In 2023, YouTube Shorts was estimated to have around 153 million monthly viewers in the United States. Launched in 2021, Shorts have quickly become a popular format for both YouTube users and creators, with the company reporting two billon global monthly active viewers in July 2023. The format is estimated to reach 185 million U.S. viewers per month by 2026.

As of October 2023, YouTube Shorts - the platform's popular short-video feature - had reached over 70 billion daily views. YouTube Shorts rolled out globally in June 2021 and reached 30 billion daily views after one year from its initial launch. The feature was tested first in the Indian market, after the digital ban on the ByteDance-owned TikTok in the country.

Launched first in India after the TikTok ban in August 2020, YouTube Shorts rolled out globally in June 2021. The feature, which is accessible via the YouTube app, reached two billion monthly logged-in users as of July 2023. YouTube has been heavily promoting its short-video format platform since its global launch, including redirecting users automatically to Shorts when the YouTube app is opened and launching the YouTube Shorts Funds to entice creators' participation. In 2022, user and travel vlogger Shangerdanger took the crown for the most popular Short on YouTube, with his video “Diver cracks Egg at 45 ft Deep".

TikTok versus Reels: competitors’ comparison Launched in September 2016 in China as Douyin, TikTok went on to become of the most engaging social media platforms for global users, challenging mainstream social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube in their primary markets such as the United States, Brazil, and Japan. TikTok’s popularity exploded between 2019 and 2020, as the work was experiencing the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Reels, Instagram’s in-app short video experience, debuted in 2020 as Facebook (now Meta Platforms) bet on the short-video feature to improve users’ engagement. While videos were an already popular format on Facebook and Instagram, social short videos soon became an even more popular format with users. As of June 2022, the average video viewing rate for Reels on Instagram was 2.54 percent, while for videos was of 1.74 percent as of June 2022.

Content is key: creators drive an entire economy As of July 2022, influencers on TikTok and YouTube generate the largest share of video views, over 90 percent, while content produced by media companies and brands constitute only a smaller part of the video views generated on the two video platforms. As content creators are emerging even more clearly as the backbone of social media marketing and advertising, it is not a surprise that an entire economy devoted to their needs and presence has developed in recent years. In 2022, companies supporting the creators’ economy by offering merchandising services had an annual average revenue of over 500 million U.S. dollars, while companies overseeing subscription services generated approximately 300 million U.S. dollars.

TikTok was the most used social media platforms to watch short-form videos among U.S. users, with approximately 40 percent of respondents reporting to use the popular Chinese-developed social media as their preferred platform. YouTube Shorts ranked second, with 23 percent of respondents, while Instagram Reels ranked third. Snapchat Spotlight only gained the attention of approximately three percent of respondents.

During the first quarter of 2024, Huge YouTube accounts, which had over 50,000 followers, posted approximately one video daily, and almost 0.66 Shorts per day. In comparison, Big accounts, which counted between 10,001 and 50,000 followers, posted 0.5 long-format videos daily on average, as well as almost 0.5 YouTube Shorts daily. Tiny accounts, which had a following of less than 500 users, posted one YouTube Short approximately every four days, or 0.27 Shorts per day.

During the first quarter of 2024, YouTube shorts recorded the highest engagement rate across all short video platforms and in-app features analyzed. Content hosted on YouTube in form of shorts had an engagement rate of 5.91 percent, while TikTok reported an engagement rate of approximately 5.75 percent. Facebook Reels had an engagement rate of around two percent, making the platform rank last for short-format user engagement.

As of February 2025, 12 percent of the YouTube global audience was composed of male users aged between 25 and 34 years, as well as around 9.7 percent of female users of the same age. Male users aged between 35 and 44 years on the platform accounted for 10.1 percent of the total, while women of the same age using YouTube had an audience share of 8.4 percent in the examined period. YouTube’s global popularity The number of monthly active users on YouTube reached almost 2.5 billion in April 2024, making it the second most popular social network on the internet. The platform's popularity spans all over the world, with India and the United States having the largest YouTube audiences. As of April 2024, the audience of YouTube in India was around 476 million, while the United States recorded a YouTube audience of around 238 million users.

