How Changing Viewing Habits Have Fueled YouTube’s TV Dominance

One ironic consequence of the streaming wars has become apparent over the last year or so: While the major media and tech companies were battling to win in the SVOD space, YouTube was solidifying its dominance of all TV viewing.

Yet this dominance has been fueled not only by increased engagement on the video juggernaut, but by fundamental changes in how viewers engage with YouTube.

It’s well-documented by now that the Google-owned service has become the top video streaming platform in the U.S. on big-screen devices. Its share of all U.S. viewing time on connected TVs, as measured by Nielsen, has pulled away from its closest rival Disney and crested 12.5% in May, a new all-time high.

Comparing the available data on YouTube viewing indicates just how far consumption patterns have shifted over the past half-decade. While less than 30% of YouTube viewership reportedly took place on TVs in 2020, that figure reached nearly 40% in the U.S. in 2024, according to analytics firm Digital (data shared with Variety Intelligence Platform by streaming distribution company and major CTV ad player Wurl).

This reinforces what YouTube CEO Neal Mohan announced back in February: that TVs had surpassed mobile devices as “the primary device for YouTube viewing in the U.S.” as of December 2024.

The shift is not attributable to any one factor, but has been at least partly driven by increased uptake of YouTube among older consumers. Among users under 35, only 23% of U.S. YouTube viewing happens on CTV; among users 35 and older, that figure doubles to 46%.

“Lately, 65+ has been the fastest-growing demo [for YouTube],” said Dave Bernath, general manager of the Americas at Wurl, during a talk at the recent StreamTV Show conference in Denver. “Which shows you that [YouTube] is not a young-person thing, it’s not necessarily only a short-form thing,” he added. “It’s becoming an older people and television thing.”

YouTube may object to the “old-timers” designation, but there’s no question the company has been encouraging users and creators alike to treat its platform like a “television thing.”

Its impending TV app redesign is supposed to make YouTube feel more like an SVOD platform, allowing creators to organize their content by episode and season. And despite the “YouTube Shorts” push to compete with TikTok, the site’s algorithm has prioritized longer videos for years.

This push toward longer, TV-esque content is partly creator-based — some YouTube stars have been open about their desire to be treated more like TV creators, notably by competing at the Emmys — but it’s also, of course, designed to fuel viewer engagement, and the ad revenue that comes with it.

Data from TVision (also shared with VIP+ by Wurl) shows that about 60% of U.S. YouTube viewing sessions on CTV were a half hour or longer in 2024, with nearly 10% topping three hours. Meanwhile, roughly half the videos played on the platform on TVs in 2024 were more than 11 minutes long, according to Digital i.

This indicates that longer videos are not merely skewing consumption data due to their disproportionate influence on viewing time; YouTube users are in fact gravitating more toward longer content on TVs.

And as YouTube increasingly replaces television for an ever-larger segment of the population, it’s going to be increasingly difficult for other TV players to compete for viewer time and ad dollars.

“As YouTube pulls people in increasingly, that’s market share that Samsung or Roku, someone’s FAST channel, AMC, A+E are fighting YouTube now on television for your attention, my attention, plus the ad dollars,” Wurl’s Bernath said. “It’s definitely a force to be reckoned with.”