Maybe you’ve heard of YouTube? Launched in 2005, it’s a massively popular video sharing platform. A hub for all things video—good, bad, and inexplicable—it can help content creators and businesses alike reach huge audiences with their video content.

If you’re looking to grow your YouTube channel, it’s helpful to understand some of the key statistics about its growth, who’s using it, what types of video perform well, revenue and engagement, and so on. Things like basic demographics, usage, and data on YouTube as a search engine can all be helpful information to know.

So without further windup, here are 49 of the most important YouTube stats.

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Vital stats

YouTube is a video-sharing giant. Here are some of the biggest and best stats to know about the platform.

1. YouTube is the second-most visited website on the internet

YouTube is wildly popular, coming in second only to Google (also owned by Alphabet, like YouTube) on the list of most visited websites worldwide.

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2. 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

A single “internet minute” sees 500 hours of video uploaded to YouTube. That’s…a lot. To stand out, content creators need to know what they’re doing.

3. YouTube is the third-most downloaded entertainment app worldwide.

YouTube follows only TikTok and Netflix in entertainment app downloads. YouTube Kids lands in sixth place.

4. 54% of marketers put YouTube in their marketing strategy.

YouTube is the fourth-most-used social media platform by marketers, following Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, respectively.

5. 66% of marketers plan to increase their use of YouTube.

Two-thirds of marketers want to increase their brands’ activity on YouTube. Comparatively, 19% plan to keep their use the same, while only 1% plan to decrease their use. 14% have no plans to use the platform at all.

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6. YouTube has 80 million paying subscribers.

As of November 2022, 80 million people subscribes to YouTube Premium or YouTube Music. This adds up to monthly revenue of between $879 million and $1.12 billion from paid subscriptions.

7. YouTube Kids had 106.48 million downloads in 2022.

Even kids are watching YouTube. If you have a channel with content catered exclusively to kids, you can reach millions of them with the YouTube Kids app.

8. 70% of viewers say YouTube helps them become aware of new brands.

YouTube ads do a great job of helping your target customers discover your brand. Over two-thirds of YouTube viewers have discovered new brands on the platform.

9. A full-funnel YouTube strategy has a 10% higher ROI than awareness ads alone.

While awareness ads are a smart strategy, a full-funnel YouTube strategy with a mixture of ad formats helps generate the best results. A Nielsen meta-analysis discovered that the proper mixture has a 10% better ROI than awareness ads alone.

10. 78% of marketers say YouTube is more useful than Vimeo for achieving their goals.

According to a HubSpot survey, nearly 8 in 10 marketers prefer YouTube to Vimeo. They say YouTube is more effective in achieving their business goals than Vimeo is.

While Vimeo is still a useful video hosting site, it doesn’t hold a candle to the power that YouTube has for video marketing.

YouTube user statistics

Who’s on YouTube? Here’s what we know about YouTube’s user base, how often people are visiting the platform (a lot), and where they live around the world (all round it). This should help you understand how to better target your audience on YouTube.

11. YouTube has more than two billion users.

Over two billion people go to YouTube every month, across more than 100 countries and in 80 languages. That’s a lot of potential YouTube views.

12. YouTube’s top three countries are India, the United States, and Brazil.

As we mentioned, YouTube is available in over 100 different countries. The top 5 are:

• India: 467 million users
• United States: 246 million users
• Brazil: 142 million users
• Indonesia: 139 million users
• Mexico: 81.8 million users

If you’re making video for people in one of those countries, you’re sure to have an audience for your content or business.

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13. YouTube is the second-most popular social media platform.

Only Facebook has more overall users. 

14. The most popular age/gender cohort is men aged 25 to 34.

11.9% of YouTube users are men aged 25 to 34, with the second-most-popular cohort being men aged 35 to 44 (9.1%). If this is your target audience, you’re in good hands with YouTube.

15. 71.66% of worldwide visits come from mobile devices.

