2020 was a great year for YouTube. People started using videos to replace traditional activities and events. These YouTube statistics show how YouTube users are using it right now and what marketers must know in order to reach them.
1. YouTube boasts more than 2 Billion monthly users
This is not as big an audience as Facebook’s 2.74 Billion monthly active users.
Keep in mind, however, that you can still watch YouTube content and not have to create an account. Therefore, the “logged-in monthly viewers” number is likely to underestimate the actual number of people who are viewing YouTube content each month. Get Fans to boost your existing audience.
2. 74% of Americans use YouTube.
This is more than Facebook (68% of American adults) It’s nearly twice the amount of Instagram (40%), which is the second-placed runner-up.
According to Pew Research YouTube is America’s most-popular online platform.
eMarketer predicts that the number of U.S. YouTube viewers will rise to 228.1 million by 2024 from 214.9 million in 2020.
3. 77% of U.S. 15-35-year-olds use YouTube
YouTube is the most popular site for users aged 35 and younger, but not by much. YouTube is used by 73% of Americans between 36 and 45, 70% of 46-55 year olds, and 67% of 56-year-olds.
This pattern is very different from other social media platforms, where usage drops sharply for older age groups.
4. Parents of children aged 11 and younger in the United States say that 80% of their children watch YouTube.
53% of parents said their child watched YouTube videos at least once per day. This contrasts with other social networks which require that children be at least 13 years old.
These two statistics show that YouTube is popular with all ages in America.
5. 94.5% of OTT viewers in the U.S. watch YouTube
OTT stands to “Over-the top” and refers only to streaming services that are viewed on a TV. Nearly all Americans watch YouTube videos streaming on their TVs.
YouTube is the most popular digital video platform in America. Netflix is second with 74.9%. YouTube watched time on TVs rose by 80% in March year-over-year.
6. 16.4% of YouTube’s traffic comes from the U.S.
YouTube is a very popular platform in the United States. However, only a small fraction of YouTube traffic comes from the USA.
Alexa estimates that the United States is still 16.4% of YouTube’s visitors, and it is the largest source of YouTube traffic.
Next up: 9.2% of YouTube users are located in India and 4.8% in Japan.
7. 5.6% of YouTube users identify as male
And 44% of them are female. Data is not available for female and male users.
YouTube’s user base is skew male but there are still many women who create and consume content on YouTube.
YouTube usage statistics
8. YouTube is the second most visited website in the world.
Google is right after its parent company.
9. It is also the second most used social media platform in the world.
It is right behind Facebook in this instance.
10. YouTube is viewed more than 1 billion times per day by people.
One billion hours. Every day. This is an amazing amount of content consumed all over the globe.
How did that number rise so high? These YouTube usage statistics will give you some insight.
11. YouTube is used by viewers aged 18+ 41.9 minutes per day, in an average
This includes all devices, mobile, laptop or desktop, as well as connected TV. This is an average of 4.9 hours per semaine or almost 255 hours annually.
12. Mobile is responsible for 40.9% of YouTube’s watchtime
Although this number is decreasing as more people watch YouTube on their TVs these days, it still represents a substantial portion of all viewing.
This is important because YouTube statistics that show how long people spend surfing YouTube.com are significantly lower than the actual time spent on YouTube.com. Mobile views are more likely than desktop users to use YouTube.
In Q4 2019, 49.0% YouTube viewing was via mobile devices, and 27.0% on TVs. This had changed to 40% mobile viewing and 34% TV viewing by Q3 2020.
13. YouTube visitors average 8.89 pages per day
YouTube is not only a place where people can watch one video, but they are also consuming a lot more content. They are staying on YouTube to view nearly nine pages, which increases their viewing time and allows them to consume more content.
14. In the first 10 days, Black Lives Matter videos were viewed 4x more than any other video in 2019
In 2020, YouTube’s use patterns changed rapidly. This is just one sign of the potential for major changes. In the same time frame, early June saw 23% more views for videos about “how to become an ally” than in May. 48% now claim that online videos “show them new perspectives” on cultural issues.
In June, protest songs such as “Fight the Police”, by Public Enemy, and “This is America,” by Childish Gambino saw an increase in views.
YouTube statistics for businesses
These statistics are a look at the YouTube videos that people watched in 2020. This information is crucial for businesses who want to plan and implement impactful organic content or think about themes for paid YouTube ads.
15. Between March 2020 and July 2020, the number of videos with “beginner” variations in their titles increased by more than 50%
These videos were viewed more than 9 billion times worldwide in 2020.
In 2020, 66% of Germans used YouTube to start a hobby. India’s 94% used YouTube to learn how to make things. YouTube was used by 82% of people worldwide to learn how to do things. What exactly were they learning?
In 2020, almost 50% of all beauty tutorials were viewed.
The number of bike repair and maintenance videos grew by 90%
Daily views of videos containing “raising chickens” in the title grew 160%
From mid-March through mid-April, 160 million videos related to learning the guitar were viewed.
6 million videos about container gardening were viewed during the same time period.
Daily uploads of videos about self-care have increased by 215%
Daily views of videos on making sourdough bread increased by 458% (guilty! There was a 200% increase daily in views for recipe videos about bubble tea.
Video tutorials for home haircuts were also uploaded in April (guilty yet again).
16. In 2020, 100 billion hours were spent on YouTube gaming.
YouTube now has more than 40,000,000 active gaming channels. Over 80,000 channels have at least 100,000 subscribers.
With 201 billion plays, Minecraft was followed by Roblox (75 billion) and Garena Free Fire (72 billion).
17. In 2020, 72% of YouTube users used it to exercise and keep fit.
In March alone, there was a 515 percent increase in videos that included “homeworkout” in the title. People wanted to learn some very specific fitness skills.
Daily videos showing how to perform a handstand have seen a 195% increase
From mid-March through mid-May, dance workout videos received 180 million views
18. Daily uploads of videos with the phrase “at home” in their title increased 700% during the same time period. Video titles that contain “quarantine” or “routine”, saw 10.5 millions views in March.
19. In the first six months 2020, daily YouTube livestreams rose by 45%
This is not surprising considering the fact that most live events were cancelled in 2011.
53% of livestream viewers feel that watching livestreams makes them feel more connected to the world around them. 56% say that watching livestreams is as enjoyable as attending an event in person.
20. 50.9% of B2B decision-makers use YouTube to search for purchases
This makes it the most popular social platform for this purpose, surpassing Facebook (48.5%) or LinkedIn (33%).
YouTube can be a great place to reach decision-makers if you market to other businesses.
21. 73% of YouTube viewers purchased a brand product after viewing it on YouTube.
This stat comes from YouTube parent company Google and is based on a survey of 2,000 users aged 18-64 that was conducted by Talkshoppe in February 2020.
22. YouTube ads that are targeted by intent get a 100% higher lift in purchase intent than ads that are targeted at demographics
A 32% greater lift in ad recall is also possible. A combination of demographics and intent is slightly more effective than targeting by intent.
YouTube ads targeting intent are also more popular than ads that target demographics. People who watch them tend to skip ads and stay longer.
