Google CEO Sundar Pichai has announced a new milestone for YouTube. The top executive revealed that more than 10 million channels are now publishing “Shorts” on a daily basis. This surge in activity, recorded as of March, highlights a major shift in how creators and viewers are engaging with short-form video.While short-form video is booming, YouTube is also seeing record-breaking numbers on traditional television screens. In the US alone, viewers are now watching more than 200 million hours of YouTube content in their living rooms every single day, Pichai said.This “living room” momentum suggests that YouTube is increasingly competing with traditional broadcast and cable television for prime-time attention.“In the living room, US viewers are watching over 200 million hours of YouTube content daily. And as of March, we’ve reached a new milestone with over 10 million channels now publishing Shorts each day. This level of daily activity is a testament to how people enjoy this content and how we’ve made it easier for creators,” Pichai said.In November, YouTube accounted for nearly 13% of viewing time, compared with 8% for Netflix, the next in line, according to Nielsen. At that time, the report cited YouTube as saying that viewers watched 700 million hours of video podcasts on living room devices in October, a 75% increase from last year. Furthermore, YouTube is also claimed to be the No. 1 platform for podcast listening, with a healthy lead over Spotify and Apple.
Record growth for paid subscribers
It wasn’t just viewership that grew in the first quarter of the year. YouTube’s subscription services, YouTube Music and Premium, recorded their most successful quarter since the service first launched in June 2018. Pichai said that the company’s subscriptions increased with Gemini app leading the pack. “In subscriptions, this was our strongest quarter ever for our consumer AI plans, primarily driven by adoption of the Gemini app. Overall the number of paid subscriptions has now reached 350 million, with YouTube and Google One being the key drivers,” he said.
