What $30,000 in Video Ads Taught Us About Views vs Clicks

Should you optimize video ads for views to boost brand awareness, or for clicks to drive website traffic?

As marketers, we’ve all faced this question. Views build brand exposure. Clicks drive action. But which one actually delivers when you’re accountable for results?

To find out, we ran a split test at ads.expert for a company in the B2B CPaaS space. We put $31,000 behind the experiment: two campaigns running side by side, identical creative assets, completely different optimization goals.

Here’s what we learned.

Setting Up the Split Test

We launched two campaigns side by side using the same creative assets but different goals:

• Campaign 1: Optimized for views, aiming to maximize brand awareness.
• Campaign 2: Optimized for clicks, aiming to drive landing page visits and user sessions.

The budget was split evenly at $15,500 per campaign. Same videos, same targeting, same markets (US, UAE, Singapore).

Performance Snapshot: Quality Over Quantity

Campaign 1 delivered exactly what we optimized for: 3.1 million views at half a cent each. That’s strong brand visibility and widespread reach.

But those views translated into just 11,000 clicks. And visitors from this campaign were hesitant to stick around. The bounce rate hit 65%, and session durations barely surpassed a minute.

Campaign 2 told a different story. Fewer video views (1.6 million), but 660,000 clicks. These visitors engaged more deeply with the site: bounce rate dropped to 44%, and session durations stretched to 92 seconds. They didn’t just arrive. They explored.

The result made sense. We’d optimized for an audience that clicks and explores the customer journey. What stood out was seeing just how different the behaviors were between the two campaigns.

Video Engagement: Watch Time vs. Action

The video completion rates revealed two completely different audience behaviors.

Campaign 1 (Views): Viewers were attentive. Up to 71% watched at least 25% of the video, and many made it through three quarters or more. For branding purposes, this was valuable. Those impressions helped embed the company’s message.

Campaign 2 (Clicks): A different mindset entirely. Viewers dropped off rapidly after the first quarter of the video. They weren’t there for the full story. They saw enough to make a decision and clicked through.

Takeaway:

If brand awareness and message retention matter most, optimize for video views. You’ll get higher watch times and stronger engagement with your content.

If you need website traffic, prioritize action over attention. Accept lower video completion rates in exchange for significantly higher site visitation.

How Visitors Behaved on the Site

Traffic volume is important, but how visitors behave after the click is what defines campaign success.

Bounce Rate: Campaign 2’s 44% bounce was noticeably lower than Campaign 1’s 65%. This suggests better alignment between ad content and visitor intent.

Session Duration: Campaign 2 users spent 92 seconds on average compared to 63 seconds for Campaign 1. They scrolled further and engaged more deeply with the content.

Total Sessions & Users: Campaign 2 delivered nearly 30x more landing page users and sessions on the same budget.

What this means:

Optimizing for clicks doesn’t just increase traffic volume. It can also improve traffic quality, bringing in users who are more likely to engage with your site rather than bounce immediately.

When to Optimize for Views

Views optimization makes sense when you want to:

• Generate impressions and video views cost-effectively
• Maximize brand exposure and familiarity
• Build top-of-mind awareness across broad audiences
• Ensure your message is actually watched, not just glimpsed

When to Optimize for Clicks

Clicks optimization makes sense when you want to:

• Drive targeted users to your website
• Prioritize landing page engagement over video watch time
• Build retargeting pools for future campaigns
• Deliver measurable traffic growth to stakeholders

For growth marketers with limited budgets and pressure to show tangible results, clicks optimization will often be the more practical choice.

A Few Things Worth Testing

Based on this experiment, here are some tactical considerations for your own campaigns:

Hook early. The first 5 to 10 seconds determine whether someone clicks or keeps watching. For click campaigns, make your value proposition clear right away.

Align video and landing page messaging. If the ad sets a certain expectation, the landing page needs to deliver on it immediately. Misalignment increases bounce rates and shortens sessions.

Test video length. Shorter videos can perform better for clicks optimization. Deliver your message quickly and let the landing page do the heavy lifting.

Mix formats. Combining in-stream, in-feed, and Shorts helps you reach audiences across different viewing contexts.

Think about the funnel. Use early-stage campaigns to drive broad traffic and build retargeting pools. Then run more targeted campaigns to convert those audiences later.

What This Means for Your Campaigns

This experiment reinforced something we come back to often: the metric you optimize for shapes everything that happens downstream.

It’s also changed how we approach video campaigns. The first question now: do you want more video views, or more audience on your landing page? The answer shapes everything else.

Views create viewers. Clicks create visitors. Both have their place in a marketing strategy, but they produce fundamentally different outcomes.

For this company, clicks delivered more traffic, better engagement, and stronger landing page performance. If you’re a growth marketer accountable for website results, that’s worth considering.