TikTok vs YouTube: The Best Choice Explained (2023)

This post has ALL the details about TikTok vs YouTube!

So you want to use video content to build a massive legion of followers for your brand or company?

Or you want to make bag loads of money online like the other YouTubers and TikTokers you’ve heard about?

Like most people looking to take your massive slice of the video content pie, you don’t have the time to “test out” both platforms, create hours of content, and learn all the benefits and pitfalls of each — just to decide which is better for you.

You need instant help with the facts, data, and expertise — I’m your guy.

In this post, I’m going to thoroughly address three of the main questions regarding the differences between both platforms:

We also dive deep into 37 key factors and compare how they stack up for both platforms.

For each key factor, I’ll pick who’s the Winner🥇, Loser ❌, or if there is Tie 💯.

And finally, I’ll give you my final thoughts about TikTok vs YouTube and which you should go with.

Audience Engagement: Is it easier to get popular on TikTok or YouTube?

1. Reputation: Why are people obsessing over TikTok videos?

Key Takeaways:

  • The video sharing platform focuses on short, straight-to-the-point videos that are generally funny, challenging, or entertaining.
  • You can become famous on TikTok without having a large following on other social media platforms.
  • Teenagers, college students, and Young Adults are completely obsessed with TikTok.

TikTok is popular with teenagers and young adults, who use it to share short videos of themselves singing, dancing, or doing stunts — they go nuts over it!

TikTok markets itself as a place where trends begin and inspire creativity and bring joy — and they’re living up to these statements.

Although it was initially released in 2016, TikTok recently exploded as a place of fun and joyful short videos in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

TikTok is often compared to Vine (remember them? 😵). This short-form video app became very popular in the past but fizzled out in 2016 after Instagram introduced similar features to their platform.

⚠️ I’ll come back to why this is crucial to remember in a little bit)

TikTok focuses on Short-Form Video Entertainment (3 minutes or less) and long-form LIVE video content.

And unlike YouTube, TikTok has positioned itself as a strictly social media platform (this is a crucial difference we’ll unpack throughout this post).

Reputation: Why have YouTube Videos been the go-to for brands for so long?

Key Takeaways:

  • Youtube is the second largest search engine globally (after Google).
  • 500 hours of video are uploaded to the video sharing platform every minute!
  • YouTube has been around since 2005 and has had a long time to build unending trust with the internet.
  • YouTube is owned by Google — giving it access to the greatest tech resources on the planet.
  • YouTube serves a wide range of users – from children to elders

YouTube has been in business since 2005 and is the second most visited website on the web AND the second largest search engine in the world.

This means people use YouTube for countless reasons: entertainment, information, learning, education, making buying decisions, etc.

And with 500 hours of content uploaded to YouTube every minute, YouTube is here to stay for a long time.

YouTube serves video content for children ages 4 to 70 years old (and all points in between).

Winner for Reputation: YouTube 🥇

2. Monthly Users

YouTube: Reports having over 2 billion monthly users

TikTok: Reports having “over 1 billion people coming to the video sharing platform every month.”

Winner for Monthly Users: YouTube🥇

3. Global Reach and Exposure:

YouTube: 100 countries and 80 languages worldwide

TikTok: Available in more than 154 countries in 75 languages

Winner for Global Reach and Exposure: TikTok 🥇

4. Age Demographics

Youtube: 95% of Americans aged 18 to 29 use YouTube, along with 91% of those aged 30 to 49 and 83% of those aged 50 to 64.

YouTube Kids: designed specifically for preschool age to age 12

TikTok: 41% of TikTok users are 16 to 24 years old. The minimum age limit for using TikTok is 13 years old.

Winner for Age Demographics: YouTube 🥇

5. Watch Time

YouTube: users spend 22 hours and 40 minutes per month on YouTube on average.

TikTok: users spend on average 24 hours per month watching TikTok content

Watch Time winner: TikTok 🥇

6. Search

YouTube Search: YouTube’s search ranking system prioritizes video relevance, engagement, and quality to provide the best search results.

As stated before, YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet (second only to Google) and leverages the power of Google Search to render the most results for your searches.

TikTok Search: This search function is comparable to any other social platform search. Also, search is not available to the general public like YouTube.

