Data & Research March 17, 2026 • Updated: 9 November 2026

YouTube statistics
2026

50+ verified YouTube facts. From reach and watch behavior to Shorts, ad revenue, AI search and the creator economy. Compiled from Alphabet, YouTube, Nielsen, DataReportal, Pew Research and Edison Research, with a source link for every figure.

55.4%

of internet users worldwide use YouTube every month

Source: GWI via DataReportal, 2026

83.3%

of the Dutch population can be reached with YouTube ads (15.3M people)

Source: DataReportal, 2026

15.8%

of all US TV viewing time went to YouTube in August 2026, a record

Source: Nielsen, 2026

Statistics overview

YouTube is the second most visited website in the world, after Google. But how vast is its reach really? How much does YouTube earn from advertising? And how fast are Shorts growing?

On this page you'll find 50+ verified YouTube statistics, each with a link to its source: Alphabet, YouTube, Nielsen, DataReportal (GWI), Pew Research, Edison Research, Ahrefs and more. Whether you're building a business case for video marketing with a content marketing agency or looking to improve your YouTube SEO strategy, these are the numbers you need.

Section 1

YouTube users & reach

15.3M

people in the Netherlands reachable with YouTube ads

Source: DataReportal, 2026

84%

of US adults use YouTube

Source: Pew Research, 2026

#2

most visited website in the world (after Google)

Source: Similarweb, Sept 2026

100+

countries with a local version of YouTube, in 80 languages

Source: YouTube, 2026

YouTube use by age group (US adults)

18-29 years 95%
30-49 years 91%
50-64 years 85%
65+ years 65%

Source: Pew Research, 2026. Survey 30 January to 18 June 2026; no comparable public age breakdown exists for the Netherlands.

  • YouTube ad reach in the Netherlands grew by 500,000 people (+3.4%) in a year and now covers 84.1% of Dutch internet users (DataReportal, 2026)
  • The adult YouTube ad audience in the Netherlands is 50.1% female and 49.9% male (DataReportal, 2026)
  • YouTube is the most used viewing platform in the Netherlands in 2025, ahead of Netflix, NPO Start, Videoland and Disney+; on smartphones it is by far the most watched platform (GfK Trends in Digital Media, 2025)
  • More than 20 million videos are uploaded to YouTube every day on average (YouTube, 2026)
  • In the US, 91% of people aged 12+ have ever used YouTube, 84% used it in the past month and 78% in the past week (Edison Research Infinite Dial, 2026)
  • Men and women use YouTube almost equally: 85% of US men and 83% of US women (Pew Research, 2026)
Section 2

Watch behavior & engagement

Session Duration
14:29

minutes per YouTube session on Android, on average

YouTube: 14:29 TikTok: 9:42

Source: Similarweb via DataReportal, 2026

Daily
5.9x

the typical Android user opens the YouTube app per day

#1 app by monthly users ~50% more than TikTok

Source: Similarweb via DataReportal, 2026

TV
15.8%

of all US TV viewing time (August 2026)

Jul 2026: 14.2% Aug 2025: 13.1%

Source: Nielsen, 2026

YouTube share of total US TV viewing time

August 2024 10.6%
10.6%
August 2025 13.1%
13.1%
July 2026 14.2%
14.2%
August 2026 15.8%
15.8%

Source: Nielsen via DataReportal, 2026 (2024, 2025), Nielsen, 2026, Nielsen, 2026. US data. Bar length scaled (20% = full bar).

