Key points in this article:
- The size of YouTube’s audience amounted to 2.58 billion monthly active users as of February 2025.
- The country with the most YouTube users was India as of October 2025, with 500 million users.
- The social media platform generated $36.1 billion in revenue in 2024.
- The YouTube video with the most views is “Baby Shark” by PINKFONG as of December 2025, with over 16 billion views.
- People in the United States spent 48.7 minutes a day on average on YouTube in 2023.
Consumer demand for video is growing: customers want to see their products in motion before they buy.
Video has a privileged place on the internet and social media platforms, far more important than text, photography, and other types of content.
The YouTube video streaming platform has exploded in popularity, towards its status as the must-have tool it now possesses. Today, it’s the most popular video streaming platform in the world, and its statistics continue to climb.
Founded in 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, three former PayPal employees, and acquired by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion, YouTube generates billions of views a day and as many sales.
What are the key YouTube statistics for 2026? What do YouTube users like to watch on the app? Who are the most popular content creators on YouTube?
Welcome to our deep dive into the fascinating world of YouTube, a global social media platform that transcends basic video viewing.
Our exploration will uncover key usage statistics that highlight how viewers interact with content across various channels, statistics that can help improve your advertising and marketing efforts, allowing you to better reach the people in your target market.
From casual browsing to dedicated watching, YouTube’s extensive network offers a unique glimpse into the habits and preferences of its vast audience. Join us as we decode the numbers that define this digital giant’s reach and impact!
Key global stats for YouTube
How many people use YouTube worldwide?
In 2005, the social media platform was created and generated its first views and visitors. By 2009, traffic had reached 350 million people. On October 28, 2010, the total number of subscribers across all YouTube channels was 1 billion.
As of February 2025, YouTube counted 2.58 billion monthly active users, based on data from Statista. YouTube is the fourth most used social media platform after Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
This table displays the top 10 social media platforms with the greatest number of monthly active users worldwide, along with their follower counts as of February 2025.
| Social media platform | Number of monthly active users |
|---|---|
| 3.07 billion | |
| 3.00 billion | |
| 3.00 billion | |
| YouTube | 2.58 billion |
| TikTok | 1.99 billion |
| 1.41 billion | |
| Telegram | 1.00 billion |
| Messenger | 942 million |
| Snapchat | 932 million |
| 765 million |
Source: Statista
Furthermore, DataReportal shares a Kepios study noting that an estimated 2.53 billion users were likely to be reached by advertising on the social media platform as of January 2025. Compared to January 2024, this was an increase of 1.6%.
Source: DataReportal
Which country has the greatest number of YouTube users?
According to Statista, the country with the most YouTube users was India with 500 million users as of October 2025, followed by the United States with 254 million users and Indonesia with 151 million users.
In the table below, you’ll find information on the the rest of the top 10 countries in regarding YouTube audience size as of October 2025, including the number of users for each country.
| Country | Number of YouTube users |
|---|---|
| India | 500 million |
| United States | 254 million |
| Indonesia | 151 million |
| Brazil | 150 million |
| Mexico | 85 million |
| Japan | 78.5 million |
| Germany | 64.7 million |
| Vietnam | 62.1 million |
| Philippines | 59.6 million |
| Turkey | 57.9 million |
Source: Statista
How much does YouTube earn in advertising revenue?
Business of Apps reports that YouTube earned approximately $9.8 billion in advertising revenue in Q2 2025, which amounts to an increase of about 12.6% compared to the same quarter in 2024.
The following table summarizes the annual advertising revenue generated by YouTube over the past several years.
| Year | Annual advertising revenue generated by YouTube |
|---|---|
| 2018 | $11.1 billion |
| 2019 | $15.1 billion |
| 2020 | $19.7 billion |
| 2021 | $28.8 billion |
| 2022 | $29.2 billion |
| 2023 | $31.5 billion |
| 2024 | $36.1 billion |
Source: Business of Apps
What YouTube channel has the most subscribers worldwide?
We now focus on the pinnacle of success on YouTube, highlighting the channels with the greatest number of subscribers. These top performers on the global stage of social media have mastered the art of captivating a vast number of viewers.
From entertaining content to educational videos, these channels have not only attracted millions of users and viewers but have also maintained their engagement and growth, setting benchmarks for what success looks like on YouTube.
Using data from Social Blade, we find that the YouTube channel with the greatest number of subscribers as of December 2025 is MrBeast, with 451 million users following the channel.
The table below shows the rest of the top 10 most followed YouTube channels worldwide, in addition to the number of subscribers each channel counts.
| Channel | Number of YouTube subscribers |
|---|---|
| MrBeast | 451 million |
| T-Series | 307 million |
| Cocomelon | 199 million |
| SET India | 187 million |
| Vlad and Niki | 147 million |
| Kids Diana Show | 137 million |
| Stokes Twins | 132 million |
| Like Nastya | 131 million |
| KIMPRO | 125 million |
| Zee Music Company | 121 million |
Source: Social Blade
What is the most viewed video on YouTube?
