Last fall, YouTube revealed that they had overtaken Disney in the ratings game in July 2024, which made them the first-ever streaming service to take the crown. Most people assumed that it was a combination of children watching more YouTube thanks to summer break, lack of new network programming, and the fact that basic YouTube is still free, while Disney and the rest of the media companies with streaming services have continued to raise prices. Well, oops, they did it again. In February 2025, YouTube once again toppled the Mouse. In July, they received 10.4 percent of viewership, but in February, their share had grown to 11.6 percent. Their secret sauce? People over age 50 now account for around 36 percent of their viewership.
YouTube commanded more TV time than any other media provider in the United States in February, and its top ranking was thanks in part to viewers over the age of 50.
The service accounted for 11.6 percent of all TV use in the country in Nielsen‘s rankings of media distributors for the February period (which ran from Jan. 27-Feb. 23). That’s an all-time high for YouTube and the second time it has placed atop the distributor rankings; it previously did so in July 2024.
YouTube improved from 10.8 percent of TV use in January and passed Disney (10 percent) for the overall spot among TV content distributors. Nielsen notes that the rise for YouTube was fueled partly by a somewhat surprising source: people over 50, who accounted for about 36 percent of all time spent watching YouTube on TV screens — more than the combined 28 percent for teenagers and adults 18-34. The media distributor rankings don’t include viewing on computers or mobile devices, which means the demographics Nielsen cited might not be fully representative of YouTube’s total usage across all devices.
Fox moved into third place in February — its highest ranking to date — thanks in large part to a record-setting Super Bowl. It claimed 8.3 percent of U.S. TV use, edging ahead of Netflix and Paramount (8.2 percent each and both down a little from January).
Power to the content creators out there. I had no idea that it was such a big deal among the older demographic, but it makes total sense. From news and politics to how-to videos to educational content to niche community representation and beyond, there’s such a wide variety of content available on YouTube and it’s all available, generally for free, on demand. For better or for worse, there is literally something for everyone on YouTube.
We only let my kids watch YouTube Kids on the weekends, but they and all of their friends are obsessed with it. They even like watching people play games like Roblox together. Both my husband and my brother-in-law turn to YouTube first when they want to be entertained. Since Nielsen doesn’t include cell phones, iPads, and computer streams in their totals, I absolutely believe that YouTube’s viewers are even higher than this. I only hope that its parent company, Google, doesn’t smell profit and mess with their business model too much. It would be a shame if corporate greed once again ruined a good thing.
Images credit Hot and Flashy, WWE/John Cena, The Dodo/wolfgang2242, Oprah’s Book Club/Viola Davis.
I’m in the UK, but my retired mother watches YouTube more than anything else nowadays. I probably do too, to be honest. I think about 75% of my streaming is between YouTube and twitch at this point.
I subscribe to YouTube Tv as my streaming service but I rarely view YouTube videos, far too much noise for me. I subscribe to YouTube as my streaming service to cut out DirectTv/ATT and it is cheaper.
Same for us. We have youtubetv because we watch our local sports teams, and don’t need to pay extra for them. Other TV services cost an arm and a leg to get the regional sports coverage. When our previous service was in a dispute with ESPN, Youtubetv had a 30 day free trial period, we tried it and we found we did not need all the bells and whistles of our previous package. I do miss some channels but not so much that I am willing to pay so much more for them.
I’m wondering where the line is here between YouTube videos from content creators and YouTube TV.
Since this doesn’t include mobile devices or computers, I can’t believe that many people are sitting down to watch random YouTube videos on their TVs on a regular basis.
Like my boomer mother will fall down the YT rabbit hole on her phone or Echo Show frequently but I dont think it would ever occur to her to go to YouTube on her TV and watch something there.
But clearly I’m wrong lol.
Is everyone just watching content creators or are there series and things like that that people are watching? (not counting YouTube TV here. )
Same thought here. I wonder if YouTube TV has anything to do with it. We subscribe bc we can have all our local stations and it’s by far the cheapest option. Kids watch YouTube videos. 🤷♀️
@becks1, I am probably a perfect example of seniors that watch YouTube on their tv. I have Wi-Fi but I’m not interested in getting cable because with my smart TV, I have a couple of streaming services built into the TV and I can cast anything I want using regular, free, YouTube onto my tv. I don’t watch random videos, on the contrary, I will cast TV shows or movies and sometimes self-help videos. I got into doing this during lockdown because a lot of premium television shows and movies were put on YouTube for free that otherwise wouldn’t have been free. Now, this isn’t great for people that want to watch the latest, most recent, popular television or streaming service movies or shows but it works great for older people like me that just want to watch a movie now and again.
@Mayp I wasn’t even thinking about casting but that makes sense to me. We have youtube on our smart TV but I find it a little clunky to use and think its easier on the phone, so casting makes sense from that perspective.
I think I’m just woefully unaware of what is on YT, lol. I use it to watch vacation planning videos (its great for Disney and cruises) and then my husband watches random concerts on it here and there. It has never occurred to me that you can watch whole movies or whole series on there besides a few clips.
I’ve finally convinced him that its time to cut cable (our bill is over 300 a month which is insane to me) so now need to price out other options. Our cable does include Max, Peacock and Netflix so need to take those into account and need to figure out if its worth it to try something like Youtube TV or just use YouTube. Hmm.
@becks1, you definitely should check out youtube. I have the app on my phone so that sets up like a free YouTube account into which you can save individual shows or movies or entire playlists. Then, you can go back and watch things when you want, if they are still available! All you need to do is either a specific search for a particular item or you can do a general search, eg., nordic noir, British crime shows, horror movies, etc, which will bring up posters that have playlists covering a particular genre. For example, if you wanted to watch any episodes of midsomer murders there are posters that have all of the episodes but the latest season on their playlists. You can either save one show or movie or an entire playlist to your account. But you need to be aware of two things: most of what’s on there now is not recent and there are commercials (though you can skip through them). Also, I’m not a sports fan but you might want to look into a pay for TV YouTube account. There have been times though that I have been able to stream live sporting events on YouTube it just depends.
