YouTube Live Streaming Statistics By Viewership and Facts (2025)
Updated · Dec 04, 2025
Table of Contents
Introduction
YouTube Live Streaming Statistics: If the year 2020 can be considered the year live streaming marketed its potential to revolutionize the way we watch, the year 2025 is the year streaming on YouTube helps to create an engine of transition from being a mere “thing creators do” to a quantifiable business in the lifecycle of content.
Live streaming has already taken the lead in discovering and showcasing new featured creators on the world’s biggest video-sharing platform, which generated about US$36.1 billion in advertising revenue in 2024. In this article, we will analyse the huge YouTube Live streaming statistics in 2025, show where the money is coming from, and elaborate on the research and market reports’ predictions for the future trajectory.
Editor’s Choice
- YouTube Live in 2025, with YouTube’s estimated US$36.1 billion in ad revenue for 2024, has become an essential source of interaction and income.
- Streaming has taken over 45.2% of total TV usage in the U.S., defeating both cable and broadcast, which accounted for 22.3% each.
- YouTube has the largest share of total TV usage across all streaming platforms with 12.6%, well ahead of Netflix (8.3%), Disney+ (4.5%), Prime Video (3.9%), Roku (2.8%), and Tubi (2.1%).
- In July 2022, streaming moved from second place to first and reached an all-time high of 47.3% share of the viewing audience in the middle of 2025.
- The number of people watching YouTube worldwide is 8.123 billion, with 1.383 billion coming from YouTube Gaming (17%) as the total gaming audience.
- YouTube Live had over 5 billion watch hours in two out of three months of early 2025; February was lower because it had fewer days.
- YouTube Live is very popular among those aged 18–34 (42%), less so among those aged 35–54 (38%), and least so among those aged 55 and above (20%).
- The video “Baby Shark Dance,” with more than 15 billion views, is still at the top of the list when it comes to the most viewed YouTube videos ever.
- Trailers of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, like Spider-Man: No Way Home (355 million views in 24 hours), keep breaking records for viral videos by already attracting such a massive audience.
YouTube Leads The Streaming Race In A Shifting U.S. Television Landscape
(Source: statista.com)
- Streaming is now the main force in U.S. television, taking up 45.2% of the total TV usage. It has left behind cable and broadcast, which each account for 22.3%.
- There is a small percentage of 10.1% that falls under the “Other” category.
- From the point of view of streaming, YouTube is the biggest player with its share of 12.6% in total TV usage; thus, its placement is far ahead of Netflix’s share of 8.3%.
- Disney+ is at 4.5%, Prime Video is at 3.9%, and Roku and Tubi make their respective contributions of 2.8% and 2.1%. The other platforms combined hold 11% of the viewing.
- This transition is part of a larger change in viewing patterns. The share of streaming has been increasing slowly and steadily since it passed cable in July 2022, with a peak of 47.3% at the very beginning of 2025.
- The release of new content across platforms is one of the main factors for these numbers; for instance, Netflix’s Squid Game brought 5.4 billion minutes of viewing in just one month.
- But though Netflix is performing well content-wise, YouTube keeps itself as the leading streaming site for TV screen viewers in the U.S.
- Its amalgam of creator videos, live streams, and unending niches of content caters to a larger audience than most subscription-based platforms.
- Netflix keeps on battling to secure its competitive spot as the market becomes fragmented and thus more complicated.
- The introduction of its ad-supported tier was accompanied by record sales figures for Q3 2025, indicating the company’s triumph with price-sensitive consumers.
- Besides that, the firm is also looking to strengthen its position through new partnerships, such as taking care of Spotify video podcasts that are to be launched in 2026 and will also be moving some selected shows exclusively to Netflix and off of YouTube, thus making them unavailable on the latter platform.
- The competition between platforms is increasingly being shaped by technological innovation.
- Netflix is one of the companies that decided to integrate generative AI into its operations.
- They expect it not only to speed up but also to enrich the production experience of the viewers.
- The movie company has already indulged in set visualization, character de-ageing, targeted advertising, and enhanced recommendations, among others.
