---
title: "Business YouTube Statistics 2026: 40 Numbers"
description: "40 numbers on YouTube for business in 2026, each with a linked source: usage, B2B buyers, search and AI, long vs short video, plus our own client data."
url: https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/business-youtube-statistics/
---

# Business YouTube Statistics 2026: 40 Numbers With Sources

Thirty-five numbers from Pew, Nielsen, Gartner, 6sense, Edelman, Ahrefs, Wistia and others, and five from our own clients, in a separate section. Every outside number links to where it came from, with the year.

By **Evgeny Maximov** · 9 min read · 24 Oct 2026

**Key takeaways**

**Short answer:** YouTube is used by 84% of US adults and had 14.2% of US TV viewing in July 2026. B2B buyers research alone and pick a favorite before they talk to sales, so a video library does work while you sleep. Big view counts are not the goal. The numbers that matter for a business are trust, depth of watching and what buyers do before the call.

- 35 numbers from outside sources, each linked, with the year.
- 5 numbers from our own clients, in a separate labeled section.
- Where a source is a vendor, I say so.
- Numbers I could not check are left out, not rounded up.

Most “video marketing statistics” pages copy the same 20 numbers from each other, and half of them have no working source. I did it the other way. I opened the primary page for each number where I could, and I note the year, the sample and who ran the survey. Where I could only reach a summary, I link the summary and say so. I checked everything in October 2026.

I run a done-for-you YouTube production agency, so I'm not neutral. That's why our own numbers are in their own section at the end, and why vendor studies are marked. For what to do with numbers like these, read [the Business YouTube Playbook](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/business-youtube-playbook/) and [why views don't bring clients](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/vanity-metrics-views-vs-clients/).

## How many people use YouTube, and how do they watch?

| # | Number | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | **84%** | of US adults say they use YouTube, the most of any platform surveyed | [Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/), 2026 (5,511 adults) |
| 2 | **33%** | of US adults use LinkedIn, for comparison (Facebook 70%, Instagram 51%, TikTok 31%) | [Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/), 2026 |
| 3 | **14.2%** | of all US TV viewing was YouTube in July 2026, a record for the platform | [Nielsen, The Gauge](https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2026/tv-usage-kicks-usual-summer-slowdown-fueled-by-world-cup-and-streaming-in-nielsens-july-gauge-reports/), July 2026 |
| 4 | **1 billion+** | monthly active viewers of podcast content on YouTube, as of January 2025 | [YouTube Blog](https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/1-billion-monthly-podcast-users/), February 2025 |
| 5 | **400 million+** | hours of podcasts watched a month on TVs and other living room devices in 2024 | [YouTube Blog](https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/1-billion-monthly-podcast-users/), February 2025 |
| 6 | **200 billion** | average daily views of YouTube Shorts, said by YouTube's CEO at Cannes Lions | [Search Engine Journal](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/youtube-reports-200-billion-daily-views-for-shorts-format/549315/), June 2025 |

Notes: Pew's numbers say a person “ever uses” the platform, not how often. The Shorts number is a company announcement, and YouTube changed how it counts a Shorts view in March 2025, so don't compare it with older figures. Nielsen is updating its measurement method this fall, so later monthly numbers may shift.

What it means: your buyer is already there, and more of them watch on a TV than on a phone. A long video on a living room screen is a very different thing from a post in a feed. If you are choosing between platforms for a B2B offer, see [YouTube vs LinkedIn vs Instagram](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/youtube-vs-linkedin-vs-instagram-b2b/). Podcasts are one more reason: [YouTube vs podcast](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/youtube-vs-podcast/).

