What is YouTube?
YouTube is a video-sharing platform launched in 2005. Available content includes video clips, TV drama, music videos, live streams, films and etc. Though most are uploaded by individuals, many media corporations, such as BBS and CBS, also upload videos regularly to this platform.
YouTube had 2 billion monthly active users worldwide in 2019. The only social network that has more monthly active users than YouTube is Facebook, which has about 2.6 billion users. Therefore, it is safe to say that YouTube is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world.
Every day, people watch 1 billion hours of videos on YouTube, which generates billions of views. More than 70% of the watch time comes from mobile devices. On mobile alone, YouTube reaches more people in the U.S. than any other TV network. People can navigate videos in 80 different languages.
YouTube is also extremely popular among marketers. Nearly 80% of marketers think Youtube is the most effective platform for video marketing. Around 62% say they plan to increase their YouTube video ad spend in the next 12 months. On the contrary, only 58.5% of marketers consider Facebook the most effective video marketing platform.
The reason why marketers like YouTube is that about 90% of people discover new brands or products on this platform, even though they might not watch a video because they intend to buy something.
To recap, since the first video was uploaded on YouTube, YouTube has become more and more popular among the public and marketers.
Billions of people spend millions of hours every day on this platform, which helps it generate millions of views. Those views help it attract more marketers and make more money.
Sources I use as references:
Larissa Gao 