YouTube now attracts 85% of global internet users every month, and nearly one in five (18%) of them are watching full-length films and TV series on the platform, according to Ampere Analysis’s latest survey of 56,000 adults across 29 markets.
The surge in long-form viewing is being powered by 35–64-year-olds, whose engagement with movies and TV shows on YouTube significantly outpaces younger demographics. Households with children are another major driver, pointing to multi-generational family viewing sessions that include both parents and grandparents.
Key findings from Ampere’s global consumer tracker:
- YouTube’s film and TV audience is older and more genre-diverse than the platform’s overall user base, behaving like “content super-consumers.”
- Adoption varies dramatically by market: 32% of Indian internet users watch films and series on YouTube, followed by 20% in Saudi Arabia, 15% in the US, 12% in the UK, and just 7% in Sweden — the lowest recorded.
- Markets with fewer subscription VOD services and weaker broadcaster catch-up offerings show the highest YouTube long-form viewing. Brazil and Mexico stand out with large audiences and high smart-TV usage, creating prime distribution windows for rights holders seeking incremental reach.
The data underscores YouTube’s evolution from a short-form clip destination into a legitimate rival to traditional streaming and broadcast platforms, especially among demographics and regions historically underserved by premium on-demand services.