## How do B2B buyers decide?

| # | Number | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | **61%** | of B2B buyers prefer a buying experience without a sales rep | [Gartner](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-06-25-gartner-sales-survey-finds-61-percent-of-b2b-buyers-prefer-a-rep-free-buying-experience), 2025 (632 buyers) |
| 8 | **73%** | of B2B buyers actively avoid suppliers that send irrelevant outreach | [Gartner](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-06-25-gartner-sales-survey-finds-61-percent-of-b2b-buyers-prefer-a-rep-free-buying-experience), 2025 |
| 9 | **17%** | of the buying time is spent meeting potential suppliers | [Gartner, B2B buying research](https://www.gartner.com/en/sales/insights/b2b-buying-journey) |
| 10 | **about 70%** | of the way through their buying process, buyers make first contact with a vendor (2024 report) | [Demand Gen Report on 6sense](https://www.demandgenreport.com/industry-news/80-of-b2b-buyers-initiate-first-contact-once-theyre-70-through-their-buying-journey/48394/), 2024 |
| 11 | **81%** | of buyers already had a preferred vendor at first contact (2024 report) | [Demand Gen Report on 6sense](https://www.demandgenreport.com/industry-news/80-of-b2b-buyers-initiate-first-contact-once-theyre-70-through-their-buying-journey/48394/), 2024 |
| 12 | **80%** | of deals go to the vendor buyers preferred before the first sales conversation (2025 report) | [6sense, Buyer Experience Report](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251112018032/en), November 2025 (4,000+ buyers) |
| 13 | **about 10 months** | average length of the buying cycle in 2025 (about 11 months in 2024) | [6sense, Buyer Experience Report](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251112018032/en), November 2025 |
| 14 | **about 5%** | of B2B buyers are in the market at any moment (the “95-5 rule”) | [Marketing Week](https://www.marketingweek.com/peter-weinberg-jon-lombardo-95-5-rule), on the B2B Institute and Ehrenberg-Bass work |
| 15 | **69%** | of US senior executives who used YouTube in a purchase said its content felt very or extremely trustworthy | [Google and National Research Group via Adweek](https://www.adweek.com/sponsored/the-b2b-buyer-is-already-in-the-future-are-you/), 2025 (2,000+ executives) |
| 16 | **73%** | of decision-makers say an organization's thought leadership is a better basis for judging it than its marketing materials | [Edelman and LinkedIn](https://www.edelman.com/expertise/business-marketing/2024-b2b-thought-leadership-report), 2024 (about 3,500 professionals) |
| 17 | **91%** | of businesses use video as a marketing tool | [Wyzowl](https://www.wyzowl.com/video-marketing-statistics/), 2026 (266 marketers) |

Notes: the Google and NRG survey was sponsored by Google, which owns YouTube. Wyzowl sells video software and its sample is small. I could not open the Edelman PDF in full, so the 73% comes from the report page and summaries of the same study. The 6sense 2024 numbers are from a trade-press report of the earlier study.

What it means: the sale is mostly made before the call. A buyer who has watched you for an hour arrives already convinced, and one who has never heard of you arrives as one of the 95% who weren't looking. This is the logic behind [shortening the sales cycle with video](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/shorten-sales-cycle-video/) and [videos your sales team can use](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/b2b-video-content-sales/).

## What do the numbers say about search and AI?

| # | Number | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | **0.737** | correlation between YouTube mentions of a brand and its visibility in ChatGPT, AI Mode and AI Overviews, the strongest of all factors tested | [Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-brand-visibility-correlations/), December 2025 (75,000 brands) |
| 19 | **0.717** | the same correlation when mentions are weighted by views | [Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-brand-visibility-correlations/), December 2025 |
| 20 | **94%** | of YouTube videos cited by AI tools were long-form (Shorts about 5.7%) | [OtterlyAI](https://otterly.ai/blog/youtube-ai-citation-study-2026/), March 2026 (100+ million citations) |
| 21 | **about 41%** | of cited YouTube videos had fewer than 1,000 views | [OtterlyAI](https://otterly.ai/blog/youtube-ai-citation-study-2026/), March 2026 |
| 22 | **about 35%** | of cited videos came from channels with fewer than 10,000 subscribers | [OtterlyAI](https://otterly.ai/blog/youtube-ai-citation-study-2026/), March 2026 |
| 23 | **38.7% and 36.6%** | share of YouTube citations that came from Perplexity and Google AI Overviews (ChatGPT only 4.4%) | [OtterlyAI](https://otterly.ai/blog/youtube-ai-citation-study-2026/), March 2026 |
| 24 | **8% vs 15%** | how often people clicked a normal result when Google showed an AI summary, compared with when it did not | [Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/), July 2025 (900 adults, 68,879 searches) |
| 25 | **1%** | of visits with an AI summary included a click on a link inside the summary | [Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/), July 2025 |
| 26 | **26% vs 16%** | how often people ended their browsing session after a page with an AI summary, compared with one without | [Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/), July 2025 |
| 27 | **18%** | of the Google searches in the study produced an AI summary (March 2025) | [Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/), July 2025 |
| 28 | **25%** | forecast drop in traditional search engine volume by 2026 because of AI chatbots | [Gartner](https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-02-19-gartner-predicts-search-engine-volume-will-drop-25-percent-by-2026-due-to-ai-chatbots-and-other-virtual-agents), February 2024 |

Notes: Ahrefs says these are correlations, not proof of cause. OtterlyAI sells AI visibility tools, so treat its study as direction, not law. The Gartner number was a prediction made in 2024. I have not seen it confirmed, so don't quote it as a fact.

What it means: fewer people click on classic results, and AI tools pull their answers from sources such as long videos with a transcript, often from small channels. A small channel is not a handicap here. How to use that is in [YouTube and AI search](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/youtube-ai-search/) and [YouTube SEO for business](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/youtube-seo-for-business/).