This means you must have an account and be logged in, dramatically limiting the chances of audiences finding your content through search.

Search winner: YouTube 🥇

7. Platform Algorithm (aka The Algo ⚙️)

TikTok’s algo has become famed for finding viral videos faster than YouTube. But YouTube’s algo has mastered providing the best videos for their viewers.

TikTok Algorithm Factors:

  • Watch time, rewatch, likes, comments, shares, and hashtags, t
  • User interactions – liked or shared videos, comments, accounts they follow, and the type of content they create
  • Video information (sound, captions, and hashtags)
  • Device and account settings – preferences, language preference, country setting, and device type)

Youtube Algorithm Factors:

  • Considers most of the factors mentioned in TikTok’s algo
  • Greatest emphasis on user satisfaction. YouTube now uses a combination of signals like surveys and engagement metrics such as likes, dislikes, and the “Not Interested.”
  • Uses video watch time or overall time spent on the video sharing platform as significant indicators of user satisfaction

Platform Algorithm winner: Tie 💯

8. Recommendation Systems

TikTok’s “For Your” Feed:

TikTok’s recommendation system recommends user interactions, including the videos you like or share, accounts you follow, comments you post, and videos you create.

  • Video information, such as captions, sounds, and hashtags.
  • Device and account settings, like your language preference, country setting, and device type.

YouTube Recommended videos: Home page recommendations and Up Next

  • The homepage displays a mixture of personalized recommendations, subscriptions, and the latest news and information.
  • UpNext suggests additional content based on whatever you’re currently watching, alongside other videos that we think you may be interested in.

Recommendation System winner: Tie 💯

9. Call To Actions

YouTube: Features End Screens, a built-in tool to get viewers to subscribe, go to External Link (for YouTube Partners), and push viewers to the next video or playlist of your choice and the end of your videos.

TikTok: 🚫 Not Available

Call To Actions winner: YouTube 🥇 (no contest)

10. Video Metadata (🎯 Big Deal)

Video metadata are bits of information used by platforms to understand what your video is about and who it’s best for.

YouTube: Allows for long-form descriptions (5,000 characters max) with the ability to link outside of YouTube to email opt-in pages, merch, products, affiliate products, courses, services, etc. YouTube videos also use tags, title keywords, and video thumbnails as key metadata.

TikTok: Only allows for 300 characters max in your description, headings (titles), and cover image (thumbnail). Currently, you can’t add external links to TikTok videos…

Video Metadata winner: YouTube 🥇

Monetization: Which one is easier to earn money YouTube or TikTok?

11. Monetization Programs (🎯 Big Deal)

YouTube Partners Program: Your channel is eligible if your channel has no active Community Guidelines strikes, more than 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months, has more than 1,000 subscribers, and has a linked Google AdSense account.

The YouTube Partners Program is open to creators, Businesses, and personal brands.

TikTok Creator Next Program: You must be 18 years of age or older, have at least 100,000 followers, have an account in good standing with Community Guidelines, and be based in the US.

Business Accounts are ineligible to participate in the TikTok Creator Next Program.

Monetization Program winner: YouTube 🥇

12. Ad Revenue (🎯 Big Deal)

YouTube Ads: Advertising is the primary way Creators earn money on YouTube.

  • YouTube Ads offers many Ad space opportunities for you to earn YouTube Ads Revenue: Bumper ads, Responsive display ads, Masthead ads, Skippable in-stream ads, Non-skippable in-stream ads, and Video discovery ads.
  • You can earn Ad Revenue on Video Posts, Live Videos, and YouTube Shorts.
  • Leverages the massive Google AdSense ecosystem of advertisers. More advertisers = more revenue.

TikTok: 🚫 No Ad Revenue

  • TikTok has the following Ad space opportunities for advertisers: TopView Ads, In-Feed Ads, Branded Hashtags, Brand Takeovers, Branded Effects…
  • But TikTok doesn’t share any of this ad revenue with you…
  • TikTok suggests their Creator Fund is the answer to this… (I’ll cover the Creator Fund in a bit)

Ad Revenue winner: YouTube 🥇 (no contest)

13.Live Video Revenue

YouTube Superchat and Superstickers:

YouTube states:

“Fans can buy and send text or digital sticker messages to highlight their live chat messages and connect with their favorite Creators.”

