As of May 2019, more than 500 hours of video were uploaded to YouTube every minute. This equates to approximately 30,000 hours of newly uploaded content per hour. The amount of content on YouTube has increased dramatically as consumer’s appetites for online video has grown. In fact, the number of video content hours uploaded every 60 seconds grew by around 40 percent between 2014 and 2019.

YouTube video content consumption

Online video is one of the most popular digital activities worldwide, with 85 percent of internet users in the United States accessing online video on a weekly basis. In May 2019, YouTube reported two billion logged-in viewers every month, resulting in more than one billion hours of video being watched every day. The video platform accounted for over 21 percent of global video streaming traffic in October 2018, closely behind Netflix with 26.6 percent. The most viewed YouTube channels of all time have racked up billions of viewers, millions of subscribers and cover a wide variety of topics ranging from music to cosmetics. The YouTube channel owner with the most video views of all time is Ryan ToysReview, a kidfluencer who unboxes and plays with toys. Other popular YouTubers are gaming personalities such as PewDiePie, DanTDM and Markiplier.