50 YouTube Stats Every Video Marketer Should Know in 2021

In 2005, when I was 10 years old, a kid in my neighborhood hugged a fallen log that crossed our stream and yelled, “I better not watch this on YouTube!”

That was the first time I heard about YouTube. And it was definitely not the last time I heard about it. YouTube has seen explosive growth since it started in an office garage in 2005. Just a year after its inception, YouTube was attracting more than 65,000 new video uploads and 100 million video views per day. A few months later, the high-growth startup was acquired by a tech giant – Google – for over $ 1 billion.

Since then, YouTube has opened up opportunities for brands to advertise on their videos, allowing content creators to make a living just from making videos. This monetization potential has stimulated content creators to create videos that are as appealing as possible and host them on the platform. This made YouTube the second most visited website and the second largest search engine in the world.

As a video marketer, you already know the importance of building a YouTube presence in improving the visibility of your videos and your brand. However, if you’ve just started your brand’s YouTube channel or need some help convincing your boss to redouble your YouTube efforts, you’ve come to the right place.

Check out these stats on the platform’s mobile usage, demographics, subscriber growth, overall usage, and history that can help you build your YouTube followers or convince your boss to focus more on the video platform.

YouTube Stats Every Video Marketer Should Know In 2021

YouTube mobile statistics

4th On mobile alone, YouTube reaches more prime-time adults aged 18 to 49 than any cable network in an average week.

5. 75% of adults say they saw YouTube on their mobile devices.

6th More than 70% of YouTube watch time is generated on mobile devices.

7th As of 2017, product review videos have been viewed on mobile devices for over 50,000 years.

8th. In 2020, YouTube was the fourth most popular iOS app after ZOOM, TikTok, and Disney +.

YouTube Demographics Stats

9. Over 77% of American Internet users aged 15 to 35 watch videos on YouTube.

10. Over 67% of American Internet users aged 56 and over watch videos on YouTube.

11. Over 50% of the YouTube audience are female.

12. 39.4% of social media users in the US expected their YouTube usage at home to increase significantly.

13th 24.3% of social media users in the US expected their YouTube usage at home to increase slightly.

14th 70% of Millennial YouTube users watched a YouTube video to learn how to do something new or what interests them.

15th 16.6% of YouTube’s website visitors are from the United States.

16. YouTube attracts the most visitors from the US, India, and Japan.

17th YouTube is available in more than 100 countries.

18th YouTube is available in 80 different languages.

YouTube subscriber growth statistics

19th The number of channels with more than 1 million subscribers has increased by more than 65% since last year.

20th The number of YouTubers making six-figure amounts per year has increased by more than 40% since last year.

21st The number of YouTubers making five-digit amounts per year has increased by more than 50% since last year.

22nd The ten best YouTubers achieved 30% more sales from June 2019 to June 2020 than in the previous year.

23 T-Series, a Hindi music channel, is the most popular YouTube channel with 171 million subscribers, followed by PewDiePie with 109 million subscribers.

24. The most popular YouTube brand channel is LEGO with over 10.04 billion views.

YouTube usage statistics

25th YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.

26th YouTube is the second most visited website after Google.

27 YouTube users see over 1 billion hours of content every day.

28. The viewing time for shopping-related videos in the US increased more than five-fold between 2016 and 2018.

29 Most of the most popular YouTube videos are music videos.

30th YouTube is the most popular music streaming site.

31. 70% of viewers say that YouTube makes them aware of new brands.

32. Viewers say they are twice as likely to buy what they saw on YouTube.

33. Viewers are four times more likely to use YouTube to find information about a brand, product, or service (compared to other platforms).

34. YouTube users see more than 180 million hours of content on television screens every day.

35. YouTube users are three times more likely to prefer watching a YouTube tutorial than reading the product instructions.

36. “Relaxing” and “feeling entertained” are the two main reasons viewers watch YouTube.

37. Relaxation videos like slicing soap and playing slime saw 70% longer playback time in 2018.

38. Comedy, Music, Entertainment / Pop Culture, and “How To” are the four most popular categories of content on YouTube.

YouTube history statistics

39. YouTube.com was activated on February 14, 2005.

40 “Me at the zoo” was the first video uploaded to YouTube on April 25, 2005.

41. Google bought YouTube on October 9, 2006 for $ 1.65 billion.

42. YouTube ran InVideo ads in December 2007.

43. YouTube first streamed the US presidential debates in 2012.

44. The youngest successful YouTuber is Ryan ToysReview, an 8-year-old boy who makes $ 22 million a year and has 22 million subscribers.

45. The surge in popularity of “Gangnam Style” has broken the video’s view counter.

46. YouTube offers a free area in Los Angeles where YouTubers with over 10,000 subscribers can learn, connect, and create videos with each other.

47. The first YouTube video to be viewed a million times was a Nike ad from 2005 starring soccer star Ronaldinho.

48. The YouTube video that received the most views in a 24-hour period is BTS ‘Dynamite music video, which received 101.1 million views in a single day.

49. The most popular video on YouTube is the music video for the song “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi with Daddy Yankee. It has received over 42.71 million likes and has a like percentage of 89.65%.

50. YouTube’s own YouTube Rewind 2018 video is the least popular video on the platform. It has received over 18 million likes and has a dislike percentage of 86.38%.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in February 2019 and has been updated for completeness.