Few individuals better represent the rise of the YouTube celebrity than Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, operating on YouTube as PewDiePie. The Swedish YouTuber was the content creator with the largest audience on YouTube for several years, until he was surpassed by American YouTuber MrBeast. As of January 2025, the popular creator had around 110 million subscribers. In total, videos on the PewDiePie channel have been viewed approximately 29 billion times. Subscribe to PewDiePie meme The surge in subscriber numbers from the end of 2018 onwards is attributable to PewDiePie’s “Subscribe to PewDiePie Meme“, a demonstration of his immense ability to mobilize his subscribers. In the campaign to overtake T-Series and become the channel with the most subscribers, PewDiePie’s challenge required followers to plaster words to the effect of ‘Subscribe to PewDiePie’ wherever possible, either in the physical or digital realms. Despite the obvious success of the campaign in terms of subscriptions, PewDiePie recently called for the campaign to be stopped following three major incidents. In the first a World War II memorial was defaced in New York City, and in March 2019 a gunman uttered the phrase before opening fire on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 50 people and wounding several more. In April 2019, the gunman who opened fire on a Southern California synagogue, killing one and wounding at least three others, also referred to the campaign.   The rise of the YouTuber Now a decade old, YouTube’s ability to connect content creators with massive audiences has led to the emergence of channels that rival mainstream media outlets in terms of audience size. In some cases, videos can reach 100 million views in just a matter of days . It isn’t just traditional celebrities that are finding audiences either, with channels for kids such as Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes attracting over 194 billion views, and generating significant revenue in the process.

Jimmy Donaldson - operating on YouTube as MrBeast, saw approximately seven million new subscribers on his popular YouTube channel in December 2024. In November 2022, MrBeast overtook PewDiePie as the most subscribed YouTuber on the platform. PewDiPie counted approximately 111 million subscribers on YouTube as of June 2024. Most engaging YouTube channels and content As of January 2025, MrBeast counted the largest number of subscribers on YouTube, with an audience of around 343 million viewers. However, other famous YouTube channels were not far behind on the subscribers’ leaderboard. T-series and Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes followed with 284 and 188 million subscribers, respectively, during the same examined period. When it comes to the most viewed YouTube channels of all time, T-series had the highest viewership, with over 281 billion views as of January 2025. Cocomelon and SET India followed with around 194 and 174 billion lifetime views, respectively. With a viewership of billions of users, content for children and music were the most popular types of videos on YouTube. As of January 2024, Baby Shark Dance was the most watched YouTube video of all time, with around 14 billion views. Puerto Rican song Despacito and children’s rhyme Johny Johny Yes Papa followed, with nine and seven billion lifetime views, respectively. Who uses YouTube? The number of YouTube global users has been continuously growing over the years. Between 2020 and 2029, the number is expected to increase from 608 million to 1.17 billion users. As of July 2024, more than 54 percent of the YouTube audience comprised of men, while women held 45.7 percent of YouTube’s audience share. Over 12 percent of the YouTube global audience were men between the age of 25 and 34 years during the same examined period. The region with the largest number of YouTube users was India, with an audience of approximately 476 million video viewers. The United States and Brazil followed, with around 240 and 150 million users accessing the popular video platform, respectively. As of July 2024, YouTube exhibited the highest penetration rate in the United Arab Emirates, where more than 94 percent of the total digital population used the platform. Israel and United Kingdom followed with YouTube penetration rates of 93.2 and 90.4, respectively.

T-Series was the most subscribed YouTube channel as at July 2021, with 186 million subscribers. The company has consistently recorded growth in number of subscribers as well as the number of YouTube video views since it joined the social media platform.

