3 | [YouTube Ads](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/youtube-ads/index.md) | 17% | 12% | 42 |
| 4 | [Vibe.co](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/vibe-co/index.md) | 13% | 3% | 31 |
| 5 | [TikTok Ads](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/tiktok-ads/index.md) | 8% | 29% | 34 |
| 11 | [StackAdapt](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/stackadapt/index.md) | 2% | 37% | 19 |
| 12 | [MNTN](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/mntn/index.md) | 2% | 47% | 17 |
| 15 | [Roku Ads](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/roku-ads/index.md) | 0% | 25% | 12 |
| 102 | [The Trade Desk](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/the-trade-desk/index.md) | 0% | 85% | 13 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 102 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: StackAdapt, Vibe.co; alternatives Vidyard
- GPT-5.4 mini: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives YouTube Ads
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: YouTube Ads; alternatives MNTN, Meta Ads, Vibe.co
- Perplexity Sonar: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives Vibe.co
- Grok 4.20: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives YouTube Ads
- Mistral Small: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives Goldcast, VISTY, YouTube Ads
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives Vibe.co, YouTube Ads
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives Vidyard, Wistia, YouTube Ads
- Kimi K2: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives Vibe.co, YouTube Ads
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: YouTube Ads; alternatives LinkedIn Video Ads, Meta Ads
- MiniMax M2.5: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives YouTube Ads

## Sources the answers cite

20 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 4 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- vibe.co: 12 answers, 19 citations
- adwave.com: 7 answers, 10 citations
- indiemedia.club: 6 answers, 6 citations
- support.google.com: 5 answers, 8 citations
- demandbase.com: 5 answers, 7 citations
- business.linkedin.com: 5 answers, 6 citations
- atlassian.com: 5 answers, 5 citations
- youtube.com: 4 answers, 15 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://vibe.co/blog/how-to/video-advertising-platforms (9 answers)
- https://indiemedia.club/tools/best-video-advertising-networks (6 answers)
- https://atlassian.com/blog/loom/video-marketing-platform (5 answers)
- https://adwave.com/resources/video-marketing-for-small-business (4 answers)
- https://demandbase.com/blog/best-ctv-advertising-platforms (4 answers)
- https://madgicx.com/blog/ad-tech-platform-for-video-advertising (4 answers)
- https://richads.com/blog/best-video-ad-networks (4 answers)
- https://adwave.com/resources/best-streaming-tv-advertising-platforms (3 answers)
- https://dacast.com/blog/best-video-marketing-platforms (3 answers)
- https://demandbase.com/blog/6-b2b-advertising-platforms-worth-considering-for-2026 (3 answers)

## Warned against

- TikTok Ads: 10 of 34 labels negative. "### TikTok Ads Manager (For Certain Business Types)
- Not suitable for: Conservative professional service providers" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- LinkedIn Video Ads: 11 of 29 labels negative. "LinkedIn is a premium platform with high costs (often $20–$50+ per click)... your small business may burn its budget too quickly here." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)
- The Trade Desk: 11 of 13 labels negative. "Generally Avoid (High Minimums/Complexity for SMBs)... Explicitly "prices out" small businesses" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- MNTN: 8 of 17 labels negative. "MNTN, tvScientific, Basis, StackAdapt often require $10,000–$25,000+ minimums... Why avoid: These are built for enterprise advertisers" (Kimi K2, negative prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, September 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/gtm.