Nearly four in 10 (38%) of YouTube’s global monthly active users now enjoy watching traditional TV and film content on the platform. Documentaries, TV shows, and films are included in the top five most-watched content types on YouTube, according to newly published consumer research by Ampere Analysis. 

YouTube has the largest active user base of all online video platforms globally, with 84% of Internet users watching it at least monthly, 73% weekly, and 59% daily. With such an enormous global reach and currently little professional long-form audience overlap by genre, Ampere believes there is further potential for both the platform and content creators and owners.

YouTube has come a long way since its early days of short, low-quality, user-generated pranks, memes and vlogs. Those types of content are still extremely popular, but we now see more full-length TV shows and movies uploaded from the leading studios, producers, and broadcasters. On one hand, this risks cannibalising some owned-and-operated audiences. On the other hand, the sheer scale and reach of YouTube mean the benefits of extending the addressable audience cannot be ignored, while also opening up new revenue streams via ad-share agreements with the platform. 

Documentaries, TV shows, and films keep users on the platform for longer, growing audiences and creating new revenue streams. Viewing of such content types on YouTube skews slightly towards 35-44s, and to family households, though they are popular across all demographics, and particularly popular in Asia Pacific, where 45% of monthly active users have watched them, and Latin America where 40% have. This compares to more muted viewership in Western Europe at 28%, while North American viewership is in line with the global average at 37%.

Easy access to YouTube via the TV screen is a factor in the popularity of long-form content on the platform. The industry debate about whether YouTube counts as TV will continue, but in the meantime Ampere’s survey data shows that 34% of those who watched both Documentaries and TV shows/films on YouTube in the past month used a Smart TV for at least some of their viewing.