  • Streaming reached 49.6% of US TV viewing in August 2026; YouTube (15.8%) had about double the share of Netflix (7.7%) (Nielsen, 2026)
  • YouTube has been #1 in US streaming watch time for nearly three years, according to Nielsen (YouTube, 2026)
  • Connected TV ads reach 84.6% of YouTube's total US audience, and more than half of the audience in 22 countries (DataReportal, 2026)
  • More than 700 million hours of podcasts were watched on living-room devices in October 2025, up from around 400 million a year earlier (YouTube, 2025)
Section 3

YouTube Shorts statistics

200B+

average daily Shorts views

Source: YouTube, 2026

2B+

logged-in monthly Shorts viewers (July 2023, latest official figure)

Source: Google via TechCrunch, 2023

45%

of allocated Shorts ad revenue goes to the creator

Source: YouTube Help, 2026

29.18%

of marketers use short-form video (TikTok, Reels, Shorts), the most used format

Source: HubSpot State of Marketing, 2025

YouTube Shorts in figures

Metric Figure Period
Logged-in monthly Shorts viewers 1.5B 2022
Logged-in monthly Shorts viewers 2B+ July 2023
Average daily Shorts views 200B+ 2025-2026
Creator share of allocated Shorts ad revenue 45% current
Creator share of eligible targeted Shorts ads 45% from 1 Feb 2027

Source: Google via TechCrunch, 2023, YouTube, 2026, YouTube Help, 2026.

  • Creators also receive 45% of the net YouTube Premium revenue allocated to their Shorts (YouTube Help, 2026)
  • From 1 February 2027, creators keep 45% of the net revenue from eligible targeted Shorts ads (YouTube Help, 2026)
  • 41% of companies post short social clips to YouTube, behind LinkedIn (67%) and Instagram (49%) (Wistia, 2026)
Section 4

YouTube Ads benchmarks

$40.4B

YouTube ad revenue in 2025

Source: Alphabet 10-K, 2025

+11.7%

growth of YouTube ad revenue vs 2024 ($36.1B)

Source: Alphabet 10-K, 2025

$11.2B

YouTube ad revenue in Q3 2026 (Q3 2025: $10.3B)

Source: Alphabet Q3, 2026

84.6%

of YouTube's US audience reachable with connected TV ads

Source: DataReportal, 2026

YouTube ad revenue by period

Period Ad revenue Year-over-year
Full year 2024 $36,147M
Full year 2025 $40,367M +11.7%
Q4 2025 $11,383M +9% (Q4 2024: $10,473M)
Q3 2026 $11,207M +9.2% (Q3 2025: $10,261M)

Source: Alphabet 10-K, 2025, Alphabet Q4, 2025, Alphabet Q3, 2026. Growth percentages for the full year and Q3 calculated from the reported figures. YouTube Ads are part of Google Ads.

$60B+

YouTube revenue from ads and subscriptions combined in 2025

Source: Alphabet Q4, 2025

$80B+

US digital video ad spend in 2026 (+11%), including YouTube

Source: IAB, 2026

  • YouTube ad revenue rose by $4.2 billion in 2025, driven first by direct response ads and then by brand ads (Alphabet 10-K, 2025)
  • In 2026 digital video exceeds 60% of all US TV/video ad spend for the first time; social video, which includes YouTube, grows 13% and CTV 11% (IAB, 2026)
  • LinkedIn is the top platform where teams pay to promote their videos, followed by YouTube (Wistia, 2026)
Section 5

YouTube SEO & search behavior

5.6%

of all URLs cited in Google AI Overviews are YouTube URLs

Source: Ahrefs, 2026

0.737

correlation between YouTube mentions and brand visibility in AI answers

Source: Ahrefs, 2025

14:50

average length of a first-page YouTube video (minutes)

Source: Backlinko, 2017

68.2%

of first-page YouTube videos are in HD

Source: Backlinko, 2017

Strongest correlations with brand visibility in AI answers

YouTube mentions ~0.737
YouTube mention impressions ~0.717
Branded web mentions 0.66-0.71

Source: Ahrefs, 2025. 75,000 brands across ChatGPT, AI Mode and AI Overviews; correlation, not causation.