## Long videos or Shorts, and what does a click cost?

| # | Number | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | **50–51%** | click rate on an in-video lead form for 30–60 minute videos when the form sits in the first or last quarter | [Wistia, State of Video](https://wistia.com/state-of-video), April 2026 (13 million videos) |
| 30 | **67–75%** | the same for videos longer than 60 minutes, with the form in the second or last quarter | [Wistia, State of Video](https://wistia.com/state-of-video), April 2026 |
| 31 | **15–20%** | typical on-demand engagement (share of a video watched) | [Wistia, State of Video](https://wistia.com/state-of-video), April 2026 |
| 32 | **2x+** | engagement of 31–45 minute webinar replays compared with replays under 30 minutes | [Wistia, State of Video](https://wistia.com/state-of-video), April 2026 |
| 33 | **2–10%** | the range of impressions click-through rate for half of all YouTube channels and videos | [YouTube Help](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7628154?hl=en) |
| 34 | **$5–10** | typical YouTube ad CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) for most advertisers | [Store Growers](https://www.storegrowers.com/youtube-ads-benchmarks/), updated February 2026 |
| 35 | **about $4** | typical CPM for Shorts ads | [Store Growers](https://www.storegrowers.com/youtube-ads-benchmarks/), citing Strike Social, 2024 |

Notes: Wistia sells video hosting and the numbers come from its own platform, where many videos are webinars and demos, not YouTube channels. CPM is the price advertisers pay, not what a creator earns, and it is a vendor blog's summary. Wistia's report also finds that shorter videos keep a higher share of viewers on average. Both can be true: a short video is finished more often, a long one is watched for longer in total.

What it means: a long video turns attention into action when the viewer already trusts you, and Shorts spread the word. They are two jobs, not two versions of one job. We explain how to split them in [YouTube Shorts for business](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/youtube-shorts-for-business/) and [long-form video content](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/long-form-video-content/). The CPM numbers give you a way to value free reach. Simple arithmetic: 100,000 impressions would cost an advertiser about $500–1,000. What it costs to make the videos is in [YouTube video production cost](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/youtube-video-production-cost/).

## What do our own client numbers show?

These five are **our own data**. They come from our clients' channels and our own channel, not from a study, and they are not a promise of what you will get. We don't promise views, calls or clients. I include them because they show how the outside numbers behave in practice.

| # | Number | What it says | Where to read more |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | **about $5 million** | raised by a self-storage franchise (Tvoy Sklad) in 2024–2025, with 20+ franchise partners, from a channel of about 2,000 subscribers and 700+ videos since 2022. Their marketing team says new partners have already watched everything | [Tvoy Sklad case study](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/tvoy-sklad-youtube-case-study/) |
| 37 | **6,460 vs 261,927** | views of our 47-minute documentary and of a 3-minute viral video on our Russian channel. The documentary brought clients. The viral video brought zero sales | [Views vs clients](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/vanity-metrics-views-vs-clients/) |
| 38 | **7.4 vs 1.6 minutes** | average watch time per view, calculated from the same two videos. 40% of the documentary's views came from YouTube search, against 3% for the viral video | [Why a mini documentary sells](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/mini-documentary/) |
| 39 | **+26,000** | subscribers in 5 months and more than 1 million views for Ayuna, an osteopath, from about 2 hours of filming a month | [Ayuna case study](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/ayuna-youtube-case-study/) |
| 40 | **about 500 views** | a 20-minute video on choosing property in Thailand brought a lead for Insight Estate. Their channel gained 16.8K views and 258 subscribers in its first 90 days, with two months of no growth first | [Views vs clients](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/vanity-metrics-views-vs-clients/) |

![YouTube Studio for a 3-minute video since publishing: 261,927 views, 6.8K watch hours, +1.4K subscribers, the view curve flat after about three months](https://evgenymaximov.com/img/fig-viral-video-analytics-2026-10.webp)Number 37, the viral video: 261,927 views and zero sales

![YouTube Studio for a 47-minute documentary since publishing: 6,460 views, 798.6 watch hours, +43 subscribers, the view curve still growing](https://evgenymaximov.com/img/fig-documentary-analytics-2026-10.webp)Number 37, the documentary: 6,460 views, still growing, and clients

Put these next to the outside numbers. Gartner and 6sense say the buyer picks a favorite before the call. In our data, a long video with few views did that job better than a viral one. Wistia and OtterlyAI say long videos are acted on and cited. In our data, the long one grew from search and kept growing. It's the same story from four directions. One more reminder: these are our cases, and they worked for a particular kind of business, high-ticket services with a specific audience.