- It is obvious that these developments signal the trends to come in the streaming industry, where tech and innovation will be the main factors to compete alongside content, while YouTube, for sure, will be the one with a cutting edge.
Most Watched Streaming Platforms
(Source: streamscharts.com)
- The platform remains the undisputed leader in streamed viewership. Presently, it attracts around 8.123 billion viewers to the streaming site, which is a bit more than before by 0.34%.
- The report on YouTube streaming indicates that the largest share of the audience comes from YouTube Gaming, which accounts for 1.383 billion views, or 17% of the total YouTube streaming audience.
- Following next in the list is Twitch with 5.281 billion users and a slight rise of 0.15%. The main genre here is gaming, which accounts for about 4.257 billion views, or 81% of the overall streaming audience and 87.5% of Twitch’s public.
- A tremendous 21.33% has reduced the total audience of NimoTV and it is now down to 347.47 million. Afreeca TV, on the other hand, is also going down but at a much slower pace of 13.93%, thus its audience is 294.47 million.
- Facebook Gaming is now the platform with the most drastic decline in viewership, down roughly 30.92% to 255.43 million.
- Bigo has also felt the impact of the drops and has announced that its audience has shrunk by 18.49% to 124.93 million. Mildom had a little worse fate than that, having its viewership down by 21.06% to only reach 5.36 million.
- Kick, nevertheless, is the new kid on the block but has already gained a bit of a rep with 58.01 million viewers. For example, Trovo went down a little bit, 4.72%, and it now has 42.91 million viewers.
- Nono Live is one of the very few that made it through with the 1.35% growth and now has around 26.62 million viewers.
YouTube Live Streaming Viewership
(Source: streamscharts.com)
- YouTube Live had a slight but noticeable increase in the total watch hours during the previous quarter when compared to the current one.
- Out of the three months, two of them together contributed more than 5 billion watch hours, which indicates a high and stable engagement rate among the viewers.
- The month of February was the only one that could not reach this target, mostly due to the fact that it has less number of days, which ultimately leads to a reduction in the total time viewers can spend watching live streams.
- The site still holds the crown when it comes to IRL or “in real life” live streaming content. Even though Gaming is still the largest category when counted individually, the total watch time of non-gaming categories is very much higher.
- Besides Gaming, which is still the biggest category and stays so when ranked individually, the combined watch time of non-gaming categories is very much higher.
- The audience spends so much time watching Genres like News and Politics, Entertainment, and Music, which are always drawing large crowds.
- This shift of interest is a testimony to YouTube Live’s broad charm and its capacity to pull in viewers for a variety of live content, not just gaming.
(Source: truelist.co)
- YouTube streaming statistics show that streaming occupies 25% of the entire TV-watching time. The biggest part of the streaming platforms is taken by Netflix with its 34% share.
- The second place is held by YouTube, which comes close with its 20% share of the total market. Hulu and Amazon each have a considerable share of 11% and 8%, respectively.
- The biggest surprise of the year was Disney+, which easily captured 4% of the streaming market.
Popular Live Streaming Platforms By Age Group
| Platforms | 18-34 | 35-54 | Over 55 |
| Facebook Live | 35% | 45.00% | 21% |
| Youtube Live | 42% | 38.00% | 20% |
| 39% | 29.0% | 8% | |
| TikTok | 23% | 18% | 7% |
| Twitch | 31% | 14% | 2% |
- YouTube Live has the largest share of the market among younger demographics, with 42% among the 18-34 age group.
- The 35-54 cohort continues to have the highest share at 38%, while only 20% of the 55+ group accesses it.
- Facebook Live is the number one choice among live-streaming platforms for people aged 35-54, at 45% of this age group. It also has good popularity among 18-34-year-olds, with 35% engagement, while it decreases to 21% among those older than 55.
- Instagram Live is more popular among younger audiences, with a 39% engagement rate among the 18-34 age group.
- Instagram Live popularity falls off among the 35-54 age group to 29% and further declines dramatically among those over 55 to only 8%.
- TikTok Live primarily attracts a younger audience, with 23% of its users aged 18-34.
- Nonetheless, engagement among older age groups declines significantly, with 18% of the 35-54s and only 7% of those over 55 engaging.