This is 8.5 times more than desktop visits, so be sure to optimize your content for mobile video views. This means using large text (when applicable), making a foray into vertical video, and creating shorter videos.

16. The largest age group on YouTube is the 15 to 35 cohort.

77% of internet users in the US between the ages of 15 and 35 use YouTube, while 73% of US internet users between the ages of 36-45 use the platform. If you’re targeting Gen Z or millennials, YouTube is the perfect platform.

17. The top three most popular languages on YouTube are English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Of the top 250 YouTube channels, the three most popular languages are English (66%), Spanish (15%), and Portuguese (7%). While the content is overwhelmingly in English, you can still grow your channel in your native language.

18. There are slightly more women on YouTube than men.

51.4% of YouTube users are women, compared to the 48.6% of users who are men. (There is no data on non-binary users and other gender identities.) With such a slight difference, that means no matter which gender you’re targeting, you can do it on YouTube.

YouTube video statistics

Will your videos align with the most popular YouTube content? Do you want them to? Here’s more about video stats on the platform and what they could mean for your marketing strategy.

19. The average YouTube video length in 2018 was 11.7 minutes.

We don’t have any more recent data than this analysis from 2018. However, as long as we exclude YouTube Shorts, it’s likely the current average is similar.

Length differs widely amongst different categories of video content, with gaming videos averaging out around 24.7 minutes and music videos averaging around 6.8 minutes in length.

20. Over 800 million videos have been uploaded to the platform.

With the average video being 11.7 minutes long, that means there could be around 9.36 billion minutes of video content hosted on YouTube. That’s 156 million hours of content. It would take more than 17,000 years to watch every minute of video on the platform. 

21. The average YouTube video gets 5,594 views.

To break down further, here are the nine different categories:

• Entertainment videos: 9,816 views
• How-to and style videos: 8,332 views
• Science and tech videos: 6,638 views
• Pet and animal videos: 6,542 views
• Auto and vehicle videos: 5,673 views
• Education videos: 4,872 views
• Travel and event videos: 3,070 views
• Gaming videos: 3,050 views
• People and blog videos: 2,354 views

22. “Baby Shark Dance” is the most-viewed YouTube video.

The top 5 most-viewed videos are:

• “Baby Shark Dance” by Pinkfong Kids’ Songs & Stories
• “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee
• “Johny Johny Yes Papa” by LooLoo Kids
• “Bath Song” by Cocomelon Nursery Rhymes
• “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran

23. The longest YouTube video ever was 596 hours.

It has since been deleted, but it did win the Guinness World Record for world’s longest YouTube video. The top 10 longest videos to have ever been uploaded are:

• “THE LONGEST VIDEO ON YOUTUBE – 596 HOURS” by Jonathan Harchick (596 hours, 31 minutes, and 8 seconds)
• “THE LONGEST YOUTUBE VIDEO EVER – 571 HOURS” by TVFilthyFrank (571 hours, 1 minute, and 9 seconds)
• “SUDARSHAN KRIYA LIVE || Day-1 || International Yoga Festival 2016 || Parmarth Niketan” by International Yoga Festival (401 hours, 50 minutes, and 8 seconds)
• “JONATHAN’S EXTREME LONGEST VIDEO ON YOUTUBE OF ALL TIME” by Jonathan Harchick (360 hours, 1 minute, and 10 seconds)
• “24/7 lofi hip hop radio – beats to study/chill/relax” by Chillhop Music (338 hours, 7 minutes, and 37 seconds)
• “The Yogic Prescription: Healing the Body, Strengthening the Mind, and Nurturing the Spirit” by Niroga Institute (252 hours, 2 minutes, and 35 seconds)
• “Nature Relaxation Films” by Nature Relaxation Films (214 hours, 43 minutes, and 34 seconds)
• “11:11:11:11” by Felix Colgrave (190 hours, 11 minutes, and 11 seconds)
• “Prayer for Peace: Religions Together” by soka gakkai (164 hours, 38 minutes, and 50 seconds)
• “365 days to Moksha- the Ultimate Journey” by Vishen Lakhiani (147 hours, 56 minutes, and 15 seconds)

24. The fastest viral YouTube video gained 400 million views in the first 24 hours.

The video was “iQIYI: iQIYI” by Double World. The second place video, “Facebook: Paramount Pictures” by Rings Prank, only hit half that, gaining 200 million views in the first 24 hours.