TikTok LIVE Gifts and Diamonds

(deep sigh, this is complicated).

Viewers pay money for gifts… They then give gifts to you, the Live Streamer…

You’d then be able to trade these gifts for diamonds… and then exchange diamonds for cash…

TikTok also awards streamers with Diamonds based on user engagement = more cash.

(Although TikTok takes you all “around the world” just for you to make money with live videos, it still adds up to cash at the end…)

Live Video Revenue winner: Tie 💯

14. Brand Deal Management (🎯 Big Deal)

Brand Deals are direct deals between you (the creator) and other brands and companies looking to advertise directly to your viewers. Brand deals will likely become a MAJOR revenue source for you as you grow your audience.

YouTube BrandConnect:

YouTube explains:

Eligible creators can access YouTube BrandConnect directly in YouTube Studio, where they’re able to connect with Google’s portfolio of brands and secure sponsored content deals.

With YouTube Brand Connect, brands can find you, contact you, and negotiate deals directly on YouTube — making managing brand deals super easy!

TikTok Creator Marketplace: TikTok’s official collaboration platform allows businesses and creators to engage with one another directly within TikTok.

Just like YouTube BrandConnect, getting, managing, and handling brand deals has never been easier.

Brand Deal Management winner: Tie 💯

15. Merchandise

YouTube Merch Shelf: Fans will be able to discover and purchase your official branded merchandise from participating merchants directly on your video’s page.

  • You can also link directly to merch within your video’s description, and you can place links throughout your videos and on the endscreen.

TikTok: 🚫 There is no native way to sell merch other than through the single link in your bio…

Merchandise winner: YouTube 🥇 (no contest)

16. Tips

TikTok Tips allows people to show their appreciation for creators by offering tips. Viewers may give a maximum of $100 per tip and $500 in total each day!

YouTube SuperThanks: TikTok’s Tips vs YouTube SuperThanks is similar but SuperThanks is yet to be available to all channels…

Tips winner: TikTok 🥇

17 Memberships

YouTube: With YouTube Memberships, your subscribers pay monthly subscriptions to gain entry to special material on your YouTube Channel.

TikTok: TikTok doesn’t offer any membership option.

Memberships winner: YouTube 🥇

18. Premium Content & Subscriptions

YouTube: YouTube Premium Subscription — Members of YouTube Premium can watch any video on the platform without advertisements while still supporting creators. YouTube distributes revenue from YouTube Premium membership fees to you based on how much your material is viewed.

TikTok: 🚫 Not available

Premium Content & Subscriptions winner: YouTube 🥇(no contest)

19. Charitable Giving

YouTube Giving: Donations may be made on eligible channels by adding a donate button to their videos and live streams. Viewers can give directly on the video watch page or in live chat.

TikTok LIVE Donations: LIVE Donation button allows you to donate to a charity of your choosing.

Charitable Giving winner: Tie 💯

20. Video Gifts

YouTube Superchat and Superstickers — Fans can give Superchats (monetary tips) within live chats. They can also purchase and send a text or digital stickers to highlight their live chat messages and support other Creators.

TikTok: Viewers can give “gifts” to Creators (🙄)… which can be exchanged for diamonds (🙄)… which can later be redeemed for money (😏).

Also, TikTok ranks creators according to the number of Likes their videos receive. One of TikTok’s primary measures for evaluating video popularity is the gift amount sent to a creator’s material.

Video Gifts winner: Tie 💯

21. Platform Funds

TikTok Creator Fund: TikTok has created a Creator Fund, which will award grants to eligible creators who submit creative and innovative proposals that will help them grow their audience.

YouTube’s Funds are more specific and targeted, like scholarships & grants:

  • The #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund: “spotlighting and growing Black creators” on YouTube
  • YouTube Shorts Fund: $100M Fund for creators to produce Short Videos(YouTube videos that are 60 seconds or less)
  • 👆🏾This Fund is a clear response to TikTok and their Creator Fund

Platform Funds Winner: Tie 💯

Platform Features (All of them): Which is better TikTok or YouTube?