YouTube’s digital revenues One of YouTube's leading monetization methods include advertising, with the company generating around 8.09 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2024. Additionally, the platform generated over 28 million dollars in the United States through in-app purchases, as well as over 19.2 million U.S. dollars in revenues from mobile app users in Japan.

During the first quarter of 2024, TikTok content recorded an average of 18,173 views, making the platform rank as the most engaging for social and short-form video content. Instagram was the second most popular platform, with its Reels generating 16,152 average views. Facebook short form videos, also called Reels, ranked third. In comparison, YouTube Shorts ranked the lowest based on average video views - approximately 650 as of the examined time. TikTok as a profession: from followers to career goals In 2024, TikTok had an average reach of around 13,000 users on the platform, though accounts’ reach exhibited an upward trend as the follower count increased. Tiny TikTok accounts with up to 500 followers had a reach of 10,000 users, while huge accounts with over 50,000 followers recorded a reach of 71,000 users during the same examined year. As of July 2024, Khabane Lame, who is known for his silent comedy about life hacks, held the crown of the most followed TikToker with around 163 million followers. American social media star Charli D’Amelio and MrBeast followed with over 155 and 97 million followers, respectively. As of September 2023, Charli D’Amelio was the highest earning TikTok creator, with estimated annual earnings of 23 million U.S. dollars. Khabane Lame’s followed with estimated annual earnings of 16.5 million U.S. dollars. But do TikTok users consider content creation as a job? As of March 2024, six percent of the TikTok users in the United States reported considering content creation as a full-time job, while 11 percent reported planning to adopt content creation as a profession. If TikTok had to face a ban in the country, around 30 percent of U.S. TikTok influencers would consider YouTube, and Facebook as their potential alternatives for content creation as of April 2024. Instagram followed, as 15 percent of respondents reported they would adopt the platform in the case of the TikTok ban. Who uses TikTok? As of July 2024, over 54 percent of the global TikTok audience were men, while women comprised around 45 percent of the audience share. Men between the ages of 25 and 34 held the largest share of 19 percent of total TikTok users during the same examined period. Indonesia was the country with the highest number of TikTok users, as around 158 million users based in the region reported accessing the platform as of July 2024. The United States, and Brazil followed with over 120 and 105 million TikTok users, respectively. In terms of TikTok penetration rate, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia dominated other regions, as virtually everyone based in these countries registered using the famous short-video platform during the same period.

During the first quarter of 2024, Huge YouTube accounts, which had over 50,000 followers, reported an engagement rate of approximately 6.2 percent on their short-format content. In comparison, engagement was sensibly lower on long-format videos, which reported an engagement rate of 1.72 percent for Huge accounts. Medium YouTube accounts, which had a following between 2,001 and 10,000 users, reported engagement ratings of almost three percent on their Shorts, while long videos had an engagement of around 0.15 percent.

As of February 2025, India was the country with the largest YouTube audience by far, with approximately 491 million users engaging with the popular social video platform. The United States followed, with around 253 million YouTube viewers. Brazil came in third, with 144 million users watching content on YouTube. The United Kingdom saw around 54.8 million internet users engaging with the platform in the examined period. What country has the highest percentage of YouTube users? In July 2024, the United Arab Emirates was the country with the highest YouTube penetration worldwide, as around 94 percent of the country's digital population engaged with the service. In 2024, YouTube counted around 100 million paid subscribers for its YouTube Music and YouTube Premium services. YouTube mobile markets In 2024, YouTube was among the most popular social media platforms worldwide. In terms of revenues, the YouTube app generated approximately 28 million U.S. dollars in revenues in the United States in January 2024, as well as 19 million U.S. dollars in Japan.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in February 2023, over 48 percent of respondents preferred to watch humor or gag content on YouTube Shorts. Following was the entertainment category with roughly 39 percent of respondents answering to mostly watch this over other categories.

