Back on the big screen: for the first time, YouTube views on TV exceeded those on gadgets

We used to make fun of our parents for watching TV all the time, but we didn’t notice how we started doing the same! This is the conclusion that can be drawn according to new statistics – every day, viewers around the world spend more than 1 billion hours watching YouTube videos on TV, not on a laptop or phone. 

This was stated by YouTube CEO Neil Mohan in his annual letter from the company. He thanked the viewers and noted that YouTube is now a full-fledged streaming service.

After all, it was he who made viewers return to TVs to watch videos on the platform. The app itself encourages this – its updates have become as convenient as on other gadgets, you can flip through videos and more as quickly using the remote control as you would a smartphone screen or laptop touchpad.

“For more and more people, watching TV means watching YouTube. But the ‘new’ TV is not like the ‘old’ TV. It’s interactive and includes things like Shorts (yes, people are watching them on TV), podcasts and live streams, as well as the sporting events, sitcoms and talk shows that people already love,” says Neil Mohan.

What’s more, the company caught on to the growing demand and wasted no time in increasing its revenue. So, they created a new 4K Plus subscription (an add-on to the basic plan) so that users can watch 4K videos and even download videos for offline viewing.

Of course, this option will cost $9.99 per month on top of the basic YouTube TV plan, which costs $82.99. It’s no surprise that YouTube TV prices in the US have been increasing repeatedly, with the last increase being $10.

YouTube TV is not available in Ukraine, but users actively subscribe to YouTube Premium, which is much cheaper in our region:

• Individual subscription – ₴99/month
  
• Family rate – ₴149/month
  
• Student subscription – ₴59/month (first month free)