Aggregate data, by uploader-chosen category
Key Facts:
- Youtube music videos make up almost half of all the views on the site, making music the most popular category by view count.
- They account for over 35% of the entire watching time on YouTube, making music the most popular category by viewing time spent.
- The music category has the most views on average, mostly because so many of the top-viewed videos on the site are music.
- YouTube music videos are over twice as popular than non-music videos, based on the median view count.
- YouTube’s share of the music streaming marketplace could be well above 50% - my estimates suggest over 57%.
- These are likely to be underestimates as music videos are often miscategorised as other categories, and this does not even attempt to consider music used as unauthorised samples in other works.
(Best viewed on desktop, or perhaps with a phone in landscape mode…)
| Category | Count | % | View Count | View % | Mean views | Median (S) | Total Dur.(H) | Mean dur (S) | % of YT by duration | Viewcount * Mean Duration | % of watching time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Unknown) | 1 | 0.01% | 179,940 | 0.00% | 179,940 | 179940 | 0.1 | 180 | 0.00% | 32,389,200 | 0.00% |
| Autos & Vehicles | 243 | 2.42% | 11,735,794 | 0.80% | 48,295 | 880 | 19.8 | 294 | 1.11% | 3,450,323,436 | 0.44% |
| Comedy | 272 | 2.70% | 25,391,653 | 1.80% | 93,351 | 217 | 24.7 | 327.1 | 1.39% | 8,305,609,696 | 1.07% |
| Education | 588 | 5.84% | 39,394,281 | 2.80% | 66,997 | 617 | 159.9 | 979 | 8.97% | 38,567,001,099 | 4.97% |
| Entertainment | 1163 | 11.56% | 233,807,517 | 16.80% | 201,038 | 2195 | 219.3 | 678.9 | 12.30% | 158,731,923,291 | 20.47% |
| Film & Animation | 429 | 4.26% | 160,009,001 | 11.50% | 372,981 | 837 | 68.4 | 574.2 | 3.84% | 91,877,168,374 | 11.85% |
| Gaming | 1129 | 11.22% | 82,213,711 | 5.90% | 72,819 | 478 | 393.4 | 1254.5 | 22.07% | 103,137,100,450 | 13.30% |
| Howto & Style | 346 | 3.44% | 23,850,639 | 1.70% | 68,932 | 1417 | 44.4 | 461.8 | 2.49% | 11,014,225,090 | 1.42% |
| Movies | 1 | 0.01% | 124,604 | 0.00% | 124,604 | 124604 | 2.2 | 8093 | 0.13% | 1,008,420,172 | 0.13% |
| Music | 1554 | 15.44% | 661,063,935 | 47.40% | 425,395 | 950 | 181.5 | 420.5 | 10.18% | 277,977,384,668 | 35.85% |
| News & Politics | 663 | 6.59% | 9,113,053 | 0.70% | 13,745 | 364 | 118.6 | 644 | 6.65% | 5,868,806,132 | 0.76% |
| Nonprofits & Activism | 203 | 2.02% | 2,445,377 | 0.20% | 12,046 | 326 | 57.7 | 1022.4 | 3.23% | 2,500,153,445 | 0.32% |
| People & Blogs | 2206 | 21.92% | 102,786,516 | 7.40% | 46,594 | 119 | 301.2 | 491.6 | 16.90% | 50,529,851,266 | 6.52% |
| Pets & Animals | 107 | 1.06% | 2,041,614 | 0.10% | 19,080 | 388 | 9 | 301.7 | 0.50% | 615,954,944 | 0.08% |
| Science & Technology | 346 | 3.44% | 9,277,515 | 0.70% | 26,813 | 569 | 51.8 | 539.3 | 2.91% | 5,003,363,840 | 0.65% |
| Shows | 10 | 0.10% | 1,139,214 | 0.10% | 113,921 | 47529 | 2.5 | 882.5 | 0.14% | 1,005,356,355 | 0.13% |
| Sports | 598 | 5.94% | 15,706,549 | 1.10% | 26,265 | 740 | 104.4 | 628.5 | 5.86% | 9,871,566,047 | 1.27% |
| Travel & Events | 203 | 2.02% | 14,258,853 | 1.00% | 70,240 | 527 | 23.6 | 419.2 | 1.33% | 5,977,311,178 | 0.77% |
| 10062 | 1,394,539,766 | 110,170 | 1782.5 | 1010.678 | 775,473,908,680 |
Notes:
- The ‘Unknown’ category is comprised entirely of the trailer for the film El Dorado - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrv-SgHgXlM - and could be meaningfully rolled in to the Movies category without shifting the means or medians noticeably. It was left here for completeness.
- The mean views are much higher than the median views in every category and across the site as a whole - this is exactly what we’d expect from a power law distribution where most videos are out on the ‘long tail’ with very few views, and a small number of videos have a massively disproportionate number of views.
Relative Category popularity:
- Overall median views: 489
- Median views, except music: 426
- Median views of Music: 950