Brands are constantly faced with decisions about which video ad format will generate the best results. A recent study aimed to help with this challenge by comparing TV, YouTube and Facebook video adverts.

The research created a living room environment in which participants were able to watch TV, search for videos on YouTube or scroll through their Facebook feeds. They could choose to do whichever of the three they wanted and saw the same three retail, electronics and consumer goods ads alongside other adverts while they did so.

The study found that brand recall was strongest for TV ads, with 18% of participants able to recall a specific ad. For YouTube and Facebook, the figures were 14% and 7% respectively.

Looking in more detail at YouTube ads, the research found that six-second bumper ads prompted better brand recall than both pre-rolls and TrueView ads.

The study also looked at high-frequency ad exposure and cross-platform ads. Perhaps unsurprisingly, participants had stronger recall after seeing an advert multiple times. Regardless of the medium, brand recall among participants doubled when they'd watched an ad twice.

Multiple TV exposures with differing ad formats (three in total) produced the strongest recall rates (40%).

The study also tested brand recall for multi-platform campaigns that mixed TV and online formats. Mixing TV and YouTube pre-roll resulted in 34% unaided brand recall, but that figure dropped to 26% when TV ads were mixed with YouTube True View.

Speaking about the findings, Dirk Bruns, head of video sales Central Europe for Google said: "The study highlights the fact that YouTube offers the right advertising format for every campaign objective and has a powerful and proven impact."

He continued: "This can be enhanced by optimized targeting. In addition, the combined advertising mix of TV and YouTube produces a powerful cross-media impact."

Are you looking to take your digital marketing career to the next level? Get in touch with the team at Stopgap to find out how we can help.