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

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "video advertising platform" and as "connected TV and online video ads platform", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/video-advertising/2026-11/smb

**Standing:** YouTube Ads leads with 24% of first choices; verdict contested. 54 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [YouTube Ads](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/youtube-ads/index.md) | 24% | 9% | 56 |
| 2 | [LinkedIn Video Ads](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/linkedin-video-ads/index.md) | 22% | 29% | 41 |
| 3 | [Meta Ads](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/meta-ads/index.md) | 15% | 7% | 43 |
| 4 | [Vibe.co](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/vibe-co/index.md) | 7% | 0% | 20 |
| 5 | [TikTok Ads](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/tiktok-ads/index.md) | 7% | 30% | 46 |
| 6 | [MNTN](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/mntn/index.md) | 7% | 17% | 12 |
| 7 | [StackAdapt](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/stackadapt/index.md) | 2% | 24% | 17 |
| 8 | [Roku Ads](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/roku-ads/index.md) | 2% | 25% | 12 |
| 86 | [The Trade Desk](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/the-trade-desk/index.md) | 0% | 76% | 17 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 86 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: LinkedIn Video Ads, YouTube Ads
- GPT-5.4 mini: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives YouTube Ads
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: LinkedIn Video Ads, YouTube Ads; alternatives Meta Ads
- Perplexity Sonar: LinkedIn Video Ads, YouTube Ads
- Grok 4.20: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives Google Display & Video 360, Meta Ads, Microsoft Advertising, YouTube Ads
- Mistral Small: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives Demandbase CTV, YouTube Ads
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: YouTube Ads; alternatives LinkedIn Video Ads, Meta Ads
- Llama 4 Maverick: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives Meta Ads, Spotify Ads, StackAdapt, TikTok Ads
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: YouTube Ads; alternatives LinkedIn Video Ads, Meta Ads
- Kimi K2: YouTube Ads; alternatives LinkedIn Video Ads
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives Meta Ads, Microsoft Advertising, YouTube Ads
- MiniMax M2.5: LinkedIn Sponsored Video Ads; alternatives Meta Ads, YouTube Ads
- GPT-6 Luna: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives YouTube Ads
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Google Video, YouTube Ads; alternatives LinkedIn Video Ads

## Sources the answers cite

73 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- adwave.com: 28 answers, 39 citations
- ads.tiktok.com: 24 answers, 28 citations
- vibe.co: 23 answers, 36 citations
- g2.com: 23 answers, 30 citations
- guideflow.com: 22 answers, 22 citations
- influencermarketinghub.com: 21 answers, 22 citations
- gane.ai/index: 15 answers, 15 citations
- business.linkedin.com: 12 answers, 21 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://guideflow.com/blog/video-advertising-software (20 answers)
- https://influencermarketinghub.com/video-advertising/video-ad-platforms (20 answers)
- https://adwave.com/resources/video-marketing-for-small-business (19 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/video-advertising/smb (15 answers)
- https://vibe.co/blog/how-to/video-advertising-platforms (15 answers)
- https://levitatemedia.com/learn/commercial-video-advertising (12 answers)
- https://ads.tiktok.com/business/en/guides/video-advertising-guide (10 answers)
- https://ads.tiktok.com/business/ms/guides/video-advertising-guide (10 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/video-advertising/small-business (10 answers)
- https://adcreate.com/blog/small-business-video-ad-budget-guide (9 answers)

## Warned against

- TikTok Ads: 14 of 46 labels negative. "Platforms to Avoid (or Be Very Cautious About) ... TikTok Ads (for most local/service businesses) Caution Level: High" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- LinkedIn Video Ads: 12 of 41 labels negative. "frequently cited as problematic for small businesses due to extremely high costs ... notoriously poor ROI for small budgets" (MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt)
- The Trade Desk: 13 of 17 labels negative. "The Trade Desk requires specialist DSP expertise and significant budget commitments, making it less suitable for small businesses." (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt)
- YouTube Ads: 5 of 56 labels negative. "If you use YouTube, plan for at least ~£500-£1,000 / month and tightly control placements" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
New leader: LinkedIn Video Ads (24%) to YouTube Ads (24%). Margin 2 points, within noise.

- YouTube Ads: 15% to 24%, +9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 2 → 1 of 86.
- Meta Ads: 9% to 15%, +6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 3 of 86, unchanged.
- Google Ads: 4% to 0%, −4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 8 → 16 of 86.
- LinkedIn Video Ads: 24% to 22%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 1 → 2 of 86.
- StackAdapt: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 10 → 7 of 86.
- Roku Ads: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 92 → 8 of 86.
- Vibe.co: 7% to 7%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 4 of 86, unchanged.
- TikTok Ads: 7% to 7%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 5 of 86, unchanged.
- MNTN: 7% to 7%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 of 86, unchanged.
- The Trade Desk: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 94 → 86 of 86.

## Record

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