The number of people watching YouTube per day has increased by 40% since last year says YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. At a Vidcon event in Anaheim, California last week which saw thousands of video content creators and fans turnout, the YouTube CEO revealed some very interesting stats about video views as also announced some new app features in her keynote address.
Marketing Land reports that the numbers Wojcicki revealed during her talk included:
- YouTube watch time is now up over 60% year over year, the fastest growth rate seen in two years.
- More than 400 hours of content is now uploaded every minute to YouTube.
- More than half of YouTube’s views come from mobile devices.
- YouTube — overall and on mobile-only — reaches more more 18-34 and 18-49 year-olds than any US cable network.
- The number of channels earning six figures per year is up 50%. YouTube didn’t give the actual number of channels earning this way, however.
- The number of advertisers running video ads is up more than 40% over last year.
In addition to these staggering numbers, she also revealed that YouTube now sports a new look which is available to its android users and will soon be made available on iOS. The new look app features three tabs: Home, for browsing YouTube generally; Subscriptions, for easily viewing content from channels you’re subscribed to and Account, for keeping up with your own YouTube creation and viewing activity.
There is also a new “diamond” playback button which will be ‘awarded’ to creators of video content on YouTube that have more than 10 million subscribers. This is in addition to the gold and silver buttons currently given to those with 1 million and 100,000 subscribers. Wojcicki also admitted that the video content is getting more competitive, however, YouTube wins by meeting the twin goals of helping creators build audience and revenue. She also said,
Our success is judged by those things. As more [competitors] enter the space, creators will try different things, but they’ll come back to the place that generates the most success for them.”
The YouTube CEO also praised the many YouTube creators, who she described helped YouTube reinvent television and how people view video content. She also reiterated that, “We’re finally in an era where diversity on the screen reflects the diversity of our society.”