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Welcome to our roundup of the latest YouTube statistics for businesses and online marketers.
YouTube is the biggest video search engine platform on the planet. Even kids watch YouTube. That’s why marketers are so drawn to the platform. And there are no signs of it stopping anytime soon. In fact, it’s still continuing to grow.
So let’s explore its numbers.
In this post, you’re going to find the most interesting facts and figures about YouTube and its users. Use this information to develop online marketing strategies that’ll attract the right audience for your business or clients.
To make things more convenient for you, we divided the post into three sections: usage statistics, facts, and trends.
Let’s jump right into it.
Editor’s top picks – YouTube statistics
These are our most interesting statistics about YouTube:
- 1 billion hours of content is consumed on a daily basis on YouTube. (Source: YouTube Press)
- 27% go to YouTube to discover and access news content. (Source: Datareportal)
- The first video uploaded to YouTube was “Me at the Zoo” on April 24th 2005. (Source: Me at the Zoo)
YouTube usage statistics
We already know just how popular YouTube is. But how popular is it? How many people use it? What are the demographics? Just how big is YouTube today?
In this section, we’ll answer most of these questions and more. Let’s see just how powerful YouTube is today. Here are some amazing statistics about the usage of YouTube today.
1. YouTube users watch over 1 billion hours of content daily.
YouTube statistics show that its users watch at least 1 billion hours worth of content every day. This translates to billions of views.
Source: YouTube Press
2. YouTube is more popular with those under 35 years old.
Statista reports that 77% of U.S. internet users accessed YouTube as of the 3rd quarter of 2020. The percentage drops off from there but not by much. The lowest number is the 56+-year-old demographic at 67%.
Source: Statista
3. Women make up the majority of YouTube’s audience.
There’s a myth that the average YouTube user is a young, single man. But as Google points out, the reality is that YouTube’s audience is more than 50% women.
The same source also says that YouTube users are more likely to have college degrees and are more likely to have kids.
Source: Think With Google
4. 70% of YouTube watch time comes from mobile devices.
According to YouTube, more than 70% of its watch time comes from mobile devices. So when uploading content on the platform, make sure you optimize them for phones and tablets.
Source: YouTube Press
5. YouTube gaming hit 100 billion hours of watch time during 2020.
In 2020, YouTube Gaming reached an all-time high. It logged 100 billion hours of watch time during that period. The top five games in the category are Minecraft, Roblox, Garena Free Fire, Grand Theft Auto V, and Fortnite.
Part of the reason why it’s been so successful is attributed to the pandemic.
At the time, YouTube had more than 40 million active gaming channels. The head of YouTube Gaming, Ryan Wyatt, said that more than 80,000 YouTube Gaming creators hit 100,000 subscribers. In addition, more than 1,000 creators hit 5 million subscribers.
Source: International Business Times
6. 27% go to YouTube to consume news content.
In a survey about the use of social platforms as a source of news, 27% of respondents said that they use YouTube to discover and access news content. That makes the platform the second most-used social tool for this purpose.
Facebook is the most-used platform for news at 46%. Other entries include Whatsapp (20%), Instagram (13%), Facebook Messenger (12%), and Twitter (11%).
Source: Datareportal
7. Livestreams are just as good as live events.
56% of those who watch livestreams claim that watching these are just as good as being at the event in person. Keep this in mind when you plan your next livestreaming session.
There’s no need to pack a venue with your audience. Some people feel just as comfortable watching the show from a computer or a phone. In fact, some might even prefer to participate via livestream.
Source: YouTube Trends
8. More people are trying to grow on YouTube.
YouTube reports that there’s a 95% increase in channels that are trying to build an audience on its platform in 2020. This is compared to the same period during the previous year.
If your business has no presence on YouTube, this would be a great time to do so. You should join the other creators who are making their mark on the video streaming platform. There’s bound to be a niche where you could grow as a content provider.
Source: YouTube Trends
9. There are many factors that affect a YouTube video’s ranking.
Backlinko analyzed millions of YouTube videos to see how it works as a search engine. In the study, it determined that the more comments a video has, the higher its ranking will be. It also noticed that longer videos tend to outperform shorter ones.
A video should also have lots of shares. The more it’s shared, the stronger its chances of appearing on the first page of YouTube rankings.
Source: Backlinko
YouTube facts
There are a lot of interesting facts about YouTube. In this section, we’ll discuss some of the more interesting ones that we’ve found.
Who is the highest earner on the platform? How much is Alphabet (Google’s parent company) making from YouTube? How many YouTube channels are there?
Let’s find out.
10. YouTube has over 2 billion users.
YouTube stats reveal that the platform accumulated over 2 billion users. That’s close to one-third of the internet.
That’s why it’s important to have some presence on YouTube. There’s just no other platform like it.