According to a study on influencer marketing across India in 2024, most of the surveyed social media influencers have not used Shorts to target YouTube audiences. Another 23 percent of respondents indicated that they preferred Reels over Shorts, and over 20 percent stated that they used Shorts regularly.

At the beginning of 2025, approximately 50.2 percent of YouTube users in the United States were women. By comparison, men made up around 49.8 percent of the platform's user base. From video-hosting to social media YouTube has come a long way from its early 2000s launch as a video-hosting site. As of today, thanks to its social features and the possibility to interact directly with content creators, YouTube is one of the most popular social media platforms worldwide. At the beginning of 2022, the platform counted almost 2.6 billion global users, making it second only to Facebook. A large part of YouTube’s audience is located in the United States, with the country being the second largest market for the popular video platform. In the United States, approximately eight in 10 social media users access YouTube for videos, renting movies and TV shows, live streaming sessions, as well as short-form videos. Video content creators and YouTubers With its proper introduction in English dictionaries around 2016, the term YouTuber has increasingly acquired professional recognition in the media industry. In 2020, it was estimated that YouTube facilitated or supported the creation of 394 thousand jobs in the United States, contributing to the country’s gross domestic product a whopping 20.5 billion U.S. dollars. Despite only a small fraction of content creators on the platform acquiring notoriety and fame, 78 percent of U.S. creators agreed that YouTube had a positive impact on their professional goals. In 2022, the company announced further plans to help creators monetize their efforts on the platform, including a possible marketplace for video NFTs, after iconic YouTube videos like “Charlie Bit my Finger,” and “Nyan Cat” have already been sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The short-form video segment saw an increase in active users between 2019 and 2021, with the user base amounting to 290 million during the latter. The figure was further expected to grow to 600 million users by 2025. The government imposed ban on Tik Tok resulted in several domestic video platforms, such as Roposo and Josh, emerging within the Indian short video market.

During a June 2024 survey among teenagers aged 13 to 17 in the United States, one-quarter (or 25 percent) reported skipping all ads on TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Approximately 16 percent said they did not skip YouTube Shorts ads, instead watching all of them. The same study revealed that YouTube (in its classic version) and TikTok ranked among the leading ad media where U.S. parents saw a commercial for their last purchase for their teenage children.

As of the first week in December 2022, the short video "Diver craks Egg at 45 ft Deep" by creator Shangerdanger ranked as the leading short video on the platform. Launched in September 2020, YouTube Shorts is the platform's short format for social videos. Short video "Sarah Trust Challenges" by creator Hingaflips ranked second, while Brodie That Dood's short video "Come with me to shave my fluffy dog!" ranked third.

In 2022, YouTube Shorts viewership in Poland increased significantly. Views recorded an increase of more than 344 percent, while the increase in viewing time was more than 1016 percent.

In August 2024, the average usage time for video platforms offering short-form content in South Korea reached 41 hours and 56 minutes on YouTube, the highest among the three platforms. TikTok and Instagram recorded usage times similar to each other, with TikTok at 17 hours and 16 minutes and Instagram at 15 hours and 56 minutes. Overall, the average usage time for short-form video content per person was 52 hours and 2 minutes.

In 2022, Instagram Reels collected over 3.7 billion actions from users in the United Kingdom. In comparison, TikTok generated two billion actions among users in the country. YouTube Shorts ranked last among the examined short-video social platforms in terms of engagement, with users generating 116 million likes in the examined year.

During the period under review, an increase in watchtime of YouTube Shorts was noticeable. In December 2022, the watchtime reached the highest number of over 164 thousand hours. This was an increase of more than 149 thousand hours compared to January of this year.