# Video advertising for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

GTM AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "video advertising platform" and as "connected TV and online video ads platform", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://gtm-ai-index.com/marketing/video-advertising/smb/

**Standing:** Meta Ads leads with 21% of first choices; verdict contested. 52 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meta Ads | 21% | 9% | 33 |
| 2 | YouTube Ads | 17% | 12% | 41 |
| 3 | Vibe.co | 13% | 3% | 31 |
| 4 | LinkedIn Video Ads | 13% | 35% | 20 |
| 5 | TikTok Ads | 8% | 29% | 34 |
| 6 | StackAdapt | 2% | 37% | 19 |
| 7 | MNTN | 2% | 47% | 17 |
| 8 | Roku | 0% | 25% | 12 |
| 9 | The Trade Desk | 0% | 85% | 13 |

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: StackAdapt, Vibe.co; alternatives Vidyard
- GPT-5.4 mini: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives YouTube Ads
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: YouTube Ads; alternatives MNTN, Meta (Facebook/Instagram) Video Ads, Vibe.co
- Perplexity Sonar: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives Vibe.co
- Grok 4.1 Fast: LinkedIn Campaign Manager; alternatives YouTube Ads
- Mistral Small: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives Goldcast, VISTY, YouTube Ads
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: LinkedIn Campaign Manager; alternatives Vibe.co, YouTube Ads
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: LinkedIn Campaign Manager; alternatives Vidyard, Wistia, YouTube Ads
- Kimi K2: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives Vibe.co, YouTube Ads
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: YouTube Ads; alternatives LinkedIn Video Ads, Meta Ads
- MiniMax M2.5: LinkedIn Video Ads; alternatives YouTube Ads

## Sources the answers cite

20 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 4 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- vibe.co: 9 answers, 11 citations
- adwave.com: 6 answers, 9 citations
- indiemedia.club: 6 answers, 6 citations
- support.google.com: 5 answers, 8 citations
- atlassian.com: 5 answers, 5 citations
- demandbase.com: 4 answers, 6 citations
- g2.com: 4 answers, 6 citations
- business.linkedin.com: 4 answers, 4 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://vibe.co/blog/how-to/video-advertising-platforms (8 answers)
- https://indiemedia.club/tools/best-video-advertising-networks (6 answers)
- https://atlassian.com/blog/loom/video-marketing-platform (5 answers)
- https://adwave.com/resources/video-marketing-for-small-business (4 answers)
- https://demandbase.com/blog/best-ctv-advertising-platforms (4 answers)
- https://madgicx.com/blog/ad-tech-platform-for-video-advertising (4 answers)
- https://richads.com/blog/best-video-ad-networks (4 answers)
- https://adwave.com/resources/best-streaming-tv-advertising-platforms (3 answers)
- https://dacast.com/blog/best-video-marketing-platforms (3 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/video-advertising/small-business (3 answers)

## Warned against

- TikTok Ads: 10 of 34 labels negative. "### TikTok Ads Manager (For Certain Business Types)
- Not suitable for: Conservative professional service providers" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- The Trade Desk: 11 of 13 labels negative. "Generally Avoid (High Minimums/Complexity for SMBs)... Explicitly "prices out" small businesses" (Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt)
- MNTN: 8 of 17 labels negative. "MNTN, tvScientific, Basis, StackAdapt often require $10,000–$25,000+ minimums... Why avoid: These are built for enterprise advertisers" (Kimi K2, negative prompt)
- LinkedIn Video Ads: 7 of 20 labels negative. "LinkedIn is a premium platform with high costs (often $20–$50+ per click)... your small business may burn its budget too quickly here." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://gtm-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://gtm-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as GTM AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, gtm-ai-index.com.