Not All Impressions Are Equal: YouTube vs Meta vs TikTok

Open any ad account and you’ll see the same thing: impressions. Thousands, sometimes millions of them. Reports make it look simple — one impression equals one ad view, and you can compare them across platforms like you’re comparing apples to apples.

But impressions are not created equal. A YouTube impression doesn’t carry the same weight as a Meta impression, and a TikTok impression is a different beast altogether. The differences aren’t just cosmetic. They change how you measure success, how you set budgets, and ultimately how you grow. If you’re comparing CPMs across platforms without looking deeper, you’re already missing the point.

Why CPMs Don’t Tell the Whole Story

Marketers love to chase low CPMs. Who wouldn’t want cheaper impressions? But CPMs only tell you the price you pay — not the quality of what you’re buying.

Think of it this way: a $3 CPM on Meta, a $6 CPM on TikTok, and an $8 CPM on YouTube all look different on paper. But does that mean Meta is the best deal and YouTube is the worst? Not necessarily.

It’s like comparing the cost of three different fruits. Oranges, apples, and mangos might all be sold by the pound, but they’re not interchangeable. The value you get depends on what you need, not the sticker price.

YouTube: Scale Without Precision

YouTube is the giant. Billions of views every day, global reach, every audience you can imagine. If scale is what you want, YouTube delivers it better than anyone.

But the value of a YouTube impression is rarely as clean as it looks.

Shared Profiles and Household Overlap

On Meta or TikTok, your account is personal. It’s tied to one person’s name, phone number, photos, and behavior. On YouTube, accounts are often shared. The dad watches car reviews, the kids watch cartoons, the mom watches cooking tutorials. They all use the same profile.

So when YouTube decides to show a car insurance ad, who actually sees it? The dad? Or the teenager watching gaming clips? Either way, the impression gets counted. For advertisers, that means wasted delivery hidden inside CPMs that look efficient.

TV and Living Room Devices

YouTube isn’t just on mobile phones. It’s on smart TVs, streaming sticks, gaming consoles, and tablets. That means your ad might be playing in a living room while five people are half-watching — or while no one is paying attention at all.

Compare that to Meta or TikTok, where impressions almost always show up on a personal device being held in someone’s hand. It’s a completely different level of attention, even if the CPM says you paid the same.

Skippable vs Unskippable Ads

Then there’s the ad format itself. With skippables, you might get five seconds of attention before the user clicks away. With unskippables, you’ll rack up “completed views,” but a lot of those are just people waiting impatiently for the video they actually came to see.

On paper, completion rates look fantastic. In practice, you’re not always buying meaningful attention — you’re buying time until the “real content” begins.

Meta: Personal but Passive

Meta (Facebook and Instagram) plays a different game. Unlike YouTube, accounts here are tied to real people. The ad you buy almost always lands in front of the intended user, not their spouse or kid.

That precision makes Meta impressions stronger by default. But the tradeoff is attention.

Scroll Behavior

Meta ads live inside feeds and stories. They look native, they blend in, and that’s a strength. But it also means they’re easy to scroll past. On YouTube, you might at least get five seconds before someone skips. On Meta, you might get half a second before the thumb flicks upward.

Frequency Over Force

One impression rarely drives a conversion. Meta works by stacking exposures. The first impression introduces, the second reminds, the third convinces. By the fifth or sixth, you finally get the click.

This is why Meta thrives on retargeting and funnel strategies. It’s not about the power of one impression — it’s about the cumulative effect of many.

TikTok: High Attention, Short Window

TikTok changed the definition of an impression. On the For You Page, every piece of content gets a shot. And unlike YouTube, where ads can be background noise, or Meta, where ads are easy to scroll past, TikTok has users’ full attention.

Full Attention — For a Moment

When your ad appears on TikTok, people are watching. The platform is immersive. Users are locked in, sound on, eyes glued. That makes each impression feel more valuable than what you’d get on other platforms.

But the window is short. TikTok users swipe fast. You’ve got maybe two or three seconds to hook them before they move on.

Creative-Dependent Value

That’s why creative is everything on TikTok. A weak ad vanishes instantly. A strong one punches above its weight. CPMs might be higher than Meta, but if engagement doubles, the math works out in your favor.

On TikTok, you’re not paying for time on screen. You’re paying for an opportunity to capture focused attention. And if you use it well, that opportunity is worth more than any CPM calculation.

Why CPM Comparisons Mislead

So why is it dangerous to compare CPMs across platforms? Because the quality of those impressions is different.

• YouTube impressions often cost more than Meta or TikTok, but many are diluted by shared devices, background viewing, or skips.

• Meta impressions are personal and consistent, but they rely on frequency. One impression isn’t worth much, but the fifth or sixth is.

• TikTok impressions may sit in the middle on CPM, but their attention value is high. Even at a “more expensive” CPM, they can outperform.

On paper, CPMs are just math. In reality, impressions are moments of human attention — and those moments look completely different depending on where they happen.

The Takeaway

A million impressions on YouTube is not the same as a million on Meta or TikTok.

• On YouTube, you buy scale, but not precision. Household overlap, TV screens, and skippable formats make impressions less personal.

• On Meta, you buy precision, but you need repetition. One impression won’t cut it — the platform works by stacking exposures.

• On TikTok, you buy attention. The impressions are short-lived, but highly engaging. With the right creative, they can be worth more than anything else in the market.

If you judge platforms only by CPM, you’ll always make the wrong call. Because CPM doesn’t measure what actually matters: attention, context, and intent.

Impressions aren’t numbers in a dashboard. They’re opportunities to connect with people. And depending on the platform, that opportunity is either gold… or just noise.