Launched in 2005 as a simple video-sharing platform, YouTube has since seen exponential user growth with a rate of 34.6% each year.
With more than 2.83 billion active users, YouTube is now the second-largest media platform, trailing only behind Facebook.
What is more interesting is how people have made YouTube a part of their daily activities. Have you noticed how YouTube has shaped both the entertainment industry and everyday culture? What do you think has contributed most to its rapid growth?
Well, let’s find out! At Resoucera, we focus on industry trends and data reports, providing insightful analysis. In this report, we present YouTube’s performance for 2024-25, covering everything from Users, Demographics to Revenue, and More.
YouTube Statistics 2026: Key Facts
- YouTube has 2.83 billion users as of March 2026 and is predicted to have 2.91 billion users by the year end.
- There are 340 million individuals using YouTube daily,
- 125 million people are subscribed to YouTube’s premium tiers.
- With 500 million users, India has the largest YouTube audience worldwide.
- YouTube shorts average over 200 billion views every day.
- YouTube’s revenue stood at $60 billion in 2025.
- YouTube features more than 69 million creators.
- More than 1.8 million hours of video content is uploaded to YouTube daily.
YouTube Overview
Started as a basic site for sharing videos in 2005, YouTube has become the second-largest search engine after Google.
Before we go into the details, here is a quick insight into the YouTube business profile.
| YouTube Launch Date | February 14, 2005 |
| Founders | Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, Steve Chen |
| First Video Uploaded | Me at the zoo by Jawed Karim |
| Google Acquisition | 2006 |
| Acquisition Price | $1.65 billion |
| Headquarters | San Bruno, California, United States |
| Active Users | 2.83 billion |
| Valuation | $550 Billion |
| Revenue | $60 billion as of 2025 |
| Products | YouTube Kids, YouTube Music, YouTube Shorts, YouTube Premium And YouTube TV. |
How Many People Use YouTube in 2026?
YouTube has 2.83 billion monthly active users, 340 million daily active users and 125 million paid subscribers as of 2026. Let’s understand these numbers in detail below.
Number of YouTube Active Users Over the Years
YouTube came into the limelight after its acquisition by Google. Before that, YouTube only had around 20 million users.
Afterward, YouTube saw steady growth and, by 2010, reached over 800 million users. And since YouTube has taken the central stage among all the social media networks, reaching the highest number of users.
The data below suggests the YouTube user growth over the years:
| Year | Number of YouTube Active Users |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 0.2 Billion |
| 2011 | 0.5 Billion |
| 2012 | 0.73 Billion |
| 2013 | 1.01 Billion |
| 2014 | 1.18 Billion |
| 2015 | 1.34 Billion |
| 2016 | 1.5 Billion |
| 2017 | 1.63 Billion |
| 2018 | 1.8 Billion |
| 2019 | 2.07 Billion |
| 2020 | 2.3 Billion |
| 2021 | 2.51 Billion |
| 2022 | 2.66 Billion |
| 2023 | 2.7 Billion |
| 2024 | 2.5 Billion |
| 2025 | 2.83 billion |
| 2026 | 2.83 billion |
(Source: Business of Apps, GMI)
Number of YouTube Daily Active Users
YouTube sees around 340 million daily active users. That means 12% of YouTube’s active user base use the platform daily.
Moreover, 89% of internet users in the United States report using YouTube daily.
Besides this, the daily consumption of YouTube content by users globally totals over 1 billion hours.
Number of YouTube Premium Users
As of 2026, YouTube Premium has around 125 million users around the globe. This includes paid as well as free trial users. The platform achieved this milestone in March 2025, roughly 11 years after introducing its premium subscription tier.
This premium version was launched in 2014 as Music Key and further rebranded as YouTube Red in 2015 and as YouTube Premium in 2018.
Since 2017, YouTube Premium has seen an increase in user subscriptions going from 2.8 million to 100 million.
Here is a quick breakdown of the number of YouTube Premium users over the years:
| Year | Number of Premium Subscribers |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 1.5 Million |
| 2016 | 3 Million |
| 2017 | 2.8 Million |
| 2018 | 10 Million |
| 2019 | 18 Million |
| 2020 | 30 Million |
| 2021 | 50 Million |
| 2022 | 80 Million |
| 2023 | 100 Million |
| 2024 | 112 Million |
| 2025 | 125 million |
| 2026 | 125 million |
(Source: YouTube blog, Alphabet)
Average Time Spent on YouTube
Each day, YouTube users watch more than 5 billion videos and perform 3.5 billion searches on the platform. On average, YouTube users spend over 51 minutes on the platform every day.