What is the most subscribed YouTube channel? MrBeast made the first place in the ranking of the most-subscribed YouTube channels in January 2025. With 343 million subscribers, the U.S. based videographer and internet personality managed to surpass Indian music network T-Series, which held the number one place for several years, and sat at 284 million subscriber as of the examined period. How many hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute? YouTube was launched in 2005 as a platform for sharing user-generated videos such as vlogs, tutorials, or original series. The site grew rapidly and reportedly had 100 million video views per day and more than 65 thousand daily uploads only a year later. As of February 2022, more than 500 hours of video were uploaded to YouTube every minute, up from a mere 24 hours of content uploads per minute in 2010. YouTube Partner Program In the first quarter of 2024, YouTube’s ad revenue amounted to over eight billion U.S. dollars. Through its Partner Program, YouTube also rewards uploaders of popular videos with a share of the advertising revenues the content generates. This, paired with the fact that many users of the video sharing platform tend to have favorite channels that they revisit regularly, has given rise to another phenomenon: YouTube celebrities. Although some of these well-known figures were discovered on the website but then carved a successful career outside of YouTube, for many others the site is their primary platform for delivering content and staying in contact with fans, all while signing lucrative deals or promotional partnerships. Highest earning YouTubers In November 2022, MrBeast surpassed long-standing most subscribed YouTuber PewDiePie, having reached approximately 112 million subscribers. Due to the high number of subscribers and even higher number of views, these out-of-the-box stars not only have millions of fans, but also considerable earnings from their YouTube activities. In 2023, MrBeast was estimated to have earned around 82 million U.S. dollars, topping the ranking of the highest-earning YouTube creators. The ranking also included social media personality Jake Paul and Mark Fischbach, as well as Ryan Kaji from Ryan's World (formerly known as ToysReview), who started his YouTube career reviewing toys at three years old.

In February 2024, YouTube counted approximately 100 million paid subscribers across its Music and Premium services. This represents an increase from the 50 million paying subscribers across the platform's services from September 2021. During the third quarter of 2023, YouTube generated almost eight billion U.S. dollars in advertising revenues.

In 2020, the popular social video platform YouTube counted roughly 20 million paying users subscribing to its premium services in the United States. By the end of 2024, this number is forecasted to increase by almost eight million users, reaching 27.9 million paying subscribers in the U.S. YouTube premium plans allow users to have an ads-free experience, as well as video and music downloads.

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.

The YouTube channel with the highest number of subscribers in Romania was Be Inspired, with a total of 8.8 million subscribers as of November 2023. IULITMx was the second largest channel by subscriber count, followed by the Romanian singer INNA.

As of MArch 2025, Jess No Limit was the most subscribed YouTube channel in Indonesia, with a total of approximately 53.6 million subscribers. Ricis Official followed as the second most subscribed channel on the platform, with around 48.4 million subscribers.

As of January 2025, BLACKPINK was the most followed K-pop artist on YouTube, with 95.5 million subscribers. They, alongside K-pop giant BTS with 79.6 million subscribers, were far ahead of other popular channels belonging to K-pop artists.

As of October 2023, Indian music company T-Series had the most-subscribed YouTube channel from Asia and in the world, with more than 250 million subscribers. The leading three most-subscribed channels from Asia were from India, including SET India and Zee Music Company, followed by the South Korean girl group BLACKPINK, who had over 91 million subscribers as of October 2023.

YouTube in India

YouTube was the second most-used social media platform in the Indian market during recent years. Facebook still rules the Indian social media landscape with a market share of over 50 percent. Nevertheless, YouTube secured the highest brand index score among the youngest demographics – Gen Z surpassing Facebook, and Instagram in that regard.

 YouTube in Asia

The largest YouTube audiences in Asia are in India and Indonesia, with the former leading the ranks. Meanwhile, the service is restricted in China. Despite the growing number of viewers, YouTube’s usage rate has declined. Thus, the monthly market share of YouTube on mobile devices dropped to 5.5 percent in January of 2023, compared to around 7.5 percent recorded in the year prior.

