20 YouTube Statistics: 2026 Usage, Trends, & Growth

YouTube is one of the biggest streaming platforms in the world. But how much do you know about it? 

In this post, you’ll find the best and most recent YouTube statistics that’ll help you learn more about this online streaming platform. Not only will you know how many people are using it, but also why they’re using it. You’ll learn all about its competitors and how it’s faring against them.

We’ll be covering YouTube usage stats and data specific to YouTube Gaming and YouTube Music.

General YouTube statistics

YouTube has a lot of competition. But it still manages to pull ahead of other social media platforms in certain categories. For instance, did you know that more adults in the United States use YouTube than any other social network?

And when the pandemic hit, YouTube was one of the places that people went to for information and entertainment.

There are also statistics here that reveal just how many people create YouTube content and treat it like a full-time job.

Here now are general YouTube statistics that prove how huge this platform is.

1. More adults in the US use YouTube more than any other social network.

Would you believe that more adults in the United States use YouTube over any other social media platform? It’s true. 

81% of adults in the US who identify themselves as social media users said they are also YouTube users. Facebook comes second with 69% followed by Instagram with 40%.

Other social media platforms mentioned in the survey were Pinterest (31%), LinkedIn (28%), Snapchat (25%), Twitter (23%), WhatsApp (23%), TikTok (21%), Reddit (18%), and Nextdoor (13%).

It’s worth mentioning that among all the social media platforms mentioned above, only YouTube and Reddit saw growth since 2019.

Source: Pew Research Center

2. YouTube saw the biggest growth among social media platforms during the pandemic.

The pandemic has been tough on everyone. So when people were quarantined in their homes, they turned to YouTube to keep themselves entertained and informed.

YouTube saw its usage grow from 73% of US adults in 2019 to 81% in 2021. That makes it the best-performing social media platform that year. It’s followed by Reddit which saw an increase from 11% in 2019 to 18% in 2021.

These results were based on a survey of 1,502 US-based adults that was conducted from Jan 25 to Feb 8 of 2021.

YouTube is popular among those aged 18 to 29 years old. 95% of those surveyed in that age range said that they use YouTube.

Source: CNBC

3. Baby Shark is the most-viewed video on YouTube.

Parents know Baby Shark all too well. But what they might not know is that this catchy tune is completely dominating YouTube right now.

Baby Shark is the most-viewed YouTube video with 7.044 billion views (as of Nov 2020). The record-holder before that was Luis Fonsi’s Despacity in 2017. That video had 7.038 billion views.

Baby Shark first went viral in South Korea in 2017 before catching the attention of the whole world. The reason why this video became the most-viewed video is that parents would let kids watch YouTube and this just so happens to be the type of video content that they like. 

Source: Mashable

4. More than 40 million adults watch YouTube in the Philippines every month.

More than 40 million adults in the Philippines watch YouTube videos every month. According to YouTube, 50% of the 40 million unique local viewers in the country are aged 18 to 34. 

The Covid-19 quarantine in the country also increased the watch time by 50% as people looked for ways to expand their knowledge and fuel their passions.

Source: Manila Bulletin

5. Around 400,000 people make YouTube videos like it’s a full-time job.

You’ve probably heard or know of someone who left full-time employment to pursue a career on YouTube. As it turns out, there are a lot of people like that.

According to an October 2021 YouTube report, 394,000 people in the United States work at least 40 hours per week as content creators (and earn money) on the platform.

While that is a huge number, it’s not immediately clear how many of those people are earning enough as they would if they were working a more traditional full-time job. 

However, two-thirds of those surveyed for the report said they had more than 50,000 subscribers and think they have a self-sustaining business. 60% of creators feel like they have opportunities to make videos and money that traditional media doesn’t give them.

So if you’re planning to be a content creator on YouTube yourself, it’s not the craziest idea in the world as there are people who are able to make a living off of publishing video content.

Source: Money.com

6. The average person will spend 16 minutes on YouTube.

How long do you spend time on YouTube?

Alexa data reveals that an average person will spend at least 16 minutes on YouTube. 

The site has a bounce rate of 34.5% and an engagement metric of 10.66. For those who are curious, YouTube has an Alexa rank of 2.

Source: Alexa

7. 81% of internet users in the United States have used YouTube.

In a Feb 2021 survey of people in the United States, it was revealed that 81% of internet users have visited YouTube. 69% said that they have used Facebook. Only 21% said they used TikTok.

Other social media platforms in the list include Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Reddit.

Source: Statista

8. There are 51 million YouTube channels on the platform.

That’s a lot of content.

As of 2022, there are more than 51 million YouTube channels on the platform — and that number is still climbing. The year before, the number of channels grew by 36%. As a result, there are 500 hours of content being uploaded to YouTube per minute.

Of those channels, 29,000 of them have subscribers that are over 1 million. This shouldn’t be surprising since, in 2019, the number of YouTube channels with over a million subscribers grew by 65%.

Another interesting tidbit is that nearly half of all channels with more than 10 million subscribers come from the United States. India, Brazil, the UK, Mexico, Spain, South Korea, Canada, Russia, and Thailand also have YouTube creators with over 10 million subscribers.

The most-subscribed channels on YouTube are T-Series, PewDiePie, Cocomelon, SET India, 5-Minute Crafts, Canal KondZilla, WWE, Zee Music Company, Dude Perfect, and Justin Bieber.

Source: Tubics

9. Mobile YouTube users watch at home as a replacement for TV.

People believe that those who watch YouTube on their mobile devices are on the go and therefore use it mostly during the day. But according to Google, 3 in 4 adults use their phones at home. They treat it like a TV and watch content on horizontally oriented screens.

In addition, home mobile YouTube viewing typically happens during prime time. In fact, in an average week, YouTube reaches more 18+ adults during prime time on average than cable network programming.  

7 in 10 YouTube users prefer watching content horizontally than vertically. And YouTube mobile users are more likely to pay close attention to what they’re watching. That’s not the case when people watch TV.

Google also says that the main reason why its users watch content on YouTube is to feel relaxed and entertained. The top 4 content categories on the platform are comedy, music, entertainment, and how-to videos.

68% of YouTube viewers use the platform to make informed purchasing decisions.

Source: Think With Google

YouTube music statistics

There are a lot of YouTube users who specifically go on the platform to consume music. The fact is that there are millions of people who subscribe to YouTube Music. And at the rate it’s going, there will be more users in the coming years.

Here are some of the most interesting YouTube Music statistics that we’ve found.

10. Blackpink is the most popular music artist on YouTube.