The anticipation is on: the angry, green body builder and billionaire playboy who likes his suits to be made of metal will be appearing again.  In other words, Marvel released a second trailer for its upcoming Avengers film.

But what might have been overlooked is that Marvel didn’t just show a preview for a huge battle between super-powered individuals.  Another battle was begun: Youtube vs. Facebook.

During Monday’s college football playoff championship game, Marvel had a little teaser spot for the new Avengers film, and then the real contest began: the clip was posted to Youtube and Facebook, which offered an excellent look at how both sites drew millions of views in mere hours.

With both accounts combined, the clip had accumulated more than 12 million views in less than 24 hours.  What is interesting is that within the ad itself, Marvel directed its users to its Facebook page but not its Youtube channel.  This was very likely due to the ease with which Facebook shares material with a simple click, whereas Youtube requires a little more effort to share-admittedly though, not THAT much more.

Marvel’s tactic appears to have been a smart move: with the midday count yesterday, the trailer had nearly 82,000 Youtube likes and 160,000 Facebook likes.  As can be expected, once the teaser trailer aired, the full trailer also starting accumulating more views online.  While its Youtube views didn’t accumulate as much speed as on Facebook, Youtube did wind up driving more views overall.  A tally yesterday read 7.5 million Youtube views versus 5.4 million Facebook views.

So, which platform looks like the winner? In terms of shares and likes, it seems Facebook has the advantage there.  However, in terms of “shelf-life,” Youtube has a longer life span.  So, Facebook will get it to more people in the short run, but in the long run, people are going to go back to Youtube to watch your videos.

Video is becoming more of a game changer for social media.  Not only has Facebook taken on video engagement, but Twitter also has begun to incorporate video options.  While Youtube is undoubtedly the predominant go-to video platform, marketers are going to be looking to Facebook when they want quick sharing.

Let’s be honest though: with a film as big as The Avengers, they could post an advertisement to a bulletin board in What-A-Burger, and it would still be shared millions of times through avid fans’ social networks.  But for the rest of us: have a video to share? Use Facebook for initial sharing, then place your masterpiece on Youtube where it will gather more views in the long-run.  In the meantime, enjoy some of the awesome shareable material Marvel has given to the world.

Source: AdWeek