Source: YouTube Press
11. The USA is the country with the most YouTube views.
At 916 billion YouTube views, the USA takes the top spot followed by India (503 billion), the UK (391 billion), Brazil (274 billion0, Thailand (207 billion), and Russia (207 billion). This data is as recent as 2019.
The same study also mentions that the USA has the most YouTube subscribers.
Source: Channel Meter
12. YouTube ads earned Alphabet $5+ billion in revenue.
Alphabet (Google’s parent company) stated in its 3rd quarter earnings report for 2020 that YouTube ads generated $5.04 billion. This was higher than the estimated earnings of $4.39 billion.
Source: CNBC
13. YouTube has a bigger audience than cable TV.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that these days, more people are watching YouTube than cable television. YouTube reaches more US consumers in the 18-49 demographic than all cable TV networks combined.
The same source says that on TV screens, YouTube’s Google Preferred ads had a better recall at 112%. There’s also an increase in the average purchase intent by 53%. This was from November 2018 to January 2019.
Clearly, people are shifting to online video streaming to get entertainment. It’s a good space to invest your marketing dollars into.
Source: Variety
14. There are more than 37+ million YouTube channels.
Tubics puts the number of YouTube channels at 37+ million as of 2020. And there are over 500 hours of video being uploaded every minute.
Even smaller YouTube creators are growing. Channels with 100 to 1,000 subscribers grew strong in 2020. There are 22,000 YouTube channels with over 1 million subscribers.
Source: Tubics
15. T-Series has the most number of YouTube subscribers.
As of July 2020, T-Series is the YouTube channel with the most number of subscribers at 189 million. It has published 15,616 videos.
Other creators are not that far behind though. Cocomelon Nursery Rhymes (116 million), PewDiePie (110 million), SET India (110 million), Kids Diana Show (81.6 million), and WWE (79.6 million) can potentially catch up in the next couple of months or years.
Source: Social Blade
16. A kid has the highest YouTube revenue in 2020.
Ryan Kaji is the highest earner on YouTube in 2020 and he was just 9 years old back then. He earned $29.5 million during that period. And he amassed 12.2 billion views. At the time, he had 41.7 million subscribers.
His channel focuses on DIY experiments, family storytime, and toy reviews.
Other high earning creators in 2020 include Mr. Beast ($24 million), Dude Perfect ($23 million), Rhett and Link ($20 million), Markiplier ($19.5 million), Preston Arsement ($19 million), Nastya ($18.5 million), Blippi ($17 million), David Dobrik ($15.5 million), and Jeffree Star ($15 million).
Source: Forbes
17. YouTube is the second most visited site in the US in 2021.
Ahrefs did some research to determine which sites are the most visited in the US. YouTube came in second behind Wikipedia. The video platform has 935,537,251 monthly traffic while Wikipedia has 1,134,008,294.
Other entries in the list include Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Fandom, Pinterest, IMDB, Reddit, Yelp, Instagram, eBay, Walmart, and Craigslist.
Source: Ahrefs
18. 1 billion hours of YouTube is consumed every day worldwide.
It should come as no surprise that people around the world consume at least 1 billion hours worth of content every day. And most of these views are due to the YouTube algorithm’s recommendations.
If you want to be competitive, you should do everything in your power to optimize all of your YouTube videos so that they pop up more often in YouTube’s recommendations and search results.
Source: Hootsuite
19. YouTube Rewind 2018 is the most disliked video on YouTube.
YouTube Rewind, the platform’s annual year-end celebration video, did not go over well with most YouTube users. And as such, it’s currently the most disliked video on the platform.
The reason why the video got the reaction that it did is because of the disconnect between the platform’s creators and the company itself. Users felt that it was more about what YouTube wanted to be rather than a celebration of its community.
As of this moment, the video has 19 million dislikes to 3 million likes.
Take this incident as a lesson. Understand your audience. Take some time to figure out what it is they really want to see.
Source: The Verge
20. Blackpink and BTS had big 24-hour music video debuts.
Blackpink and BTS had 8 of the 10 biggest 24-hour music video debuts of all time. That is quite impressive.
Source: YouTube Trends
21. The first-ever YouTube video.
Me at the Zoo is the first-ever YouTube video ever uploaded. It’s 18 seconds long and was shot at the San Diego Zoo. The upload date is April 24, 2005, and has over 173 million views.
Source: Me at the Zoo
22. 86% of businesses use videos as a marketing tool.
86% of businesses said that they use videos to promote their company in 2021. This is a slight uptick from 2020 numbers at 85%. However, it is significantly higher than 61% in 2016.
93% of marketers also said that videos are an important part of their overall marketing strategy. In 2015, only 78% valued the importance of using videos in their marketing campaigns.
Source: Wyzowl
23. Half of social video plays happen on YouTube.
Half of social views in 2017 took place on YouTube. At the time, Facebook was the second most preferred platform. Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram were also used but weren’t as popular as the first two platforms.