  • Comments, views, shares and likes correlate with higher YouTube rankings; keyword-rich tags show a weak correlation and keyword-optimized descriptions none, in a study of 1.3 million videos (Backlinko, 2017)
  • More than 20 million users used YouTube's AI feature Ask to learn more about the videos they watched in December 2025 (YouTube, 2026)
  • 93% of US viewers aged 18-27 agree that YouTube helps them learn new skills, according to Kantar (2025) (YouTube, 2026)

Want to grow your YouTube channel? Read our complete guide on YouTube SEO in 8 steps, or work with an SEO agency that treats YouTube as a first-class search surface.

Section 6

YouTube for business

SMB
76%

of US SMBs with a YouTube channel say YouTube helped grow their customer base

Oxford Economics US, 2025

Source: YouTube Impact Report, 2025

Video teams
76%

of video teams post their videos on YouTube

LinkedIn: 81% YouTube: 76%

Source: Wistia, 2026

E-commerce
500K+

creators are part of YouTube Shopping

YouTube CEO letter January 2026

Source: YouTube, 2026

29.58%

of marketers name YouTube among the top 3 platforms they will invest more in

Source: HubSpot State of Marketing, 2025

79%

of US teachers who use YouTube say it helps students learn

Source: Oxford Economics via YouTube, 2026

  • YouTube creators in the US live in all kinds of places: 48% in suburbs, 30% in cities and 21% in rural areas, according to Public First (2025) (YouTube Impact Report, 2025)
  • All 50 US states have at least 10 channels with more than 1 million monthly views (YouTube Impact Report, 2025)

Curious how AI can help you create professional videos? Read our complete guide.

Section 7

Revenue & creator economy

$100B+

paid to creators, artists and media companies in four years (2022-2025)

Source: YouTube Impact Report, 2025

150M+

YouTube Music and Premium subscribers, including trials

Source: Alphabet Q3, 2026

55%

of YouTube Partner Program ad and subscription revenue goes to creators and partners

Source: YouTube Impact Report, 2025

+7%

more channels earning six figures (USD) or more, year over year

Source: YouTube Impact Report, 2025

Economic contribution of YouTube's creative ecosystem in the US

GDP contribution 2024 $55B
GDP contribution 2025 $60B+
Full-time jobs supported 2024 490,000+
Full-time jobs supported 2025 540,000+

Source: YouTube Impact Report (Oxford Economics), 2025; 2024: YouTube, 2026. Research commissioned by YouTube.

  • YouTube earned more than $60 billion in 2025 from ads and subscriptions combined (Alphabet Q4, 2025)
  • Google has more than 325 million paid subscriptions across its consumer services, led by Google One and YouTube Premium (Alphabet Q4, 2025)

Brands that want YouTube, Demand Gen and YouTube Shorts to work as one measurable performance channel usually lean on a dedicated Google Ads agency rather than running it as an isolated creative project. For Dutch companies, how these figures shape a social media strategy: read more about our social media marketing agency (in Dutch).

Section 9

Key takeaways

Massive Reach in NL

YouTube ads reach 15.3 million people in the Netherlands (83.3% of the population), and YouTube is the most used viewing platform in the country.

Shorts Is Explosive

More than 200 billion daily views and, at the last official count, 2 billion+ logged-in monthly viewers. Creators keep 45% of their allocated Shorts ad revenue.

Ad Revenue Keeps Growing

YouTube ad revenue reached $40.4 billion in 2025 (+11.7%) and grew another 9% in Q3 2026. Advertisers keep shifting budget to YouTube.

Search and AI Visibility

YouTube is the #2 website in the world, YouTube URLs make up 5.6% of AI Overview citations, and YouTube mentions correlate most strongly with AI brand visibility.

Business Potential

76% of video teams post on YouTube, and 76% of US SMBs with a channel say YouTube helped them grow their customer base.

CTV Is the Future

YouTube went from 10.6% to 15.8% of US TV viewing in two years, and connected TV ads reach 84.6% of its US audience.

