I’ve said it before: your DTC portfolio companies are leaving serious money on the table.

While teams obsess over Meta’s rising CPMs, YouTube sits under-utilized, delivering the same audiences at a fraction of the cost.

We’ve audited dozens of DTC media plans. The pattern is the same: brands put 70%+ of budget into expensive Meta inventory while YouTube gets scraps.

Our data shows YouTube consistently outperforms on upper-funnel efficiency. And now, it’s turning into a conversion powerhouse.

Here’s where most brands are missing out:

1.) Cost advantage
YouTube CPMs run 30–40% below Meta for similar reach. That means more reach with the same budget…or better unit economics at the same scale.

2.) New audience access
Roughly 86% of YouTube viewers aren’t reached by Meta campaigns. That’s net-new potential customers.

3.) Revenue upside
Brands that measure properly are seeing 15–25% revenue lifts when they commit real budget.

What’s working now: shorter videos built for YouTube, clear brand positioning in the first 5 seconds, and a mix of skippable and non-skippable formats.

The brands winning here aren’t just running ads. They’re building measurement systems that capture the full-funnel impact. They understand YouTube drives the awareness that makes performance channels work harder.

Your competitors are still ignoring this. The only question is: how long will you?