I recently bought an air compressor and was successful Mounting my mountain bike tires (barely!) , I now have to replace my road tires and I’m wondering, in general, are smaller volume tires easier or more difficult to mount, or is it tire dependent.
It depends… lots of variables at play. I’ve popped almost every MTB and gravel tyre on with a floor pump. Road is about 50% success rate with a floor pump, 100% with the compressor. A compressor is definitely worth having nearby for tubeless (if only for the time saving).
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I’ve had the opposite 
I always need to bust out the air compressor to install my gravel tires, but my road tires always seat with a floor pump. I do agree, a compressor is worth having though and a cheap small one is all that is needed.
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Personally, I’ve mounted MTB and road tyres with a floor pump, both BTLOS rims. I actually found the road tyres a little easier.
I did once have to get help from the bike shop with their air tank pump but I think that was due to the poor tape from the factory. Same wheels, with same model tyre went on easy after retaping myself with DT Swiss tape when I put new tyres on a year later.
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I’ve never needed anything more than a floor pump but I will say that in general, road tires always seem a bit more difficult due to the “supple” casing. The trick to getting them to seat properly is to use the secret:
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This is an incredibly simple and easy tyre/rim combo. They should try doing it with decent inserts too. Some MTB tyre and rim combos are nigh on impossible to even get the tyres onto the rim 
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Does the combo they’re using in the tutorial matter? I have never needed to use a compressor, including setups that involve the use of inserts. Of course, this is anecdotal but… ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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Oh well if you have never needed to use a compressor… 
I don’t use a compressor either, I’ve only ever used a track pump (I even find that inserts make that part easier). However, just getting the tyres onto the rim in the first place can be a huge struggle in a lot of cases! The vid makes it look way easier than it is 
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I recently realised why i was having trouble mounting tyres, i was trying to inflate them whilst they were resting on the floor. Even with a compressor it would rarely work. After actually reading the instructions on the Stans sealant bottle I realised they should be hung up when inflating, and amazingly it worked first time (doh!)
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