TikTok vs Instagram Reel Ads: Which Is Better? [Experiment!]

Since Instagram launched Reels, the internet has been comparing them to TikTok — and pretty brutally. Now that Reels advertising is a thing, their competition is more pronounced than ever. So which ads perform better: TikTok or Reels? Advertising Design Platform creative An experiment was conducted that pitted them against it. You might be surprised by the results!

TikTok vs Reels Ads: What If

After a lot of internal debate, Creatopy’s PPC team and social media managers speculate that TikTok will win the big prize due to its high engagement and explosive growth

Instagram and TikTok are both Most Popular Social Media Platform Each has 1 billion monthly active users, but it took TikTok five years to reach that number and Instagram 7.7 years.

“Given the success, evolution and virality of TikTok, I’m guessing that ads will perform better on this platform. I must mention that, of all social media platforms, I’m a huge Instagram fan,” Creatopy’s Social Media manager Andreea Mehedin explained.

Experimental setup

In order to get accurate results, from which they can draw unequivocal conclusions, Createopy keeps the variables unchanged:

• They played the same 15 seconds on both platforms during the same time period (September 14-October 5, 2021) with the same goals (reach), ad copy, daily budget, total spend, location targeting, etc. Product video.
• They added custom frequency caps to avoid ad fatigue. After all, the last thing any marketer wants is for people to be bored or annoyed by their ads.
• They only use interest targeting (rather than retargeting users who have already engaged with the ad): users between the ages of 25 and 44 who have expressed an interest in education, technology, or apps.

You can see the complete setup in the table below:

notes: At the start of the experiment, Cretopy had only a handful of followers on its TikTok account, which was created a few days ago, while its Instagram account already had 5.5k followers (How to get more Instagram followers here). This doesn’t seem to significantly affect the results, but it’s important to note.

result

Victory for Instagram!

Instagram Reels ads outperform TikTok ads in every way:

• Reach and Impressions: Instagram Reels has 389,298 users and 604,350 impressions, while TikTok has only 199,477 users and 228,538 impressions. Reels also cost about half as much per 1,000 people as TikTok, at $2.60 and $5.03, respectively.
• hit count: Reels ads generated 38 clicks, compared to 28 for TikTok. It’s worth mentioning that TikTok Ads Manager doesn’t differentiate between link clicks and ad clicks like Facebook Ads Manager does, so all clicks on TikTok ads are counted.
• cost: While both platforms have fairly high CPC and CPM due to high impressions and low clicks, Instagram Reels is still cheaper than TikTok at $28.08 vs $35.72 CPC and $1.67 vs $4.38 CPM.wider coverage Lower CPC and Lower CPM? Yes, please!
• Convert: There’s no conversion on either platform — but that’s to be expected.Both campaigns are for brand awarenessso conversion is not the main goal.
• audience:The team also looked at a list of the most popular US states in terms of impressions. They found that California, Texas, Florida and New York were in the top four on both platforms. Given that these four states are the most populous, the results are to be expected.

You can find the top five states for both platforms in the table below:

Taking all these factors into consideration, we can confidently declare Instagram Reels as the winner of this contest. It’s a surprise for anyone betting on a TikTok win. It’s clear that while TikTok has shown impressive continued growth, Instagram still has some tricks up its sleeve.Speaking of which, here are the 19 Creative Instagram Reels Ideas try.

Precautions

It’s important to draw some conclusions, but don’t get too attached to them. Here are some caveats to consider:

• Age Difference: The demographic differences between the two social media platforms may have contributed to the success of Instagram Reels ads. According to reports, the largest age group on TikTok is 18-24, while on Instagram it is 25-34. sprout societyAccording to Insider Intelligence’s eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson, Instagram’s users are slowly but surely aging. So when the team targets users between the ages of 25 and 44, they can reach a larger user base on Instagram.
• content: it can usually be a Cross-channel advertising mistakes Use the exact same video on each platform. Unless you’re trying to do some kind of testing, it’s best to research the platform’s characteristics and audience, and adjust your ads accordingly.
• Every business is different: There is no guarantee that Instagram Reels will always win. The experiment declared Reels the winner, but only for viewers of the ad and Cretopy. Different types of ads, using different settings and running in different time frames, can easily lead to different results. It’s definitely worth experimenting with your own ads to find out what works best for your business.
• TikTok did bring results: For a little redemption, it’s worth noting that after Run a TikTok adCretopy’s first TikTok video — a lighter post, uploaded shortly before the ad, with a human-friendly approach — has seen a surge in views and more than 100,000 users.

TikTok vs Instagram Reels Ads: An Experimental Observation

If we can learn anything from this experiment, it’s to never underestimate any platform until you try them yourself.whether you plan Marketing on TikTok, Instagram Reels or any other social media platform, always remember to test, test and test (this is our A must for a paid media strategy!). Have fun and good luck!

You can view the full lab article and infographic from Creatopy here.

About the author

Ana Maria Darstaru is a content marketing manager by day and an avid foodie by night. Passionate about editorial content, commercials, human psychology, carbohydrates, and crime-related TV shows.