YouTube remains a popular video streaming platform in the Philippines. Over the years, television networks have chosen to air their shows and entertainment programs on their YouTube channels. In fact, as of September 2024, the two leading YouTube channels in the Philippines were ABS-CBN Entertainment and GMA Network, with roughly 49.3 million and 36.3 million subscribers, respectively. Why are television networks investing in their YouTube presence? With about 58 million users, YouTube has undoubtedly captured the Filipino audience, which spends most of their time watching online videos and vlogs. Next to Google and Facebook, YouTube was among the most visited websites in the Philippines. As the number of Filipino YouTube viewers continues to grow, multiple television networks have decided to maximize this by creating a channel for their popular shows alongside news broadcasts. This was particularly strategic for ABS-CBN after losing its network franchise in 2020. Instead of completely losing its audience share, the company uploaded full episodes of its entertainment shows and movies and created a separate channel for its news segment. Its entertainment channel has the highest number of video views on YouTube as of September 2024. The rise of Supernova creators YouTube can continue to expect growth in the Philippines, especially with the growing number of creators and vloggers in the country. As of the same period, the Philippines had one of the highest numbers of supernova creators on YouTube, or those with over 10 million followers. Among the leading creators in the Philippines were celebrities such as Ivana Alawi, Zeinab Harake, Vice Ganda, and Francine Diaz, alongside CongTV, Doc Willie Ong, and Small Laude.

As of January 2025, the ranking of the most popular YouTube channels based on monthly views is dominated by music and children's content. Wiz Khalifa's Music channel was ranked first with a whopping six billion channel views, while Wow Kidz ranked second with over five billion video views in the last examined month. Indian music record channel T-Series -which ranked first continuously in 2021 and 2022, placed third with 2.72 billion video views. Most subscribed YouTube channels When looking at the most-subscribed YouTube channels: Indian music label T-Series was ranked first with 229 million channel subscribers. The video game commentator Felix Kjellberg, aka PewDiePie, ranked seventh, with roughly 111 million subscribers, after being surpassed by Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast in November 2022. As of June 2022, PewDiePie was still the most subscribed gaming-content channel on YouTube, followed by Salvadorian YouTuber Fernanfloo with 45 million global subscribers. Creators' earnings MrBeast was the highest-earning YouTuber in 2021, with 54 million U.S. dollars. Ryan Kaji from Ryan's World was among the youngest content creators making the rankings of the highest-earning YouTubers in 2021, with an estimated revenue of 27 million U.S. dollars. Ryan’s channel was set up by his parents in March 2015, when the young content creator was three years old. MrBeast was also the leading content creator on YouTube based on Influence Media Value, while PewDiePie ranked third with an evaluation of around 3.91 million U.S. dollars.

As of January 2025, the gaming channel Brawl Stars was the most subscribed YouTube channel in Finland, with 21.4 million subscribers. The second most subscribed channel was BigTatsy with around 13.6 million subscribers. However, the ranking differs when considering the number of views.

As of January 2025, Italian YouTuber PANDA BOI was ranked first among the most popular YouTube gaming channels with 56.3 million subscribers. Spanish gaming YouTuber Miguel Bernal Montes, better known online as Mikecrack, was ranked second with 53.9 million subscribers. Gaming on YouTube Gaming content is a popular part of the YouTube content ecosystem. Gaming tutorials, walkthroughs and Let’s Play videos are a staple of the video platform, and over 350 gaming video creators on YouTube had more than 10 million followers and more than 100 billion hours of gaming video content were watched on YouTube. A big audience usually also translates into being able to make a living from monetized YouTube content, sponsorships, influencer marketing campaigns, and merchandise sales. Tyler Blevins (aka Ninja) topped the ranking of the highest earning video gamers worldwide with approximately 17 million U.S. dollars in annual earnings. Gaming live streaming on YouTube Live streaming on YouTube has also gained in popularity since 2018 and has seen a significant boost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After peaking at the end of 2020, YouTube Gaming Live generated a cumulative 1.18 billion hours of content watched in the third quarter of 2022, representing a 7.4 percent decrease from the previous quarter.

