Facts and Numbers
- The very first YouTube video was uploaded on 23 April 2005.
- The total number of people who use YouTube – 1,300,000,000.
- 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute!
- Almost 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every single day.
- YouTube gets over 30 million visitors per day.
- In an average month, 8 out of 10 18-49 year-olds watch YouTube.
- By 2025, half of viewers under 32will not subscribe to a pay-TV service.
- 6 out of 10 peopleprefer online video platforms to live TV.
- The total number of hours of video watched on YouTube each month – 3.25 billion.
- 10,113 YouTube videos generated over 1 billion views.
- 80% of YouTube’s views are from outside of the U.S.
- The average number of mobile YouTube video views per day is 1,000,000,000.
- The average mobile viewing session lasts more than 40 minutes.
- Female users are 38% and male users are 62%.
- User Percentage by Age 18-24 – 11%, 25-34 – 23%, 35-44 – 26%, 45-54 – 16%, 50-64 – 8%, 65+ – 3%, unknown age – 14%.
- Mobile YouTube users spent 40 minutes on average session, up more than 50% year-over-year.
- More than half of YouTube views come from mobile devices.
- YouTube’s mobile revenue is up to 2x y/y.
- YouTube overall and even YouTube on mobile alone reaches more 18-34 and 18-49 year-olds than any cable network in the U.S.
- The number of hours people spend watching videos (aka watch time) on YouTube is up 60% year-over-year, the fastest growth we’ve seen in 2 years.
- You can navigate YouTube in a total of 76 different languages (covering 95% of the Internet population).
- 9% of U.S small businesses use YouTube
- Approximately 20% of the people who start your video will leave after the first 10 seconds. Create a damn good intro.
OK, since I am in the world of video learning, what significance do these stats have? Well, that ‘s simple. When I first joined, I spent the better part of 2 years in what I would call the “evangelistic stage” trying to convince learning leaders across the globe that video is the future of learning. In most cases it was not a hard sell. However, there were still many organizations that had the “been there, done that” attitude when reflecting on how they’ve used video in the past. They equated video learning to the one-hour mandatory compliance videos that they were forced to watch in the past or the completely ineffective video recordings of an instructor-led training session that couldn’t even keep the live audience engaged, never mind the asynchronous self-paced audience.
Of the above stats, the one that hits me the hardest is the fact that 5 billion (yes, with a “B”) videos are watched on YouTube every single day. Not only is the number mind blowing, but if that doesn’t convince even the most skeptical person that they should be leveraging the power of video then I don’t know what would. Although I cannot accurately draw a direct correlation of the 5 billion watched videos to actual training videos, I can tell you that according to searchengineland.com, searches related to “how to” on YouTube are growing 70% year over year. This tells me that when the average person wants to learn how to do something they are instinctively relying on video. As learning leaders it seems obvious that we should be building programs that encourage our learners and employees to “work as you live”. By that I simply mean that we should be emulating the behaviors that our audience is accustomed to and familiar with, in this case, shifting more and more learning content to on-demand video.
However, it can’t stop there. Just using video isn’t enough. The content must be relevant and easily discoverable. It should be short, but effective. It should be entertaining, but educational. It should be readily available to your audience so they can find it, watch it, get credit for it, and move on. If you’ve read any of my previous blogs you know that I have a hang up with how most LMSs handle video. If yours works and can stream video well, use it! If not, consider a platform like the Videonitch VN Channel, our award-winning platform can easily integrate with your current learning technology and give your learners access to on-demand streaming video with very little hassle. Take another look at the stats above and ask yourself, does my learning strategy take full advantage of how the modern learner wants to learn? If not, what are you waiting for?