Nearly one in five (18%) of YouTube users watch full-length movies and TV shows on the platform, according to research by Ampere Analysis.
The findings reveal that older audiences are driving a surge in long-form viewing.
YouTube’s film and TV audience skews older than its overall user base, with engagement peaking among 35-64-year-olds.
Households with children are another key driver of this viewing, suggesting that both parents and grandparents are increasingly tuning into YouTube for family viewing.
Ampere said that viewers of film and TV shows on YouTube are “content super-consumers”, engaging with more genres than the general online population.
The share of internet users watching films and TV shows on YouTube varies widely in the 29 markets in Ampere’s survey. It stands at 32% in India, 20% in Saudi Arabia, 15% in the US, 12% in the UK, and falls to its lowest in Sweden at 7%.
A range of factors influences YouTube viewing uptake in each market. In general, countries with fewer on-demand services and a weaker presence of broadcaster catch-up platforms see higher viewing of films and series on YouTube.
Brazil and Mexico stand out, said Ampere, offering attractive distribution opportunities for content owners. These markets not only have large audiences for films and series on YouTube but also report high levels of YouTube viewing on smart TVs, indicating a broad audience engaging with the platform to watch broadcast-style content in premium viewing environments.
According to Ampere Analysis’s latest global consumer tracker of 56,000 adults, 85% of internet users now watch YouTube each month,
Ed Ludlow, Senior Analyst at Ampere Analysis, said: “YouTube’s vast audience makes it an attractive partner for content owners seeking to monetise their catalogues and reach beyond their regular audience. But that same scale means viewing behaviours vary widely across demographic groups – it’s crucial that content owners understand who they’re really engaging when distributing content on the platform.”
An estimated 10 million YouTube TV subscribers recently lost access to Disney-owned channels after contract-renewal talks collapsed. Discover more here.
Blackmagic Design unleashes a wave of technologies
In the lead-up to NAB 2026, Blackmagic Design has revealed a slate of new production technologies.
Avid and Google Cloud partner to bring agentic AI for media production
Avid and Google Cloud have signed a multi-year strategic partnership to embed Google’s Gemini models and Vertex AI directly into Avid’s solutions.
Channel 4’s longest-serving Chief Content Officer steps down
After almost nine years leading the broadcaster’s content strategy, Ian Katz, Chief Content Officer at Channel 4, will step down from his role in October 2026.
BBC to cut 2,000 jobs: "Put simply, the gap between our costs and our income is growing"
In an internal, all-staff call held today, Rhodri Talfan Davies, Interim Director General for the BBC, revealed that the organisation is planning to cut between 1,800 and 2,000 jobs.
AJA to acquire video encoding company Comprimato
AJA Video Systems has agreed to acquire Comprimato, a live video encoding and processing software provider for virtualised and cloud productions and broadcasts.