You really should check out free YouTube and then you can better tailor any subscriptions to what you really feel you need. Because, seriously, $300 a month is crazy!
And I agree, YouTube on a smart TV is really clunky to use and it is so much easier to just pull up something you want to watch on your phone and then cast it to your tv!
One hint on free youtube: sometimes you can get more recent shows and movies in English if you search for it with Spanish or French or German subtitles because those seem to be released earlier!
When we ditched Dish we went with YouTube TV for our regular channels. I get my local stations, as well as lifestyle changes like HGTV, Food Network, and they recently added Magnolia Network. I do watch some YouTube content – mostly when planning vacation. However my 27 yr old son watches YouTube almost exclusively. I don’t really understand it, but he’s really into some of the site content for gaming.
That is Angie from Hot and Flashy! Yes, I am over 50 and watch her YouTube channel!
Me too, when worlds collide!
I thought I was hallucinating when I saw Angie’s face while scrolling through the Celebitchy home page! What a delightful convergence!
I found Angie during Covid when I was trying to figure out how to color my hair, she has really relevant content for women in their 50’s. YouTube has awesome content for the curious and self sufficient types!
Love her so much!! She has GREAT recs!
I literally clicked just for Angie Hot n Flashy on the tile, excellent choice for the over-50 content creator article. She’s great!
Yep I’m over 50 and watch a lot of YouTube.
My husband watches YouTube TV for the sports and I watch regular YouTube for content creators. I have Netflix, Disney and Hulu but I rarely watch them and I really need to cancel. I’m trying to finish Paradise and a few other shows first. And yep, I’m over 60 lol.
I’m a bit worried about that proven right wing algorithm.
Me too, @NotMika. My dad didn’t need much help radicalizing himself, but his YouTube habit is feeding him the most bizarre “news” stories that we’re all pretty sure he’s allowing the YT algorithm to feed his delusions.
@salmonpuff; sounds like home. Some of the crazy theories spouted by someone in my environment are beyond believable. Some of the You Tube videos are propaganda and radicalizing.
So far, I’m able to curate and control my algorithm. I left Facebook and Twitter because it kept pushing stuff at me I clearly indicated I did not want to see. Then it would send me emails with the same hateful crap if I hadn’t logged in for a while.
I saw a suggestion somewhere that in order to stop the radicalization of the older generations, younger people can set the parental controls on their tvs, etc, to filter things out, and they likely won’t know what happened. Not sure if that works or not.
🤨
I feel like this thread proves that my parents probably know more about youtube than I do, lololol.
I pay for YouTube premium and I love it. I watch tons of lifestyle content, reaction channels, K-Pop content (BTS!), some educational stuff, podcasts, comedy, sitcom compilations.
I refuse to watch live television since the election. It’s traumatizing. And there is an endless amount of free content out there.
Also in my fifties and watch a lot of YouTube content, often nostalgia stuff, eg I remember a song from the ‘80s and want to see the music video.
I read an article the other day that said all the “traditional” producers out there – film, tv and streamers – are having problems because more and more viewers (not just over 50) are preferring content creators.
I believe it. 🙃😉 Do you have a link? Thanks!
You Tube is responsible for turning my elderly mother from a slightly conservative and generally apolitical person who actually stood up against religious bigotry in her daily life into a raving magat lunatic who believes things like the pope is controlled by “the jews.”
She got all of this stuff from YouTube. In my rare visits I can hear her watching these insane videos deep into the night, the algorithm just promoting “holistic” snake oil and far right extremism.
See my comment above under #4. Maybe you can set some “parental controls”? Gives the phrase a whole new, reversed meaning! And sorry to hear about that. What a time we live in.
I’ve thought about it but it’s honestly too late. I don’t live near her and I needed to do this around 2019 before Covid. At this point the damage is done. Maybe if the emerald mine nepobaby technofascist guts social security and medicare. MAYBE there is a chance.
I found Angie during Covid when I was trying to figure out how to color my hair, she has really relevant content for women in their 50’s. YouTube has awesome content for the curious and self sufficient types!
This is wild to me because the people I know who watch things on YouTube and follow the influencers are junior high/high schoolers.
My 78 year old dad watches YouTube all the time.
My mom also watches youtube for almost everything. Just cancelled her cable subscription that was over $200 a month!! She also has britbox.
Im curious if this includes YouTubeTV, that is what me and the mister use.
Do they mean YouTube (free) or YouTube TV (paid)— because I don’t think of free YouTube as a streaming service at all, and I’m one of the over 50s paying for YT TV instead of cable but only because that’s what my kids need to watch NFL games (Sunday Ticket)
I am 57 years old…and I started watching YouTube almost EXCLUSIVELY when I was DEEP in the 😱 of Long Covid from 2022-2024 while I was suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so bad…I could barely breathe…YouTube was the BRIGHTEST light…getting me hooked on van life & tiny homes & decorating…and seeing other cities and countries…hooking me up to others who suffered from Long Covid…anything in the 🌎 I wanted to see…I could see it on YouTube including movies & TV shows from around the 🌎…I NEVA thought I could EVA leave cable TV or my DVR…but now…I ditched my cable including my beloved TCM 😲…and I rely WHOLLY on YouTube Premium & a couple of rotating streaming services…and if I need the environment of live Television my Smart TV got me covered❣️
If it wasn’t for YouTube I never would have found medias touch plus A lot of different types of artists,nostalgia etc