Published on: July 16, 2026

YouTube generated $40.4 billion in advertising revenue in 2025, with total platform revenue—including Premium subscriptions—surpassing $60 billion for the first time, according to WARC Media’s latest Platform Insights: YouTube report.

However, advertising growth slowed to 11.7% in 2025, down from 14.7% in 2024, with WARC forecasting growth to ease further to 7% in 2026 and 7.9% in 2027.

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Competition Intensifies from TikTok and Netflix

The report highlights increasing competition for advertising budgets.

TikTok continues to attract performance marketers with its social commerce capabilities and, if current trends persist, could overtake YouTube’s advertising revenue by 2028.

Netflix has also emerged as a stronger competitor following the success of its advertising-supported subscription tier, positioning itself to attract greater advertiser investment over the next 18 months.

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TV Becomes YouTube’s Fastest-Growing Screen

YouTube now reaches nearly 2.6 billion monthly users worldwide.

While engagement continues to deepen, viewing habits are changing rapidly.

According to the report:

• Connected TV accounts for 45% of total YouTube watch time in the United States
• Average TV viewing sessions exceed 45 minutes
• Completion rates reach 95% or higher

India remains YouTube’s largest market with 500 million users, followed by the United States with 254 million users.

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Shorts Continue to Reshape Video Consumption

YouTube Shorts now records more than 200 billion daily views globally.

The report notes that monetisation is improving, with revenue per watch hour for Shorts exceeding traditional in-stream formats in several key markets, including the United States.

However, WARC says future revenue growth will depend on advertisers adapting creative strategies specifically for short-form vertical video.

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Marketers Continue to Trust YouTube

Despite slowing revenue growth, YouTube remains one of marketers’ preferred advertising platforms.

According to the report:

• YouTube ranked as the most preferred and most trusted media brand among marketers for the third consecutive year, according to Kantar.
• It ranked second for brand safety, behind Netflix.
• Research from DoubleVerify, Kantar and WARC’s Voice of the Marketer indicates marketers globally plan to increase YouTube advertising investment this year.

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Gen Z Drives Commerce on YouTube

The report also highlights YouTube’s growing influence on purchasing behaviour among younger audiences.

According to the findings:

• 51% of Gen Z males purchased a product after watching a YouTube Shorts advertisement.
• 43% of Gen Z females also made purchases following Shorts advertising.

WARC says these figures reinforce YouTube’s growing role as both a branding and commerce platform.

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YouTube Strengthens Position Beyond Video

The report notes YouTube has also:

• Overtaken Spotify for podcast viewing
• Become the leading social platform source for large language models (LLMs), surpassing Reddit
• Continued expanding across music, gaming, education, news, entertainment and creator-led content

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Industry Perspective

Alex Brownsell, Head of Content at WARC Media and lead editor of the report, said YouTube’s increasing video consumption, particularly on connected TV, has yet to translate into comparable advertising revenue growth.

He noted that while platforms like TikTok have strengthened their performance marketing credentials, YouTube is increasingly focused on attracting larger television advertising budgets as viewing shifts to the living room.

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