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25. The first-ever YouTube video was called “Me at the zoo.”

The video was uploaded on April 23, 2005, by one of the founders of YouTube. It’s a 19-second video featuring none other than the co-founder at…the zoo.

YouTube channel statistics

Knowing where your channel fits in with the rest of the YouTube universe can help inform your content-creation strategy. Here are some key stats about the top YouTube channels.

26. There are more than 51 million YouTube channels.

However, many of these channels aren’t even active. About 37 million of those channels have more than five subscribers, meaning about 27% have five or fewer subscribers.

27. The most popular YouTube channel is T-Series with 237 million subscribers.

The top five most popular YouTube channels are:

• T-Series: 237 million subscribers
• YouTube Movies: 163 million subscribers
• Cocomelon Nursery Rhymes: 155 million subscribers
• SET India: 152 million subscribers
• MrBeast: 136 million subscribers

28. The most-viewed YouTube channel is Wiz Khalifa Music with 5.99 billion views.

The top five most-viewed YouTube channels:

• Wiz Khalifa Music: 5.99 billion views
• Wow Kidz: 5.02 billion views
• T-Series: 2.72 billion views
• Cocomelon Nursery Rhymes: 2.42 billion views
• SET India: 2.33 billion views

29. 29,000 YouTube channels have more than one million subscribers.

In 2016, only 2,000 channels had hit this milestone. This means that since then, four channels have hit this milestone each day.

30. 700 YouTube channels have over 10 million subscribers.

This is a huge milestone—so much so that only 0.001% of channels have reached it. And even fewer have hit 100 million subscribers—only nine, in fact.

YouTube engagement statistics

How does your YouTube account’s engagement stack up? YouTube engagement stats can help you see if you need to improve your channel’s performance.

31. Over one billion hours are streamed on YouTube daily.

According to YouTube’s press, people watch billions of hours and generate billions of video views each and every day.

32. US adults spend an average of 46 minutes per day on YouTube.

US adults also spend around 60 minutes on Netflix and 46 minutes on TikTok each day.

33. 55% of US viewers mostly watch videos only a few minutes long.

Shorter video content is becoming more and more popular, especially with TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts gaining prominence in the video marketing space.

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34. 60% of Gen Zers use YouTube to watch more content about a show or movie they’ve seen recently.

This is related to a new trend called “professional fans.” Fans of existing content are learning how to turn that into a revenue-driving YouTube channel.

35. 62% of users say they access YouTube daily.

Out of YouTube’s 2.5 billion monthly active users, that’s around 1.5 billion users generating daily views on the site. 

YouTube revenue statistics

Discover how healthy YouTube and its top creator accounts are based on their annual revenue.

36. YouTube brought in $29.24 billion in advertising revenue in 2022.

YouTube’s ad revenue has steadily increased in the past five years. In 2017, the company brought in $8.15 billion, meaning YouTube’s revenue has more than tripled in five years.

37. YouTube’s ad revenue in 2022 was only 11.35% of Google’s total revenue.

Google owns YouTube as well as a number of other subsidiaries. The company is obviously huge if $29 billion was only 11% of its total revenue for 2022.

