Nearly 40% of YouTube users watch TV and film content

The research suggests that YouTube has come a long way since its early days of short, low-quality, user-generated pranks, memes, and vlogs. Music, comedy and how-to videos are the most popular content types on YouTube, but documentaries and TV shows/films are also in the top five.

Nearly a quarter (24%) of monthly active users watched documentaries, making it the fourth most popular content type. TV shows/films were fifth, watched by 23% of YouTube’s MAUs.

Documentary, TV, and film viewing on YouTube skews slightly towards 35-44s, and to family households, though it is popular across all demographics.

The content types on YouTube are particularly popular in Asia Pacific, where 45% of monthly active users have watched them, and Latin America, where 40% have. This compares to more muted viewership in Western Europe at 28%. North American viewership is in line with the global average at 37%

Smart TVs are a popular device for long-form viewing: 34% of those who watched both documentaries and TV shows/films on YouTube in the past month used a smart TV for at least some of their viewing, versus 22% of YouTube MAUs in general (smartphones and computers/laptops remain the most popular devices overall for YouTube content among this cohort, at 77% and 37%, respectively).

YouTube has the largest active user base of all online video platforms globally, with 84% of internet users watching it monthly, 73% weekly, and 59% daily.

Daniel Monaghan, Senior Research Manager at Ampere Analysis, said: “We now see more full-length TV shows and movies uploaded from the leading studios, producers, and broadcasters. On one hand, this risks cannibalising some owned-and-operated

audiences. On the other hand, the sheer scale and reach of YouTube mean the benefits of extending the addressable audience cannot be ignored, while also opening up new revenue streams via ad-share agreements with the platform.”