# YouTube Ads: how AI models rank it, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Named in 55 judge labels across 2 categories by 14 of 14 models. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/youtube-ads

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Video advertising](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/video-advertising/index.md) | 18% | 3 | 12% | 51 |
| [Search and social advertising platforms](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/search-and-social-advertising-platforms/index.md) | 0% | 38 | 0% | 4 |

## What the models said for it

- "Best for intent and evergreen / low CPV: YouTube TrueView or YouTube Shorts. The CPV model and $2-$6 CPM for Shorts make it the most cost-efficient for small budgets." (Muse Glimmer 30B, Video ads)
- "Choose YouTube if you want to capture users with specific intent, need detailed analytics, or want to leverage Google's ecosystem" (Kimi K2, Video ads)
- "YouTube and Facebook/Instagram are generally the safest starting points due to their flexibility and targeting options." (Claude Haiku 4.5, Video ads)
- "LinkedIn and YouTube are generally considered the top two contenders for mid-market B2B video advertising." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, Video ads)

## And against it

- "YouTube Ads and Meta Ads are also mentioned as having some negative labels, but not to the same extent as X" (Llama 4 Maverick, Video ads)
- "especially where the money is juiciest: Connected TV (CTV), YouTube, in-stream and in-feed video" (Claude Haiku 4.5, Video ads)
- "its open inventory—particularly user-generated content—can pose significant brand safety risks" (Mistral Small, Video ads)
- "While YouTube-native inventory is significantly safer than GVP, it still has issues" (Kimi K2, Video ads)

## By model

| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Grok 4.20 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Mistral Small | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Kimi K2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |

## Sources returned with these answers

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named YouTube Ads, from 116 of the 135 answers that named it (only the models that return a source list).

### Domains cited

- ads.tiktok.com: 38
- influencermarketinghub.com: 33
- vibe.co: 31
- g2.com: 28
- gane.ai/index: 28
- guideflow.com: 26
- adwave.com: 24
- support.google.com: 21
- demandbase.com: 20
- linkedin.com: 19

### Pages cited

- https://influencermarketinghub.com/video-advertising/video-ad-platforms: 31
- https://guideflow.com/blog/video-advertising-software: 23
- https://adwave.com/resources/video-marketing-for-small-business: 21
- https://vibe.co/blog/how-to/video-advertising-platforms: 20
- https://demandbase.com/blog/best-ctv-advertising-platforms: 18
- https://ads.tiktok.com/business/en/guides/video-advertising-guide: 15
- https://iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2024_IAB_Video_Ad_Spend_Report_July_2024.pdf: 15
- https://levitatemedia.com/learn/commercial-video-advertising: 15

## The company

YouTube; https://www.youtube.com/; San Bruno, United States; founded 2005; about 2,000 employees (2019); part of Google. From Wikidata, fetched 2026-09-14.

## In its own words

What YouTube Ads's own pages state, read 2026-10-05. Stated by the vendor, not checked by the index.

- Positioning: Earn when ads run on your content (https://www.youtube.com/creators/earn/ads-and-premium)
- For: Creators in the YouTube Partner Program (https://www.youtube.com/creators/earn/ads-and-premium)

## What it publishes

Every page youtube.com exposes, read 2026-09-29: 10003 addresses. By kind, pages and the last 90 days:

- blog: 225 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- webinar or virtual event: 27 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest 2023-10-10
- report or ebook: 29 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- comparison: 1 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- glossary or explainer: 1 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- podcast or video: 1 pages, 0 in the last 90 days, latest undated
- Recent: 2023-10-10 webinar or virtual event: Live streaming on youtube https://www.youtube.com/intl/es_ALL/creators/live-streaming-on-youtube
- Recent: 2023-10-10 webinar or virtual event: Live streaming on youtube https://www.youtube.com/intl/es_es/creators/live-streaming-on-youtube
- Recent: 2023-10-10 webinar or virtual event: Live streaming on youtube https://www.youtube.com/intl/fr_ALL/creators/live-streaming-on-youtube
- Recent: 2020-07-14 webinar or virtual event: Live streaming on youtube https://www.youtube.com/intl/ar_ALL/creators/live-streaming-on-youtube
- Recent: 2020-07-14 webinar or virtual event: Live streaming on youtube https://www.youtube.com/intl/cs_ALL/creators/live-streaming-on-youtube
- Recent: 2020-07-14 webinar or virtual event: Live streaming on youtube https://www.youtube.com/intl/de_ALL/creators/live-streaming-on-youtube

## 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.