38. MrBeast is the highest-earning YouTuber, pulling in a record-breaking $54 million in 2021.

The top 10 highest-earning YouTube creators in 2021 (the most recent data we have) and their earnings were:

• MrBeast: $54 million
• Jake Paul: $45 million
• Markiplier: $38 million
• Rhett & Link: $30 million
• Unspeakable: $28.5 million
• Like Nastya: $28 million
• Ryan Kaji (Ryan’s World): $27 million
• Dude Perfect: $20 million
• Logan Paul: $18 million
• Preston: $16 million

39. The average YouTuber makes around $0.18 per view.

YouTube pays around $0.18 per view, or $18 per 1,000 views. The more content you create and the more watch time it generates, the more you can bring in from ad share.

YouTube advertising statistics

Are you advertising on YouTube? Should you be? Learn more about the state of YouTube ads.

40. Advertisers can reach 2.53 billion users on YouTube.

YouTube has a ton of reach available for advertisers. If you want to get your brand or creative business in front of more people, consider running ads on the video platform.

41. 59% of users say YouTube ads are more relevant than TV ads.

Most YouTube users think ads on the platform are more relevant than the ads they see on linear TV. This is because of the targeting options available, helping large and small businesses put their ads in front of the right people.

42. Users are twice as likely to buy something they saw on YouTube.

Not only do ads reach a large audience, they reach an audience that could be ready to buy. YouTube ads work, with viewers being two times more likely to buy something they saw in an ad.

43. YouTube ads are among the top 7 channels where users discover new products.

According to a recent HubSpot survey, the top channels where respondents discovered new products were:

• Searching the internet: 44%
• TV ads: 42%
• Retail stores: 42%
• Social media: 36%
• Word of mouth: 33%
• YouTube ads: 26%
• Streaming services: 23%

YouTube influencer marketing statistics

YouTube is a wildly popular site for influencer marketing. Here are a bunch of stats showcasing the state of influencer marketing on YouTube—whether you’re an influencer interested in partnering with brands or vice versa.

44. YouTube is the number two social media platform for influencer marketing.

Or at least, it was in 2020. A survey done that year showed that 70% of marketers agreed that YouTube was an important platform for influencer marketing. The number one platform was Instagram. TikTok didn’t appear on the survey. This has almost certainly shifted in the last three years — but it’s probably safe to say YouTube remains near the top. 

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45. The average engagement rate of a nano-influencer is 5.22%.

The average engagement rate appears to decrease as the influencer’s account grows, since influencers with smaller audiences tend to have more engaged audiences. Engagement rates found by a study conducted in 2020 were:

• Nano-influencers (less than 10,000 followers): 5.22%
• Micro-influencers (10,000-100,000 followers): 2.82%
• Macro-influencers (more than 100,000 followers): 1.99%

46. YouTube influencer partnerships can cost anywhere from $20 to $20,000+ per video.

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, the breakdown of influencer costs on YouTube are:

• Nano-influencers: $20–$200 per video
• Micro-influencers: $200–$1,000 per video
• Mid-tier influencers: $1,000–$10,000 per video
• Macro-influencers: $10,000–$20,000 per video
• Mega-influencers: $20,000+ per video

YouTube trends and predictions

So what’s next? Check out some of the upcoming YouTube trends and predictions so you can adjust your strategy and video content accordingly.

Invest in YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts has two billion monthly active users. If you’re on TikTok or using Instagram Reels, you can easily repurpose your short vertical videos for YouTube Shorts. And if not, try creating short-form video content as a part of your new strategy.

Add video to your podcast offering

46% of podcast listeners prefer consuming them with video. Next time you go to record your podcast, try adding video into the mix and check out the results.

Try livestreaming

23.8% of internet users say they use social media to watch livestreams. And in the gaming industry, viewers watched 1.13 billion hours of live video on YouTube Gaming Live just in Q1 of 2022.

Depending on your industry, live broadcasting can be a great way to reach and engage with your users, furthering your brand awareness and building an audience.

What can you learn from YouTube statistics?

Knowing a platform’s top statistics helps you determine whether it’s the right platform for you to use for your creator business. With them, you can validate your YouTube channel idea and better inform your video marketing strategy. Then, turn to tools like Descript to help you create top-tier YouTube videos.