Company Info
Founded: February 2005
CEO: Susan Wojcicki
Headquarters: San Bruno, CA
Employees: 10,000+ (Source)
Quick YouTube Statistics
Total Number of Monthly Active YouTube Users:
2.6 billion (Source)
Last updated: 07/03/22
Total Number of Daily Active YouTube Users:
122 million+ (Source)
Last updated: 07/03/22
Average Time Spent Daily on YouTube:
18 minutes (Source)
Last updated: 07/03/22
Total Daily Hours of Video Watched on YouTube:
1 billion hours (Source)
Last updated: 07/03/22
Total YouTube 2021 Ad Revenue:
$8.6 billion (Source)
Last updated: 07/03/22
YouTube TV Paying Subscribers:
3 million (Source)
Last updated: 07/03/22
YouTube Premium Paying Subscribers:
23.6 million (Source)
Last updated: 07/03/22
Number of Videos Watched Per Day
1 billion + (Source)
Last updated: 07/03/22
Hours of Videos uploaded per minute:
500 (source)
Last updated: 07/03/22
YouTube Demographics
- 53.9% of global YouTube users are male.
- 46.1% of global YouTube users are female.
- 81% of U.S. adults use YouTube.
- 82% of U.S. male adults use YouTube.
- 80% of U.S. female adults use YouTube.
- 95% of 18-29 year-olds in the U.S. use YouTube.
- 91% of 30-49 year-olds in the U.S. use YouTube.
- 49% of 65+ year-olds in the U.S. use YouTube.
- 62% of U.S. of YouTube users say they visit the site daily.
- 37% of Millennials aged 18 – 34 are binge-watching YouTube daily.
- YouTube services are available in more than 100 countries.
YouTube’s annual number of users
| Year | Number of users |
| 2012 | 0.8 billion |
| 2013 | 1 billion |
| 2014 | 1.1 billion |
| 2015 | 1.2 billion |
| 2016 | 1.4 billion |
| 2017 | 1.5 billion |
| 2018 | 1.8 billion |
| 2019 | 2 billion |
| 2020 | 2.3 billion |
| 2021 | 2.6 billion |
YouTube Usage Statistics
- 15.9% of YouTube site traffic comes from the U.S.
- Around 21% of YouTube watch time comes from mobile devices.
- You can navigate YouTube in a total of 80 different languages, while 19 languages are available for YouTube Creators.
- YouTube is the world’s second-most visited website with 22.8 billion monthly visits.
- YouTube is the world’s second-most used social platform.
- YouTube is the primary source of video for 78% of users.
- People watch around 100 billion hours of gaming on YouTube.
- India leads as the country with the highest number of YouTube users at 467 million.
YouTube Financial Statistics
- YouTube generated $28.8 billion in revenue in 2021, a 30.4% increase year-over-year.
- YouTube generated $8.8 billion in revenue in Q4 2021, a 25% increase year-over-year.
- In 2021, it was estimated that YouTube Mr. Beast (Jimmy Donaldson) ranked first as the top-earning YouTuber. worldwide with earnings of approximately 54 million U.S. dollars.
- Google acquired YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion.
- YouTube video influencers with 500-5k followers charge, on average, $315 per video.
- YouTube video influencers with 500k+ followers charge, on average, $3857 per video.
- Most YouTube channels get paid $0.5 per 1000 video views.
- YouTube pays $18 per 1,000 ad views on average.
- Over the past five years, YouTube paid out over $2 billion to partners with Content ID.
YouTube annual revenue
| Year | Revenue in USD |
| 2010 | 0.8 billion |
| 2011 | 1.3 billion |
| 2012 | 1.7 billion |
| 2013 | 3.1 billion |
| 2014 | 4.2 billion |
| 2015 | 5.5 billion |
| 2016 | 6.7 billion |
| 2017 | 8.1 billion |
| 2018 | 11.1 billion |
| 2019 | 15.1 billion |
| 2020 | 19.7 billion |
| 2021 | 28.8 billion |
YouTube Premium paying subscribers
| Year | Number of subscribers |
| 2015 | 1.5 million |
| 2016 | 3 million |
| 2017 | 2.8 million |
| 2018* | 10 million |
| 2019 | 18 million |
| 2020 | 30 million |
| 2021 | 23.6 million |
YouTube Ad Statistics
- YouTube is used by 55% of marketers.
- 84% of viewers bought from a brand after seeing it on YouTube.
- As of 2020, YouTube was the fifth most used social media platform for marketers after Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
- Display ads are the most effective YouTube ad marketing strategy for 10% of marketers.
- Apple Inc was the biggest advertiser on YouTube in 2020 having spent $237.15 million.
- 29% of marketers find that pre-roll skippable YouTube video ads are considered the most effective advertising form on YouTube.
- The most popular YouTube video ad worldwide in 2021 was Hyundai x BTS | For the Earth.
Fun Facts
- YouTube is the 2nd most visited site in the world.
- YouTube accounts for 25% of total global mobile traffic.
- 74.57% of traffic from desktops come from direct traffic.
- The most expensive YouTube video sold as non-fungible token (NFT) in 2021 was Charlie Bit My Finger video, and it was sold for $761,000.
- More than 70% of what people watch on YouTube is determined by its recommendation algorithm.
- The first video was posted in 2005 from the San Diego Zoo.
- Gangnam Style was so popular that it broke YouTube’s video counter.
- By 2025, it’s predicted that 50% of viewers under 32 will not subscribe to the paid TV.
- 20% of users will leave a video if it hasn’t hooked them in the first 10 seconds.
- YouTube provides free space in Los Angeles for anyone with 10,000+ subscribers.