**Want to put these numbers to work?** The free Business YouTube Playbook shows the system we run for clients. No opt-ins. [Read the Playbook](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/business-youtube-playbook/)

## Which numbers did I leave out?

Some popular numbers didn't pass my check, so they aren't here:

- **HubSpot's “49% of marketers say short-form video has the best ROI.”** I only found it repeated on vendor blogs, and two of them gave older, different figures. I could not open HubSpot's report.
- **“B2B buying groups have 11 people.”** Gartner is usually quoted as six to ten for complex purchases. The “11” appears in vendor blogs without a Gartner link.
- **“YouTube has 2.7 billion users.”** The last official number I found was “2 billion logged-in users” from 2019. Newer numbers I found are third-party estimates.
- **“Wyzowl: 82% say video has good ROI.”** I saw it quoted, but I could only confirm the 91% usage figure on a Wyzowl page.

If you use any of these, find the original first. A missing source is a sign the number has traveled through too many blogs.

## How should a founder use these statistics?

- Use the B2B numbers (7 to 17) to explain why you publish: buyers research alone and pick a favorite early.
- Use the AI numbers (18 to 28) to choose a format: long videos with a clear title and transcript.
- Use the platform numbers (1 to 6) to decide where your buyer is. They are not a reason to chase views.
- Never put a number on your site or in a deck without its year and a link.
- Track your own numbers: watch time, calls and “which video brought you?”. The method is in [YouTube ROI tracking](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/youtube-roi-tracking/) and [the seven metrics we check every month](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/youtube-analytics-metrics/).

If you are not sure how these numbers apply to your business, a [YouTube channel audit](https://evgenymaximov.com/services/youtube-channel-audit/) shows what your own data says. And if you'd rather have the whole channel run for you, that is [our YouTube production service](https://evgenymaximov.com/services/youtube-production/).

## FAQ

**How many people use YouTube?**

In the US, 84% of adults say they use YouTube, according to Pew Research Center's 2026 survey of 5,511 adults. That is more than Facebook (70%), Instagram (51%), LinkedIn (33%) and TikTok (31%) in the same survey.

**How much of TV viewing is YouTube?**

In July 2026, YouTube had 14.2% of all US television viewing, a record for the platform, according to Nielsen's monthly Gauge report. It was the biggest single streaming service on the list.

**Do B2B buyers use video to choose a vendor?**

Yes, and they do much of the research before they talk to anyone. Gartner found that 61% of B2B buyers prefer a buying experience without a sales rep, and 6sense found that the vendor buyers prefer before the first sales conversation wins about 80% of deals.

**Do B2B buyers trust YouTube?**

In a 2025 Google and National Research Group survey, 69% of US senior executives who used YouTube when buying said its content felt very or extremely trustworthy. Google sponsored the survey, so read it as a vendor's number.

**Does YouTube help with AI search?**

There is evidence for it. Ahrefs found in December 2025 that YouTube mentions had the strongest correlation with brand visibility in ChatGPT, AI Mode and Google AI Overviews (about 0.74). It is a correlation, not proof that YouTube causes it.

**Are Shorts or long videos better for business?**

They do different jobs. Shorts reach many people (YouTube says Shorts average over 200 billion daily views), while long videos build trust and get cited by AI tools. In the OtterlyAI 2026 study, 94% of cited YouTube videos were long-form.

**What is a good click-through rate on YouTube?**

YouTube says half of all channels and videos have an impressions click-through rate between 2% and 10%. It varies with the audience and where the impression is shown, so compare your own videos with each other first.

**How many views does a business video need?**

Fewer than most people think. Evgeny Maximov's agency has a client lead who came from a 20-minute video with about 500 views, and its own 47-minute documentary with about 6,000 views brought clients while a video with about 260,000 views brought none.

**How reliable are video marketing statistics?**

It depends on who ran the survey. Many come from software vendors, such as Wyzowl, Wistia and OtterlyAI, which have an interest in video. Prefer numbers from Pew, Nielsen and Gartner, and check the sample size and the year.

**Can I use these statistics in my own content?**

Yes, if you link to the original source and name the year. Each number on this page links to where it came from. Don't quote a number without its year, because many of these change every 12 months.

![Evgeny Maximov](https://evgenymaximov.com/img/evgeny-avatar.webp)
**Evgeny Maximov**

Founder of a done-for-you YouTube agency for high-ticket founders. Making content since 2014. [More about me](https://evgenymaximov.com/about/)

## Want the numbers to work for your business?

Book a call and I'll tell you honestly if YouTube fits your offer. You film one day a month, we do the rest. 7-day money back guarantee.

[Get a free niche review →](https://evgenymaximov.com/?utm_source=blog&utm_content=business-youtube-statistics#book)
Read next
[**Vanity Metrics: Why Views Don't Bring Clients** Strategy](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/vanity-metrics-views-vs-clients/) [**AI Search Optimization: Get Cited by ChatGPT With YouTube** Strategy](https://evgenymaximov.com/blog/youtube-ai-search/)