- With Twitch, it is mainly the young people who use it, as they account for 31% of the users aged 18-34 who stream live.
- This percentage decreases sharply to 14% for those aged 35-54, and there is almost none in the 55+ age group at just 2%.
Most Popular YouTube Videos
(Reference: statista.com)
- The “Baby Shark Dance” is, as of 2025, a video that has more than 15 billion lifetime views. The video “Baby Shark Dance” posted by the Korean educational brand Pinkfong on June 17, 2016, is now one of the most global videos on YouTube.
- In January 2021, it crossed the barrier of 10 billion views, and thus it took the title of the most -watched video on YouTube from “Despacito.”
- However, “Baby Shark Dance” is the very same video that now has the highest number of views, but still, Psy’s “Gangnam Style” was the first song to reach the top and stayed there for 1,689 days (approximately 4.6 years) before being pushed off the throne.
- By analyzing YouTube streaming statistics, it can be concluded that users prefer to watch more musical content than any other genre on YouTube. As of 2010, virtually all of the most played content on this platform, over 99%, belonged to the music video category, as the emphasis on YouTube shifted from amusing tiny standalone viral clips to professionally made content.
- In 2022, around 40% of the U.S. digital music listening audience used YouTube Music as a music source. It usually takes a music video a lot of views, often getting millions of views in the first 24 hours of release.
- Besides, the first world video with the next highest number of views could be a movie trailer, especially a superhero movie trailer from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The first teaser of “Avengers: Endgame” received 289 million views in just one day, while “Spider-Man: No Way Home” got more than 355 million views in its first 24 hours, making it the most viral movie trailer ever.
Conclusion
YouTube Live Streaming statistics: The annual performance of YouTube Live in 2025 has confirmed that it is the most powerful livestreaming platform in the world coming to the led by very high monthly watch hours in billions, universal category attractiveness, and huge U.S. TV streaming share. YouTube, as one of the digital competitors in the market, continues to offer a strong mix of creator content, live shows, and worldwide accessibility, enabling it to outsmart subscription-based rivals. Market observation indicates that both young and middle-aged audiences rely heavily on YouTube Live, and, beyond its dominance in gaming and IRL content, its overall viewership is proof of its unprecedented reach. In an industry experiencing rapid change due to competition, YouTube Live remains the venue where the future of Streaming is created.
Sources
FAQ.
YouTube Live boasts a global audience that is larger than any other live streaming service by a factor of several million and is the absolute ruler in the continuous growth in hours watched. In addition, YouTube”s strong position in U.S. TV streaming share has created the situation where it is the most powerful platform in the live streaming market due to its ability to bring together different kinds of viewers that add up to billions of hours per month in watch time.
Streaming accounts for 45.2% of the total TV usage in the United States and is significantly ahead of cable and broadcast, with each having a share of 22.3%. YouTube has become the top streaming platform with 12.6% of total TV viewers.
The largest share of the YouTube Live audience comes from the 18–34 age group, which accounts for 42%. The next age group, 35–54, also shows a good percentage at 38% while the seniors (55+) are quite active with their 20% participation in YouTube Live streams.
YouTube has the most viewers among the streaming platforms, with a record of 8.123 billion, and through gaming, it has a share of 1.383 billion. Twitch is next with 5.281 billion viewers. Lesser-known platforms like NimoTV, Afreeca TV, and Facebook Gaming have lost a lot of viewership, thus yielding more ground to YouTube.
There are still no doubts about the music category as the most viewed one. To prove the point, the video “Baby Shark Dance” has over 15 billion views. Viral movie trailers, especially Marvel Cinematic Universe ones, also garner a giant audience. In live streaming, the IRL (In Real Life) categories of News, Entertainment, and Music combined get more watch hours than gaming.
Barry Elad is a passionate technology and finance journalist who loves diving deep into various technology and finance topics. He gathers important statistics and facts to help others understand the tech and finance world better. With a keen interest in software, Barry writes about its benefits and how it can improve our daily lives. In his spare time, he enjoys experimenting with healthy recipes, practicing yoga, meditating, or taking nature walks with his child. Barry’s goal is to make complex tech and finance information easy and accessible for everyone.