Here is a table showing the average time spent by users on YouTube each day over the years:
| Year | Average Time spent by users each day |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 39.7 Minutes |
| 2020 | 43.7 Minutes |
| 2021 | 45 Minutes |
| 2022 | 46.2 Minutes |
| 2023 | 47.5 Minutes |
| 2024 | 48.7 Minutes |
| 2025 | 50.2 minutes |
| 2026 | 51.6 minutes |
Other than this, 20 million videos are uploaded on YouTube each day. This equates to over 1.8 million hours of uploads each day. Thats a lot of content!
Educational videos, music, and entertainment are the leading genres viewers consume on YouTube. Among the top 100 YouTube searches, music accounts for 20%.
YouTube User Demographics
34% of the world’s population actively uses YouTube making it the largest video sharing platform globally. The platform has its localised version in over 100 countries and over 80 languages. If you are a marketer or someone who is looking to capitalize on these audience, you should know the demographics of these people!
And thats what we will share in this section. Let’s go get the numbers.
YouTube Users by Age
21.2% of YouTube users are between the 25 to 34 age group making up most of the user base. But the platform has quite evenly distributed demographics with 18 to 24 aged users accounting for 15.7% while 35 to 44 aged users accounting for 17.9% of the total users.
Here is a table showing the age wise breakdown of YouTube Users:
| Age | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 18-24 | 15.7% |
| 25-34 | 21.2% |
| 35-44 | 17.9% |
| 45-54 | 12.9% |
| 55-64 | 9.4% |
| 65+ | 9.5% |
YouTube Users by Gender
Globally, YouTube has a slightly male-dominated user base, with 54% of users being men while 48% are women.
Interestingly, the gender balance shifts in certain regions. In the United States, female users form the majority, accounting for 51.2%, while males represent 48.8%.
| Gender | Worldwide users | Users in the United States |
| Male | 54.3% | 48.8% |
| Female | 45.7% | 51.2% |
When it comes to engagement, men generally spend more than women, with viewership in 90% of content categories. Some of the popular male-oriented categories include gaming and sports, while beauty and style channels are predominantly followed by women.
(Source: Digiday)
YouTube Age and Gender Intersection
| Age | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| 18-24 | 9.00% | 6.50% |
| 25-34 | 12.20% | 9.10% |
| 35-44 | 9.60% | 7.90% |
| 45-54 | 6.70% | 5.80% |
| 55-64 | 4.60% | 4.60% |
| 65+ | 4.30% | 4.90% |
(Source: Statista)
YouTube Users By Country
As of 2026, India is the country with the largest YouTube user base of around 500 million users. The United States follows with around 254 million YouTube users.
Although India has the highest number of users, the United States dominates when it comes to views. It is reported that most of the YouTube views come from the United States, with 916 billion views per month.
| Country | Number of Users (in millions) |
|---|---|
| India | 500 |
| United States | 254 |
| Indonesia | 151 |
| Brazil | 150 |
| Mexico | 85 |
| Japan | 78.5 |
| Germany | 64.7 |
| Vietnam | 62.1 |
| Philippines | 59.6 |
| Turkey | 57.9 |
| United Kingdom | 55.5 |
| Pakistan | 54.4 |
| France | 51.5 |
| Bangladesh | 49.8 |
| Egypt | 49.3 |
| Thailand | 47.2 |
| South Korea | 42.9 |
| Italy | 41.2 |
| Spain | 39.7 |
| Canada | 33 |
(Source: Statista)
Countries Banning YouTube
Other than this, there are a few countries where YouTube is banned. These are:
| Sr. No. | Country | Reason for Banning |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | North Korea | Government Regulations |
| 2. | China | Due to restrictions on foreign content |
| 3. | Iran | To prevent foreign movies and music from being seen |
| 4. | Turkmenistan | No reason is disclosed |
| 5. | Libya | Due to inappropriate picture uploads. |
| 6. | Thailand | Due to a video being deemed insulting to the king |
| 7. | Brazil | Due to a legal dispute involving a video of a celebrity |
| 8. | Turkey | Due to videos deemed offensive to Turkish culture |
YouTube Revenue Over The Years
YouTube generated $60 billion in revenue in 2025, including money earned from both advertising and subscriptions. This number was officially reported by its parent company, Alphabet. It is the first time Alphabet has publicly shared YouTube’s total revenue.
| Year | YouTube Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2016 | $6.5 billion |
| 2017 | $8.5 billion |
| 2018 | $12 billion |
| 2019 | $16 billion |
| 2020 | $21 billion |
| 2021 | $30 billion |
| 2022 | $34 billion |
| 2023 | $38 billion |
| 2024 | $46 billion |
| 2025 | $60 billion |
The $60 billion figure represents a 30.43% increase compared to the previous year, showing strong growth for the platform.