As of June 2024, Canal KondZilla, from Brazil, was the YouTube channel in Latin America with the highest number of subscribers, with 67.2 million. Argentinian channel El Reino Infantil ranked second, with more than 64.6 million subscriptions. Fede Vigevani ranked third with 52 million subscribers, while JuegaGerman, from Chilean YouTuber Germán Garmendia followed, with 50.2 million subscriptions.

As of January 2025, Thibaud Delapart Mazăre, known as Tibo InShape had the most popular YouTube channel in France, with almost 26 million subscribers. Second-ranked YouTuber Squeezie had approximately 19.3 million subscribers, while the popular music channel Lofi Girl ranked third, with 14.7 million subscribers. YouTube usage in France  As of July 2024, YouTube saw almost 50.2 million active YouTube users in France, reporting a reach of over 86 percent among the French digital population. In 2023, French YouTube users engaged with the platform to find music and video content, with the terms "musique" and "film" reporting the highest index value among all examined queries. Mobile video consumption   In 2023, French users were more likely to consume digital video content on their smartphones than on laptops or Smart TVs, a sign that mobile video is becoming an increasingly popular format in the country. In 2024, mobile users in France spent almost 17 hours per month on the video sharing platform. In the second quarter of 2022, the YouTube mobile app was downloaded over 600 thousand times by iOS users, indicating the continued popularity of the app.

Seen the popularity of the YouTube platform among younger users and children, kids-themed YouTube channels are among the most popular types of content on the platform. As of March 2024, ChuChu TV Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs was the most subscribed kids' content channel, with approximately 94.7 million subscribers. Spanish-language channel El Reino Infantil ranked second with approximately 67.5 million subscribers, while Masha and the Bear ranked third with 53.3 million subscribers. Kids on YouTube According to a survey of global parents conducted in September 2022, over half of the respondents reported that watching YouTube videos was a popular online activity their children chose to engage with. In the United States, children were using the YouTube app to watch content for over one hour daily on average in 2023. Children media consumption As of May 2022, software, audio, and video content were the most popular categories for global children to interact with online, with approximately 44 percent of younger users visiting and engaging with these content formats. Between 52 percent and 55 percent of children in India, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa were reported visiting software, audio, and video websites between 2020 and 2021.

As of June 2023, mirellativegal (translates as "I pretty much do not care" from German) had the most subscribers on YouTube among other vegan influencers in Germany at 652,000. Other popular vegan influencers on the online video website included Marie Johnson and JANAklar. The graph shows the leading 10 vegan influencers on YouTube in Germany by their subscriber numbers.

As of January 2025, T-Series had reached surpassed 281 billion lifetime video views, making it the most-viewed YouTube channel owner of all time. Popular children's rhymes and song channel Cocomelon followed, with 194 billion lifetime views. Several children-themed channels such as Like Nastya, Kids Diana Show, and Vlad and Niki appeared in the ranking. YouTube is one of the most beloved platforms for children and teens In recent years, video content not only has become one of the most popular types of online formats for children but also one of the highest-performing online categories. The most viewed video on YouTube has been for several years "Baby Shark Dance," published by Korean education brand Pinkfong in June 2016. The catchy rhyme was the first YouTube video to reach and surpass 10 billion views, and as of January 2024 was sitting at 13.93 billion global views. YouTube channels that propose content for children and young teens are also among the most subscribed channels on the platform, with 3D-animation channel Cocomelon counting almost 188 million subscribers worldwide as of January 2025. Children mobile video app usage According to a survey of global parents conducted in September 2021, watching YouTube videos was the most common mobile activity for 54 percent of children, second only to online gaming. Additionally, watching movies and watching content on social media were indicated by 30 percent and 20 percent of parents as usual activities for their children to engage with on mobile devices. In the United States and in the United Kingdom, YouTube and Netflix were the most popular video apps for children to engage with.