Video Marketing
Statistics 2026

The strongest top-line benchmark on this page is no longer a one-platform vanity metric. It is the simple fact that online video is already a default behavior for connected adults around the world.

• 94.6% of online adults watched some kind of online video in the past 30 days.
• 91.7% consumed streaming TV content each month.
• Streaming services already account for 50.4% of total TV watch time among internet users.
• EMARKETER expects 3.88B people to watch video online in 2025, equal to 79.0% of all internet users.

The marketing implication is straightforward: video is no longer a format you layer on top of a plan. It is already one of the most common ways people spend time online.

YouTube still deserves its own section because it blends creator discovery, short-form distribution, connected-TV viewing, and subscription revenue inside a single platform.

• YouTube Music and Premium reached 125M subscribers, including trials, by March 2025.
• YouTube Shorts were generating 70B by the same point in 2025.
• People now watch more than 1B+ hours of YouTube content on TV sets each day.
• 82% of video marketers upload to YouTube, and 69% say the platform is effective for them.

That combination is why YouTube remains the baseline platform benchmark in video marketing: it is simultaneously a hosting layer, a discovery engine, a TV destination, and a subscription product.

The more useful YouTube ad benchmark now is not a narrow pre-roll statistic. It is how deeply YouTube has penetrated TV-style viewing and connected-device reach.

• YouTube captured 13.1% of total US TV viewing time in August 2025.
• YouTube's CTV ad formats can reach 84.6% of YouTube's total audience in the United States.
• EMARKETER says social video will take 61.3% of US social network ad spend in 2025, slightly above its 60.6% share of time spent.

In other words, advertisers are now following video attention across feeds, televisions, and streaming surfaces rather than treating digital video as one isolated media bucket.

Short-form video is still essential, but the useful comparison is no longer “which app wins?” It is how reach and engagement differ by platform and by format.

• Metricool's 2024 study found TikTok averaged 18,173.32 views per short-form post.
• Instagram Reels averaged 16,152.88 views per post.
• Facebook Reels averaged 8,553.37 views per post.
• YouTube Shorts led the same study on engagement with a 5.91 ratio.
• By September 2025, Metricool reported short-form posting volume had grown 70% year over year, even while Instagram and YouTube were already showing signs of saturation.

The practical lesson is that short-form video still matters everywhere, but brands need a channel-by-channel plan rather than one generic “post more short video” rule.

Screen behavior has fragmented far beyond desktop and phone. The strongest current device benchmarks now come from connected TV adoption, streaming share, and mobile-first media budgets.

• 31.6% of online adults used a connected TV device to access digital content in the past 30 days.
• Streaming already accounts for 59.4% of all TV watch time in the United States.
• US advertisers will allocate 66% of their media budget to mobile in 2025.
• EMARKETER expects mobile video ad spend to surpass mobile search ad spend in 2026.

The device shift is no longer theoretical: video planning now spans phones, feeds, and TV screens at the same time.

The benchmark layer for marketers is clear: video is already mainstream, it sits near the center of most strategies, and brands expect to keep spending on it.

• 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool.
• 93% of video marketers say video is an important part of their overall strategy.
• 69% of video marketers have created social media videos, making them the most common single use case in Wyzowl's latest survey.
• 92% plan to spend the same or more on video marketing in 2026.
• 41% have already spent money on video ads this year.

That mix matters because it shows video marketing is not being treated like an experimental side project. It is already embedded in channel plans, production workflows, and paid distribution.

The clearest future-facing numbers on this page combine penetration, spend mix, and long-range ad market forecasts.

• EMARKETER expects 3.88B people to watch video online in 2025.
• That equals 79.0% of all internet users worldwide.
• Social video will take 61.3% of US social network ad spend in 2025.
• Allied Market Research projects the digital video advertising market will reach $712.6B by 2031.

The directional story is consistent across those sources: video demand is already massive, and the money chasing that attention is still shifting further toward video-heavy formats and surfaces.

The strongest proof points for video marketing are no longer just view counts. They are the metrics that show video changes trust, learning, and action.

• 82% of video marketers say video has delivered a good ROI.
• 96% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.
• 85% of people say a video has convinced them to buy a product or service.
• 89% say video quality affects how much they trust a brand.
• 63% of video marketers have already used AI tools to help create or edit marketing videos.

That is the cleaner modern picture of video marketing: strong consumer demand, strong marketer ROI, and a production stack that is rapidly absorbing AI without replacing the need for quality.