Out of this total, YouTube’s global advertising revenue reached $11.38 billion, which is an 8.7% increase year over year, according to Alphabet.
YouTube is much larger than subscription-streaming leader Netflix, which reported $45.18 billion in revenue for full-year 2025. Rightly so as YouTube has been #1 in streaming watchtime in the U.S. for nearly three years. According to Nielsen, as of January 2026.
YouTube IAP Revenue By Region (2024 Data, But Impactful!)
YouTube’s in-app purchases (IAP) are a growing revenue stream, including purchases like channel memberships, comment highlights, and merchandise sales. These purchases are made via mobile devices through the YouTube app.
Here are some regional differences in revenue through IAP:
The U.S. dominated YouTube’s IAP revenue in December 2024, with users spending over $53 million via mobile devices.
| Country | YouTube IAP Revenue |
|---|---|
| United States | $53.82 million |
| Japan | $16.9 million |
| South Korea | $7.85 million |
| Mexico | $3.94 million |
| Brazil | $3.86 million |
| United Kingdom | $3.85 million |
| Australia | $3.27 million |
| Canada | $2.83 million |
| Germany | $2.59 million |
| Taiwan | $2.4 million |
(Source: Statista)
YouTube Penetration
In 2026, YouTube remains one of the most widely used platforms globally, with significant variations in penetration rates by country.
Saudi Arabia leads globally with a penetration rate of 95.8%, meaning nearly all adults in the country use YouTube.
The data below explains the countries with the highest YouTube penetration rate:
| Country | % of population |
|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | 95.8% |
| Israel | 93.3% |
| Singapore | 91.8% |
| Sweden | 89.3% |
| Ireland | 89% |
| New Zealand | 88.7% |
| Spain | 88.1% |
| South Korea | 87.9% |
| Australia | 87.8% |
| Netherlands | 87.7% |
| Norway | 87.2% |
| United Kingdom | 87% |
| Canada | 86.7% |
(Source: Statista)
YouTube Creator Statistics
YouTube boasts over 69 million creators. Most of these YouTube creators are aged between 25 to 34 years old.
YouTube have over 250,000 creators in the YouTube Shopping affiliate program in the U.S. and Korea alone.
Speaking of which, MrBeast is the most popular YouTube creator with over 469 million subscribers.
Further, the most viewed YouTube channel is T-Series with more than 291 billion views.
And talking about videos, the most viewed YouTube video is Baby Shark Dance, with more than 15.6 billion views.
(Source: Exploding Topics, Google Blog)
Top 10 Most Subscribed YouTube Creators in 2026
| Rank | Channel | Country | Subscribers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MrBeast | United States | 469 million |
| 2 | T-Series | India | 310 million |
| 3 | Cocomelon | United States | 200 million |
| 4 | SET India | India | 188 million |
| 5 | Vlad and Niki | United States/Russia | 149 million |
| 6 | Kids Diana Show | United States/Ukraine | 138 million |
| 7 | Stokes Twins | United States | 137 million |
| 8 | Like Nastya | United States/Russia | 131 million |
| 9 | KIMPRO 김프로 | South Korea | 131 million |
| 10 | Zee Music Company | India | 122 million |
YouTube Traffic By Device
As of December 2026, 70.29% of YouTube’s global traffic come from mobile devices, while 29.71% came from desktops
The YouTube app had been downloaded more than 10 billion times from the Google Play Store.
South Korea leads in monthly mobile YouTube app opens, with Android users averaging about 335.7 opens per month. India followed with 251.9 opens, and Thailand has 242.7.
YouTube Shorts Statistics
- YouTube Shorts has 2.83 billion active users and more than 200 billion daily views. That means every YouTube active user is engaging with short form videos on the platform.
- More than 70% of YouTube Shorts are longer than 15 seconds. On average, YouTube shorts are between 20 to 40 seconds long.
- On average, a YouTube Shorts creator earns $0.01 to $0.06 per 1000 views.
(Source: YouTube Shorts Statistics By Resourcera)
YouTube Podcast Statistics
YouTube Podcast has more than 1 billion active podcast users monthly. These users have watch over 400 million hours of podcasts each month through living room devices alone.
YouTube podcasts are preferred by over 31% of internet users, which is higher than those who choose Spotify or Apple podcasts.
| Podcast Services | % of users |
|---|---|
| YouTube Podcast | 31% |
| Spotify | 27% |
| Apple Podcast | 15% |
(Source: Google, Edison Research)