Methodology & sources

Every statistic on this page links to the source we opened when checking it (last check: 9 November 2026). Figures for the US, the UK or worldwide are labeled as such; they are not Dutch data. Sources used:

Disclaimer: Figures are taken from the most recent available editions of the cited reports. Some figures are company statements (YouTube, Alphabet) or research commissioned by YouTube. This page is compiled for informational purposes and does not constitute financial or strategic advice. For specific advice, please contact a experienced marketing agency.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How many users does YouTube have in 2026?

YouTube no longer publishes an official monthly user count. According to GWI, 55.4% of internet users worldwide use YouTube every month. In the Netherlands, YouTube ads reach 15.3 million people, 83.3% of the population (DataReportal, 2026). youtube.com is the second most visited website in the world after google.com (Similarweb, September 2026). Discover how to make the most of this reach with our guide on YouTube SEO.

How much does it cost to advertise on YouTube in 2026?

There is no reliable public benchmark for YouTube ad prices: you set your own budget and bids in Google Ads, and costs vary by format, audience and market. What is public is how much advertisers spend in total: YouTube ad revenue was $40.4 billion in 2025, up 11.7% on 2024, and $11.2 billion in Q3 2026 (Alphabet). YouTube Ads are part of Google Ads, so also check out our Google Ads statistics.

How important is YouTube SEO?

Very important, also for AI search. YouTube is the second most visited website in the world, YouTube URLs make up 5.6% of all URLs cited in Google AI Overviews (Ahrefs, 2026), and YouTube mentions show the strongest correlation with brand visibility in AI answers, about 0.737 (Ahrefs, 2025). In a study of 1.3 million videos, first-page videos lasted 14 minutes and 50 seconds on average (Backlinko, 2017). Learn how to capitalize on this in our YouTube SEO guide.

How fast are YouTube Shorts growing?

YouTube Shorts now averages more than 200 billion daily views (YouTube, 2026). The latest official audience figure is more than 2 billion logged-in viewers per month, from July 2023, up from 1.5 billion a year earlier. Shorts is monetized via the YouTube Partner Program: creators keep 45% of the Shorts ad revenue allocated to them.

What is the average watch time on YouTube?

On Android, a YouTube session lasts 14 minutes and 29 seconds on average, and users open the app 5.9 times a day (Similarweb via DataReportal, 2026). On US televisions, YouTube took a record 15.8% of all TV viewing time in August 2026, about double Netflix (Nielsen). Want professional videos made? Read about AI video tools.

Is YouTube effective for B2B marketing?

Yes, YouTube is widely used by businesses. 76% of video teams post their videos on YouTube (Wistia, 2026), and 29.58% of marketers name YouTube among the top three platforms they will invest more in (HubSpot, 2025). In the US, 76% of small and medium-sized businesses with a YouTube channel say YouTube helped them grow their customer base (Oxford Economics, 2025). Find out how to get started with a strategic marketing agency.

YT
Ready to get started?

Video marketing that delivers results

At Searchlab, we combine data-driven strategy with AI tooling to take your YouTube approach to the next level. From SEO to ads.

Get in touch See our approach
Ruud ten Have

Compiled by

Ruud ten Have

Ruud is a digital marketer with 10+ years of experience in online advertising and AI implementation. At Searchlab, he combines strategic thinking with hands-on AI tooling to deliver measurable results for businesses.

About Searchlab

We don’t just collect this data, we apply it daily as an AI-first marketing agency in Amsterdam. Dutch businesses can explore our YouTube Ads bureau services.

[ Free growth analysis ]

See where the
biggest gains are.

  1. TodayName, email and website. That is all we need.
  2. Within 5 working daysA document you can forward to your director or colleagues.
  3. ThenHalf an hour with the specialist who does the work.
You talk to the specialistNot a salesperson

Free, no obligation. We only use your details for the growth analysis.