The same source also mentions that adding a unique thumbnail to your video will increase the play rate by 35%.
Source: Adelie Studios via Slideshare
YouTube trends
Trends change all the time. Below are just some of the most recent trends to help you plan your video content strategy.
Below you’ll find information on how parents are using YouTube, which videos are most popular, what type of content people are looking for, and more.
24. Parents let their kids watch YouTube videos.
Pew Research Center said that parents of children 11 years old or younger let them watch YouTube videos. And of the 80% of users who do, half of them allow their kids to watch daily.
Source: Pew Research
25. YouTube is testing online shopping features.
Soon, YouTube will launch a pilot program that allows users to shop while watching livestreams. This feature will be available for a handful of creators and brands at first but will be available for other YouTube channels down the road.
Source: TechCrunch
26. iOS users will get YouTube’s picture-in-picture support
Those who have iPhones and iPads will be able to watch YouTube content while doing other tasks on their devices thanks to the platform’s picture-in-picture support. This will first roll out to YouTube Premium subscribers before everyone else.
Source: The Verge
27. The Baby Shark Dance is huge.
What video got the biggest YouTube traffic? That would be the Baby Shark Dance at 7.91 billion views. Behind it is Despacito at 7.2 billion views.
Unsurprisingly, the rest of the most viewed videos are in the music category. Shape of You (5.18 billion), See You Again (4.96 billion), Uptown Funk (4.09 billion) and Gangnam Style (3.97 billion) are also on the list.
Source: Statista
28. YouTube is acting against misinformation on the platform.
As more people use the streaming platform, the more cases there are of misinformation. That’s why YouTube is cracking down on videos spreading information that are unsubstantiated.
This was the case when YouTube removed medically incorrect content especially those relating to the recent pandemic.
Source: BBC
29. YouTube videos are getting longer.
The most successful YouTube videos these days are at least 20 minutes long. It is a trend that’s being driven by a push for ad revenue. If your main goal is to earn on YouTube, you’d want to consider making videos that are a bit longer.
Source: Wired
30. ASMR is big on YouTube
Content creators in the ASMR space can earn a good living publishing videos for that category. As a reporter for the New York Times explains, there’s a surge in ASMR content. And while it first started as a hobby for some, it quickly became a viable source of income for many creators.
Source: The New York Times Magazine
31. Home workout videos are a hit.
In April 2020, more people searched for home workout videos according to a YouTube report.
Source: YouTube Trends
32. Use variations of the word “beginner” in your titles.
According to YouTube, videos with variations of the word “beginner” in the title got over 9 billion views globally in 2020. This is an improvement over 2019 numbers which got 6 billion views.
Source: YouTube Trends
33. Keyword-rich tags don’t affect YouTube rankings as much.
Just because you add tons of keywords in the tags of the video doesn’t mean you’ll rank higher on the results page. YouTube no longer relies on metadata like it used to. Backlinko found very little correlation between keyword-rich tags and rankings.
Instead, it’s better to focus on having keyword-optimized titles. Backlinko finds a slight correlation between titles and rankings.
On a related note, there also doesn’t appear to be a correlation between keyword-optimized descriptions and rankings for the search term.
Source: Backlinko
34. YouTube favors HD videos.
When it comes to the first page of YouTube’s search results, high-definition (HD) videos reign supreme. Backlinko found that there are significantly more HD videos than standard-definition (SD) videos on the first page of the results.
There are two possible explanations. First, the most popular YouTubers are coincidentally uploading their work in HD quality. Second, YouTube favors content in HD quality and so it puts them higher in its rankings.
35. The pandemic affected video marketing efforts.
Around 40% of marketers said that the 2020 pandemic affected their video marketing plans for the year. However, 74% said that the pandemic made them more likely to use videos for their marketing campaigns. Only 26% said that it became less likely that they’ll rely on video content.
60% of marketers expected the pandemic to affect their 2021 video marketing budget. 7 out of 10 respondents said that their budget will likely increase while the rest said it’ll most likely shrink.
Source: Wyzowl
36. The pandemic made people consume more video content.
68% of consumers said that because of the pandemic, their video watching habits were affected. 96% of people stated that their viewing increased in 2020.
This could also be the reason why 91% of marketers feel that video is more important for brands during the pandemic period.
Source: Wyzowl
37. Watching a brand’s video leads to sales.
51% of executives under 40 said that they made a purchasing decision after watching a brand’s video. So if you’re running a business, you’ll have better chances of closing a deal if you have an explainer video on your website or on a platform like YouTube.
Source: Adelie Studios via Slideshare
YouTube statistics sources
Final thoughts
And that wraps up our roundup of the latest YouTube statistics, facts, and trends.
There’s no doubt that YouTube is one of the most important platforms for any business to have a presence on.
Video and live streaming is only going to become more important as time goes on.
Looking for more statistics? Be sure to check out our articles on content marketing stats, visual content stats, and social media stats.
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