With over 4.5 billion internet users worldwide, engaging in online videos and entertainment remains one of the most popular activities among users. Modern internet generations are increasingly attracted to visual content. Both long and short videos are getting millions, sometimes billions of views.
From the children’s song “Baby Shark”, to the reggaeton hit “Despacito”, and Korean singer Psy’s “Gangnam Style”, YouTube has seen several records in recent years. Apart from entertainment purposes, online videos offer tutorials, educational content, presentations, product reviews, and vlogs.
Although online video and entertainment are popular among all generations, young people tend to spend hours every week on viewing. Nearly 17 percent of internet users aged between 18 and 25 years spend over 20 hours a week watching videos online as of August 2020. Leading platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo attract a growing number of users, and YouTube is expected to have nearly 2.85 billion global users by 2025.
Online video in the United StatesPopular types of video content include news, sports, as well as watching someone play video games. However, the content that viewers spent the most time on, were movies and TV shows. As of August 2020, 4.5 and 4.6 hours were spent on these two types of digital video content weekly, respectively. Regarding device usage, different tastes are visible in different countries. While the majority of U.S. respondents primarily use their smartphones, users from some European countries prefer smart TVs.
Types of online video contentLeaders within the online video and entertainment industry include YouTube and Vimeo, as well as TikTok, and vary in genres and themes. While YouTube’s audience can choose between a free version with advertisements and an ad-free premium subscription, Vimeo offers a completely ad-free and free of charge video sharing experience. Vimeo generates revenue by offering software as a service, video editing, and creating tools. By contrast, TikTok is focused on shorter videos and is free for the user.
YouTubeOnline video entertainment has become especially popular among children. Easily accessed and re-clicked, some YouTube videos have generated millions of views. ChuChu TV Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs has over 44 million subscribers and is by far, the most subscribed to YouTube channel for children. Moreover, children are among the top-earning YouTube creators. Nine-year-old Ryan Kaji ranked first, with earnings of nearly 30 million U.S. dollars as of June 2020.
Highest-earning YouTube creatorsAnother platform that is especially popular among teenagers and young adults is TikTok. The number of daily active users peaked in March 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and people were spending more time at home, and in need of entertainment. With social media challenges, food content, dance videos, and influencer collaborations, TikTok attracts millions of users each day. Channels like Charli D’Amelio’s generate millions of followers.
TikTokStatista offers a broad range of statistics on the online video and entertainment market. In this section, users can find key industry data on online video usage, ranging from online video penetration rates and the global number of digital video viewers to country-specific viewer demographics and information on the devices most commonly used to watch video content online.
The platform contains up-to-date information on the most popular online video platforms and video-on-demand (VoD) services worldwide. It provides subscriber counts for leading digital video channels and complements these figures with data on music streaming services and other relevant forms of audio entertainment.
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