22. Profile Features

YouTube Channel: YouTube channels provide customizable features like channel profile picture, channel art, customizable channel layout, channel home video, videos lists, playlists, community tab (like your channel’s social feed on YouTube), a Channels Tab (to feature other channels) and About Tab with channel description (5,000 characters max), links to your other social media platform profiles and external links.

TikTok Profile: Profile Picture or video, username, short bio (80 max characters, links to other social profiles along with your videos and likes.

Profile Features winner: YouTube 🥇

23. Video Length

YouTube: Supports videos of all lengths: YouTube Shorts (60 seconds or less), Video Uploads (12 hours max), and Live Videos (no time limit & lives will be later posted as videos on your channel).

TikTok: Supports video lengths of 3 minutes max and live videos (60 minutes max). Live Replays don’t show up on your profile’s feed, but you can replay a live video (like playing a re-run on television).

Video Length winner; YouTube 🥇

24. Aspect Ratios

The aspect ratio of a video is the proportion of its width to its height, which is often represented with two numerals separated by a colon, such as 16:9.

YouTube Supports any aspect ratio you throw at it: Users upload videos at 16:9, 4:3, anamorphic, 9:16 (vertical), etc.

TikTok: Users can only upload videos with vertical aspect ratios (9:16)…

Here’s TikTok’s take on aspect ratio:

Embrace the full-screen, vertical experience. If you’re used to filming in landscape mode, this might be an adjustment, but TikTok is all about vertical video.

Aspect Ratio winner: YouTube 🥇

25. Sounds & Music

TikTok Sounds: TikTok has an extensive song and sound library to go with your videos.

This includes sound effects, sounds from other TikTok videos, and music (indie artists and mainstream artists).

TikTok Sounds are one of the top features that sets it apart from YouTube.

YouTube Audio Library and Clip Sampling: You can use YouTube’s Audio Library for sounds and music or “use original audio from videos across YouTube,” which YouTube calls “sampling.”

Sampling sounds is only available for YouTube Shorts.

Sounds & Music winner: TikTok 🥇

26. Camera Effects

Both platforms have:

  • Adjust Speed: Slowmo or Sped up / Timelapse
  • Camera Flip
  • Filters (TikTok Filters are more robust, though)
  • Timers
  • Flash / Lighting

Camera Effects winner: Tie 💯

27. Live Videos

YouTube Live Streaming: Live Videos have no time limit & lives will be later posted as videos on your channel. You can schedule live streams ahead of time to notify subscribers and give you time for promotion.

TikTok LIVE: 60 minutes max (you can immediately start a new live session if you run out of time). TikTok Lives have access to filters, effects, and camera control. You can schedule TikTok Live streams ahead of time to notify subscribers and give you time for promotion.

TikTok LIVE has additional standout features:

  • TikTok LIVE Q&A allows for more deep interaction during TikTok LIVES. While live, you can choose particular questions, showcase the question on the screen, and answer them LIVE.
  • Go LIVE Together allows you to collab on live streams with other TikTokers
  • LIVE Countdown Sticker builds anticipation for your next live

Live Video winner: TikTok 🥇

28. Scheduling & Promotions

YouTube Premieres: Once a premiere is scheduled, it is shareable, and a public watch page is created that both the creators and viewers can watch together. Premieres are available for YouTube Videos and Live Streams (and not Shorts).

TikTok Live Events lets creators schedule, manage, and promote LIVEs ahead of time, too — only it is limited to Live TikToks.

Scheduling & Promotions winner: YouTube 🥇

29. Collaboration

TikTok: Duets: One of TikTok’s most popular features is Duet which allows creators to collaborate with other creators, usually resulting in both videos showing side by side (there are several other Duet Layout options too).

YouTube doesn’t have a comparable feature 🚫.

Collaboration winner: TikTok 🥇(no contest)

30. Clip Integration

TikTok Stitch: “Stitch allows creators to clip and integrate scenes from another user’s video into their own.”

YouTube doesn’t have a comparable feature 🚫.

Clip Integration winner: TikTok 🥇(no contest)

(Spoiler Alert: TikTok cleans up on all the remaining features)

31. Comments

YouTube Comments: Standard comment functions with the ability to pin comments you want to be seen at the top of the comments section.

