In 2005, when I was 10 years old, a kid from my neighborhood was bear hugging a fallen tree trunk that bridged across our creek and yelled, “I better not see this on YouTube!”
That was the first time I’d ever heard of YouTube. And it definitely wasn’t the last time I’d hear about it. YouTube has experienced explosive growth since it was founded in an office garage in 2005. Just one year after its inception, it was attracting more than 65,000 new video uploads and 100 million video views per day. A couple of months later, the high-growth startup was acquired for over $1 billion by a titan in the tech industry — Google.
Since then, YouTube has opened up avenues for brands to advertise on their videos and, in turn, let content creators earn a living just by making videos. This potential for monetization has incentivized content creators to craft the most engaging videos possible and host them on the platform, which has enabled YouTube to become the second most trafficked website and the second largest search engine in the world.
As a video marketer, you already know how crucial building a YouTube presence is for boosting your videos’ and brand’s visibility. But if you just started your brand’s YouTube channel or need some help convincing your boss to double down on your YouTube efforts, we’ve got you covered.
Check out these stats about the platform’s mobile usage, its demographics, subscriber growth, general usage, and history that can help you build your YouTube following or persuade your boss to focus more of your efforts on the video platform.
YouTube Stats Every Video Marketer Should Know in 2021
How many videos are on YouTube?
1. Since 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute (and a lot of those videos violate YouTube’s guidelines and subsequently get taken down) it’s impossible to determine the exact number of videos hosted on the platform. However, over one billion hours of videos are watched on YouTube every day.
What is the most-watched video on YouTube?
2. “Baby Shark Dance” by Pinkfong Kids’ Songs & Stories is the most-watched video on YouTube. It has received over 7.91 billion views since 2016.
How many people use YouTube?
3. YouTube has over more than 2 billion users.
YouTube Mobile Stats
4. On mobile devices alone, YouTube reaches more adults aged 18-49 during prime time than any cable network does in an average week.
5. 75% of adults report watching YouTube on their mobile devices.
6. More than 70% of YouTube watch time is generated from mobile devices.
7. Over 50,000 years of product review videos have been watched on mobile devices since 2017.
8. In 2020, YouTube was the fourth most popular IOS app after ZOOM, TikTok, and Disney+.
YouTube Demographics Stats
9. Over 77% of 15-35 year-old American internet users watch videos on YouTube.
10. Over 67% of American internet users who are aged 56 and over watch videos on YouTube.
11. Over 50% of YouTube’s audience is female.
12. 39.4% of social media users in the U.S. expected their YouTube usage to increase significantly while staying at home.
13. 24.3% of social media users in the U.S. expected their YouTube usage to increase slightly while staying at home.
14. 70% of millennial YouTube users watched a YouTube video to learn how to do something new or learn about something they’re interested in.
15. 16.6% of YouTube’s website visitors are from the United States.
16. YouTube attracts the most visitors from the United States, India, and Japan.
17. YouTube is available in more than 100 countries.
18. YouTube is available in 80 different languages.
YouTube Subscriber Growth Stats
19. The number of channels with more than 1 million subscribers increased by more than 65% since last year.
20. The number of YouTubers who earn six figures per year has increased by more than 40% since last year.
21. The number of YouTubers who earn five figures per year has increased by more than 50% since last year.
22. The top ten YouTubers earned 30% more revenue from June of 2019 to June of 2020 compared to the previous year.
23. T-Series, a Hindi music channel, is the most popular YouTube channel with 171 million subscribers, followed by PewDiePie with 109 million subscribers.
24. The most popular branded YouTube channel is LEGO, which has over 10.04 billion views.
YouTube Usage Stats
25. YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine.
26. YouTube is the second most trafficked website behind Google.
27. YouTube users collectively watch over 1 billion hours of content daily.
28. Watch time for shopping-related videos grew more than 5X in the U.S. between 2016 and 2018.
29. The majority of the most popular YouTube videos are music videos.
30. YouTube is the most popular music streaming site.
31. 70% of viewers say that YouTube makes them more aware of new brands.
32. Viewers say they’re twice as likely to buy something they saw on YouTube.
33. Viewers are four times more likely to use YouTube to find information about a brand, product, or service (vs. other platforms).
34. YouTube users watch more than 180 million hours of content on TV screens every day.
35. YouTube users are three times more likely to prefer watching a YouTube tutorial video compared to reading the product’s instructions.
36. “Relaxing” and “feeling entertained” are the top two reasons viewers watch YouTube.
37. Relaxation videos like soap cutting and slime playing experienced a 70% increase in watch time in 2018.
38. Comedy, music, entertainment/pop culture, and “how to” are the four most popular content categories on YouTube.
YouTube History Stats
39. “YouTube.com” was activated on February 14, 2005.
40. “Me at the zoo” was the first video uploaded to YouTube on April 25, 2005.
41. Google purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion on October 9, 2006.
42. YouTube launched InVideo ads in December 2007.
43. YouTube streamed the United States presidential debates for the first time in 2012.
44. The youngest successful YouTuber is Ryan ToysReview, who is a 8-year old boy who makes $22 million a year and has 22 million subscribers.
45. “Gangnam Style”’s surge in popularity broke the video’s view counter.
46. YouTube provides a free space in Los Angeles where YouTubers with over 10,000 subscribers can learn, connect, and create videos with each other.
47. The first YouTube video that reached one million views was a 2005 Nike ad that featured football star, Ronaldinho.
48. The YouTube video that received the most views in 24 hours is BTS’s “Dynamite” music video, which attracted 101.1 million views in a single day.
49. The most liked video on YouTube is the music video for the song “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee. It has received over 42.71 million likes and boasts an 89.65% like percentage.
50. YouTube’s own YouTube Rewind 2018 video is the most disliked video on the platform. It has received over 18 million dislikes and owns an 86.38% dislike percentage.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in February 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