The most popular videos on YouTube have billions of views. In the history of the platform, one video has broken the absolute record: it’s the children’s music video “Baby Shark” by PINKFONG, which has accumulated more than 16 billion views.
What video has the most views in 24 hours on YouTube?
The record for the most viewed video in 24 hours on YouTube is held by BTS for their “Butter” music video in May 2021, generating 108.2 million views in a day.
What’s more, it became the fastest video to get more than a million views, reaching this milestone in a mere 21 hours.
YouTube user demographics
What is the gender breakdown of YouTube’s audience?
Male users made up the majority of YouTube’s global audience as of January 2025, with 54% of monthly users being male, compared to 46% female, according to DataReportal, which used data from Google’s own reporting tools.
What is the age breakdown of YouTube’s audience?
DataReportal, again employing data from Google’s reporting tools, additionally shares that as of January 2025, the age group comprising the biggest share of YouTube’s advertising audience is users aged 25 to 34 years old at 21.7%.
This table lists the share of the worldwide advertising audience (users aged 18 and older) on YouTube for various age groups.
| Age group | Share of worldwide advertising audience (18+) |
|---|---|
| 18–24 years old | 15.8% |
| 25–34 years old | 21.7% |
| 35–44 years old | 18.5% |
| 45–54 years old | 14.0% |
| 55–64 years old | 9.9% |
| 65+ years old | 9.5% |
Source: DataReportal
YouTube usage statistics
How much time do people spend watching videos on YouTube?
In the United States, YouTube is the social media platform on which internet users spend the most time after TikTok, which dethroned the app: 48.7 minutes per day is the average amount of time a user spends per day on YouTube, according to Statista.
The amount of daily time spent on the rest of the social media platforms selected for the survey is shown in the table below.
| Social network | Average daily time spent on the platform |
|---|---|
| TikTok | 53.8 minutes |
| YouTube | 48.7 minutes |
| Twitter (X) | 34.1 minutes |
| 33.1 minutes | |
| 30.9 minutes | |
| Snapchat | 30.0 minutes |
| 24.1 minutes |
Source: Statista
How does YouTube usage vary by device?
These days, people can watch videos on YouTube on a variety of devices. But where are most of these views coming from?
According to eMarketer, mobile was the top choice for YouTube users when it comes to viewing content on the platform, with 63% of views originating from mobile devices, as of Q2 2021.
The table below breaks down the share of video views on YouTube for different devices in Q2 2021.
| Device | Share of video views on YouTube |
|---|---|
| Mobile | 63% |
| Connected TV/other | 14% |
| Desktop | 12% |
| Tablet | 8% |
| Console | 3% |
Source: eMarketer
YouTube Music, Premium, and Shorts statistics
How many YouTube Music and YouTube Premium subscribers are there around the world?
The micro-ads introducing the YouTube Music and YouTube Premium services have paid off on a global level: Statista states that as of March 2025, approximately 125 million people are subscribed to the YouTube Music and YouTube Premium services.
In 2021, the platform already counted an increase of 20 million subscribers compared to the previous year.
Today, with 125 million users being Premium subscribers, combining the Music and Premium services, this statistic represents an increase of approximately 317% in the number of people paying for YouTube Music and YouTube Premium since October 2020.
| Date | Percentage change in subscriber count compared to previous time period |
|---|---|
| Oct 2020 | - |
| Sep 2021 | +66.7% |
| Nov 2022 | +60.0% |
| Feb 2024 | +25.0% |
| Mar 2025 | +25.0% |
Source: Statista
How often are YouTube Shorts viewed per day?
With growing demand for short-form video content, it’s no surprise that stats demonstrate that YouTube Shorts, which have a maximum duration of 3 minutes, are increasing in popularity on the app!
In fact, Business of Apps reports that while YouTube Shorts generated 20 billion daily views worldwide in 2022, this number grew to 50 billion daily views in 2023 and reached 70 billion daily views in 2024.
Why should you know YouTube stats for your ecommerce business?
If you’re able to create compelling content for your business on YouTube, you have the opportunity to reach an incredibly large and diverse audience worldwide.
YouTube’s global statistics can give you a better understanding of your target audience's usage and behavior on the social media app.
You can see what types of videos are most popular, what topics are most searched for, and at what time of day or week your audience is most active.
This information is crucial to help you create YouTube content tailored to your target’s preferences, whether it involves ads or other kinds of marketing content, to increase their engagement and loyalty.
Knowing YouTube’s global statistics can help you improve your search engine rankings over time. This is because YouTube is owned by Google, and YouTube videos often appear at the top of search results for certain keywords.
By using the right keyword and SEO strategies for your videos, you can improve your online visibility, attract more people to your ecommerce website, and boost your revenue.
As you can see from the stats and data in this article, YouTube is the social media app you need to master as part of your marketing strategy if you want to quickly increase your brand awareness online.
It’s up to you to take the time to turn out your best content on the social media platform in order to reach the people in your target audience and get more viewers.
E-retailers and videographers, make it your next mission!
Interested in deepening your knowledge of social media statistics? Be sure to explore our other articles for additional valuable insights.