TikTok Comments: Same functions as YouTube (also including pinned comments) but with the added feature of video replies!

Comments winner: TikTok 🥇

32. Video Effects

TikTok Creative Effects: TikTok offers a massive suite of creative effects and filters that can be applied to your videos.

YouTube doesn’t have a comparable feature 🚫.

Video Effects winner: TikTok 🥇

33. Text on Video

TikTok: TikTok has an extensive text-on video feature that lets you add all sorts of creative text to your videos.

YouTube doesn’t have a comparable feature 🚫.

Text on Video winner: TikTok 🥇 (no contest)

34. Voice Overs

TikTok’s voice-over function allows you to narrate your story over the video.

YouTube doesn’t have a comparable feature 🚫.

Voice Overs winner: TikTok 🥇

35. Voice Effects

TikTok’s voice effects change how your voice sounds to provide additional variety and character to your videos.

YouTube doesn’t have a comparable feature 🚫.

Voice Effects winner: TikTok 🥇(no contest)

36. Transitions

YouTube Clip Align Tool: This is an incredible tool so you can create “near-seamless” transitions from one cut to another.

TikTok has a handful of unique transitions to add that extra pop to your videos!

Transitions winner: TikTok 🥇

37. Stickers

TikTok Sticker Pinning: You can pin stickers to objects in your video, so they move with the object as it enters and leaves the frame.

YouTube doesn’t have a comparable feature 🚫.

Stickers winner: TikTok 🥇(no contest)

But what if I don’t have any video editing skills?

Both platforms have basic video editing software that allows you to do things like trim videos, add music, and adjust filters.

However, TikTok has a lot more options for people who want to get creative with their videos.

Both platforms offer their short video functions to give you everything you need to create high-quality, creative videos without having to leave the app.

In the end, it all comes down to what you want to create, share, and what is your goal for creating video content.

TikTok vs YouTube: Wrap Up

So which is better, TikTok or YouTube?

Audience Engagement: Is it easier to get popular on TikTok or YouTube?

This is a Tie 💯

TikTok’s algorithm is structured to quickly sift through all the content that’s uploaded, and push audiences’ favorite videos to millions of users’ “For You” pages.

This means that if you make unique content, it’s more likely to be seen by people who follow you, and also by millions who don’t follow you and your video will gain traction much faster than on YouTube.

On the other hand, YouTube’s algorithm is much more sophisticated and “knows” its users better, providing more accurate suggestions, recommendations and ads.

So if you’re wanting to build brand awareness, and grow a big following quickly, TikTok may be your best bet.

But if you’re looking to build hard-core, long-term fans and customers (plus the added power of Google searches), YouTube may be your best bet.

REMEMBER: More followers doesn’t mean more money (or any money at all).

This is why we have to look at the next question:

Monetization: Which one is easier to earn money YouTube or TikTok?

This is a no-brainer. YouTube Wins 🥇

When it comes to TikTok or YouTube and making money, YouTube is the better platform to make money from your videos — hands down.

While TikTok has begun to roll out some monetization options for creators, YouTube has been at it for over a decade.

When it comes to youtube the end game is REVENUE.

YouTube channels are making MILLIONS of dollars through YouTube monetization features alone.

And the ability to easily link to your other products, courses, affiliate offers, etc on YouTube makes YouTube the obvious choice to make the most money on.

Platform Features (All of them): Which is better TikTok or YouTube?

When it comes to Features, TikTok wins 🥇

TikTok content creators have more options for adding creativity and fun to your videos.

From stickers and voice effects to text on video and voiceovers, TikTok provides everything you need to make high-quality, engaging videos.

While YouTube does have some of these features, they pale in comparison to what TikTok offers.

But if you’re looking for options, creativity, and engagement- go with TikTok!

TikTok vs YouTube Final Conclusion: Which is better?

This is a tough one because it really depends on what you’re looking for.

If you want to quickly grow a big following and build brand awareness, go with TikTok.

But if you’re wanting to make the most money possible from your videos, go with YouTube.

💡 If want to quickly grow an audience AND make money, take advantage of both video sharing platforms.

The same shorts can be posted on both YouTube and TikTok (and vice versa) so you’re not losing anything by posting on both video sharing platforms.

So there you have it!

Peace and ❤