YouTube is still dominated by entertainment—but education and learning are close behind.

Essential Statistics

• Entertainment: 28.9%
• Learn about an industry/topic: 26.2%
• Learn how to do something: 19.3%
• Other: 16.4%
• Research products: 4.1%
• News: 3.7%
• Watch TV: 1.4%

Key Takeaways

• YouTube is a hybrid of entertainment and education.
• How to and learning videos are nearly as popular as pure entertainment.
• Product research is a niche use case—but growing.
• Video content strategy must blend helpfulness with watchability.
• Brand visibility here depends on being useful, not just flashy.
• News and TV content are low-priority use cases for most users.
• YouTube’s depth suits mid- and bottom-funnel content well.

Actionable Insights

• Create video content that educates first, entertains second.
• Include product tutorials and explainers to meet rising demand for how-to content.
• Use thumbnails and titles that clarify benefit, not just clickbait.
• Align videos to search intent—optimize for learn and how keywords.
• Test longer-form content for users who want to go deeper.
• Host videos on both YouTube and your site to compound SEO value.
• Use insights to pitch video as a primary format, not supplemental.

Make sure you have fantastic content about your products, as 4.1% of people use YouTube to research products. – Neil Patel