YouTube Shorts now generates over 200 billion views per day. They’re no longer just an experiment or a TikTok alternative. Shorts are a major discovery channel, a traffic driver for creators, and a growing revenue source for brands.
This report breaks down the latest YouTube Shorts statistics for 2026, including:
The data comes from platform reports, creator studies, and large-scale usage analyses.
If you create content, manage a channel, or plan video strategies, these numbers show where attention is going and what’s working right now.
We keep things up to date with fresh data every quarter. This is the Q1 2026 edition.
YouTube remains one of the most used digital platforms worldwide. It ranks just behind Google in global traffic, leads U.S. social media usage, and continues to grow across news, entertainment, education, and marketing.
The platform’s scale is reflected in both audience size and advertiser reach.
Short-form video now plays a central role on YouTube. YouTube Shorts reaches a massive daily audience, drives regular viewing habits, and attracts millions of active creators. For most users, Shorts is now a part of how they use the platform.
YouTube Shorts is no longer just a mobile format. It’s now a regular part of TV viewing, blurring the line between traditional “lean-back” television and scroll-based short-form video. YouTube has optimized Shorts for both screens: fast discovery on phones and hands-free viewing on TVs. This turns Shorts into a low-effort, high-volume viewing habit, similar to how people used to watch cable TV.
Key viewer behavior shifts:
YouTube Shorts consistently outperforms other short-form platforms on viewer retention and interaction. The key difference isn’t just reach; it’s how long people stay and how often they engage. Higher retention means Shorts content keeps attention. Higher engagement means viewers are more likely to react, comment, and interact.
Top-performing content types on YouTube Shorts are (Source):
So, YouTube Shorts doesn’t just get seen; it keeps attention.
Yes, shorts is now YouTube’s main discovery engine. Most views come from non-subscribers, which makes Shorts one of the fastest ways to reach new audiences and turn visibility into subscriber growth.
YouTube Shorts growth benchmarks:
Conclusions: YouTube Shorts is a scalable audience-building tool.
Latest YouTube Shorts Statistics show that Shorts attracts a mostly adult, global audience: the largest age group is 25-34, the audience skews male, and most views come from outside the creator’s home country. That means YouTube Shorts content needs to work across cultures.
YouTube Shorts audience profile:
Shorts' ad revenue is minimal. Most income comes from external monetization (brands, affiliates, products). What the YouTube Shorts statistics show:
YouTube Shorts performance is driven by retention, length, consistency, and topic choice. Key data points:
| Youtube Shorts | Instagram Reels | Tiktok | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform type | Feature within YouTube | Feature within Instagram | Standalone platform |
| Video length | 15 to 180 seconds | 15 to 180 seconds | 15 seconds to 10 minutes |
| Monthly active users | 2 billion | 1.8 billion | 1.59 billion |
| Daily views | 200 billion | 200 billion (includes FB reels) | 50 billion |
| Engagement rate | 5.91% | 5.75% | 5.53% |
| Average comments per video | 20 | 35 | 54 |
| Top category by | Entertainment | Opinion | Entertainment |
| Top country by number of users | India | India | United States |
For this report, we focused on the most up-to-date YouTube Shorts data available. We reviewed recent platform reports, creator analytics studies, industry benchmarks, and both free and paid research sources that track how Shorts performs in real conditions.
To understand how YouTube Shorts works as a growth, engagement, and monetization channel, we prioritized metrics that matter for decision-making: view volume, engagement rates, retention, TV vs. mobile usage, creator growth patterns, monetization models, and audience demographics.
We selected YouTube Shorts statistics that showed clear measurement methods, Shorts-specific results, and strong benchmarking. Broad “short-form video” statistics and unclear samples were filtered out. Only sources with defined datasets, transparent methodology, and recent timelines were used.
If YouTube matters to your growth, here’s what this YouTube Shorts data means in practice:
Shorts handles discovery. Long-form handles conversion. Growth happens when both are used together.
If you want help making your YouTube Shorts more discoverable, our SEO team can support you with strategy, optimization, and visibility. Just reach out, we’ll take it from there.
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