Key Points
- The Video Advertising Bureau said premium CTV platforms outperform YouTube in co-viewing, attention and session length, citing a year-long study of 22 services.
- Premium video delivered 33 percent higher co-viewing and sessions averaging 1 hour and 18 minutes, 49 percent longer than YouTube.
- The report argues premium CTV impressions generate stronger presence, sustained attention and overall advertising efficiency for marketers.
The Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) has commissioned a study that encourages brands and marketers to re-think their approach to buying advertising against YouTube over premium media experiences like network-owned streaming platforms.
The study released on Tuesday comes as YouTube competes for a bigger share of connected TV advertising, which it does by licensing premium content like live sports while pointing to favorable data from Nielsen and others that appears to demonstrate a strong amount of YouTube usage on the largest screen in most American homes.
Arguably, YouTube has successfully convinced some in the industry that its social video platform is comparable to premium experiences like Netflix, Prime Video and Disney Plus — even though Nielsen and other measurement services offer granular data on what people watch across those services while offering virtually no insight into the type of content that people watch on YouTube.
Seizing on this anomaly, the VAB suggests that YouTube is coming up short in key areas that should matter most to brands and marketers, including attention metrics and session duration.
In its new report called “The Impression Gap,” the VAB outlines a year-long analysis comparing 21 premium video platforms — including free services, subscription products and cable-like alternatives — against YouTube’s connected TV app. The study examined viewing behavior between July 2024 and June 2025, focusing on co-viewing, attention metrics and session duration.
Across nearly every metric evaluated, premium video platforms outperformed YouTube.
Co-viewing — defined as impressions where two or more viewers watch together for at least five minutes — was 33 percent stronger on premium platforms. On average, 60 percent of premium video impressions occurred with multiple viewers in the room, compared with 45 percent for YouTube. Among the 22 platforms measured, YouTube ranked near the bottom on this metric.
For advertisers, that distinction carries measurable impact. Shared viewing environments are associated with higher ad recall and greater likelihood of conversation around advertising, amplifying brand exposure beyond a single viewer. Premium video’s higher co-viewing rates suggest greater household reach per impression and improved efficiency for marketers seeking scale within living room environments.
Attention metrics further widened the gap.
On the “presence to active” index — which measures the percentage of time a viewer is in the room during an active session — premium platforms averaged 102 compared with 97 for YouTube, representing a 5 percent lift. While both environments approach the broader CTV norm, premium platforms demonstrated stronger consistency in ensuring viewers remain present.
More pronounced differences emerged when measuring whether viewers were actually watching the screen. On the “attention to presence” index, which tracks time spent with eyes on screen while the viewer is in the room, premium platforms averaged 108 compared with 95 for YouTube — a 14 percent advantage. In rankings across the measured platforms, YouTube placed in the lower tier.
Sustained attention showed an even wider disparity. The “attention to duration” index — measuring time spent with eyes on screen relative to the total viewing session — averaged 110 for premium video platforms versus 93 for YouTube, an 18 percent lift. Across nearly all session-length categories, YouTube under-indexed relative to premium environments, suggesting weaker retention of viewer gaze over time.
Session duration itself represents one of the most significant differentiators. Premium video viewing sessions averaged 1 hour and 18 minutes, compared with 52 minutes for YouTube — a 26-minute difference, or 49 percent longer sessions. Three-quarters of YouTube impressions occurred in sessions shorter than 84 minutes, categorized as super short or short sessions, limiting opportunities for extended storytelling and frequency optimization.
Premium platforms skewed toward longer-form, lean-back viewing, creating more predictable advertising windows and stronger alignment with traditional television consumption patterns. Across super short, short, medium and long sessions, premium platforms consistently outperformed YouTube on attention-to-presence measures.
Taken together, the data appears to prove out what VAB characterizes as an “impression gap” — premium CTV impressions are more likely to reach multiple viewers, keep audiences in the room and maintain eyes on screen for longer durations.
On average, premium platforms delivered a 5 percent lift in viewer presence, 14 percent lift in eyes on screen, 18 percent lift in sustained attention, 33 percent lift in co-viewing and 49 percent longer sessions compared with YouTube, the VAB report found.
“The data shows that premium video platforms on CTV (connected TV) are much more likely to generate higher levels of co-viewing, enabling advertisers to get greater efficiency out of every CTV impression they buy,” Benjamin Vandegrift, the Senior Vice President of Measurement Strategy & Innovation at VAB, said in a statement. “While attention on YouTube tends to underperform, premium video platforms deliver elevated attention across session durations, which unlocks deeper engagement and greater brand storytelling opportunities for marketers.”
“Attention and co-viewing are important factors in understanding the quality, impact and total reach of ad impressions. To maximize campaign performance, it is necessary for marketers to understand attentive engagement levels,” said TVision CEO Yan Liu. “The analysis presented in The Impression Gap delivers substantive clarity and context on the true value of streaming ad impressions.”
The full report from the VAB is available to view by clicking or tapping here.