- YouTube is technically the second largest search engine in the world.
- 61.5% of the most popular YouTube videos cannot be viewed in Germany.
- The most viewed video on YouTube is Baby Shark Dance song by Pinkfong with 10.3 billion views.
- Masha and The Bear – Recipe for disaster (Episode 17) is the most viewed non-music video on YouTube with 4.4 billion views.
- Justin Bieber’s “Baby” video managed to generate 12 million dislikes (and counting!).
- The most popular YouTube channel, T-Series, has 210 million subscribers.
- There are more than 37 million YouTube channels out there.
- There are 9,000+ partners using Content ID, including many major network broadcasters, movie studios and record labels.
- YouTube’s partners have claimed over 800 million videos since Content ID was implemented.
- The first adverts were rolled out in August 2007.
- By March 2013, YouTube saw 1bn monthly active users.
- The first video to hit one million views on YouTube was a Nike advert featuring Ronaldinho.
YouTube Statistics (Editor’s choice)
1. YouTube User Statistics
According to the latest official figures, YouTube has 2.6 billion users (Statista, 2022). The research firm Statista provides further insights that show that the platform boasts about 1.86 billion active users.
While the current figures place YouTube’s monthly active users at about 2.6 billion, the actual figures might even be higher. This is because the numbers are calculated per number of people that actually log in to the website (or app).
However, there are other ways people watch videos, such as the ability to watch YouTube videos on WhatsApp, which takes YouTube’s reach even higher.
With such a huge audience, YouTube remains one of the best platforms for your digital marketing efforts.
2. YouTube Demographics: Geography
India has the highest number of active YouTube users. At least 467 million people in India regularly access YouTube ‒ that’s approximately 16% of the total population.
The United States comes second as the country with the most YouTube users, with about 240 million active YouTube users.
Indonesia (127 million), Brazil (107 million), and Russia (99 million) take up the next three positions at the countries with the highest number of YouTube users.
While India leads with the total number of YouTube users, the United States’ usage translates to a much higher proportion of the country.
81% of the entire U.S. adult population uses YouTube (Pew Research, 2021).
YouTube is currently localized in over 100 countries and can be used in 80 different languages (YouTube, 2021). This fact has made it possible for the fast penetration of the platform to other countries globally.
As of January 2022, the Netherlands is the country with the highest YouTube penetration at 95%. South Korea ranks second at 94%, while New Zealand ranks third at 93.9%. African countries Nigeria and Kenya have a YouTube penetration of under 30% (Statista, 2022).
3. YouTube Demographics: Gender
53.9% of YouTube’s total users are male, while 46.1% are female (Statista, 2022). YouTube’s current reporting structure supports the two genders (male and female) of people between 16 and 64 years.
4. YouTube Demographics: Age
YouTube reports on its usage for those between 16 and 64 years. As of 2021, 82% of all male adults are on YouTube, while 80% of all females access the platform in the U.S. (Pew Research, 2021).
According to a 2021 Pew Research report, 95% of 18-29 year-olds and 91% of 30-49 year-olds in the U.S. use YouTube.
The younger generation isn’t the only one that uses the platform as 1 in 3 baby boomers go on YouTube to learn more about a product or service.
Besides that, 80% of U.S. parents of children under 11 years old claimed that their kids watch YouTube (Pew Research, 2020).
What’s even more interesting, 49% of 65+ year-olds in the U.S. use YouTube.
YouTube is a popular social media platform for every demographic group, and no wonder – video is the fastest and the most efficient source of information in this day and age.
5. YouTube’s Usage Statistics
With 122+ million daily active users on YouTube consuming more than a billion hours of video every day, this is one of the most widely used social media platforms (and search engines) in the world (YouTube, 2021).
On average, users spend 18 minutes on YouTube every day (Alexa, 2021) browsing at least eight different pages on the platform.
It has all become easier thanks to the variety of content available on this social platform. There are more than 31 million YouTube channels to choose content from.
6. YouTube’s Popularity among Users
Besides being the only other major social media platform with over 2 billion users (only Facebook ranks higher), YouTube is the second-most popular social media platform in the world (Statista, 2021).
It is also the second-most popular search engine right after Google, racking up over a billion hours of views every day (YouTube, 2021). In fact, YouTube receives more search queries than other major search engine platforms like Microsoft Bing, Yahoo, AOL, and Ask ‒ combined.
70% of all YouTube traffic comes from mobile devices (YouTube, 2019). The platform’s popularity makes it easy for a larger audience to reach it, reaching more U.S. mobile content consumers than any other television network.
7. YouTube’s Popularity among Marketers
To put it into perspective, the total number of social media users in the world is just a little shy of 4 billion people. YouTube has 2+ billion users, meaning more than 50% of all social media users are on YouTube.
These figures mean a lot to digital marketers that wish to reach a larger audience. Video content has taken over the world, owing to the latest video marketing statistics. And where best to market your videos than the world’s largest video search engine?
As of 2020, YouTube was the fifth most used social media platform for marketers after Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Regardless of its high potential, many small business owners in the U.S. are yet to make good use of YouTube, as only 9% of small businesses are on YouTube. However, the platform is quite popular among digital marketers as 55% of marketers use YouTube.
However, owing to its popularity, it is no surprise that 50.9% of B2B decision-makers use YouTube to research purchases. This makes YouTube outrank the likes of Facebook (48.5%) and LinkedIn (33%) for this purpose.
YouTube has a high convincing power to buyers, increasing their buying intent, and according to data shared by Google, 70% of viewers bought from a brand after seeing it on YouTube.
Note: Please link back to omnicoreagency.com and this page when you reference/quote the statistic.
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