What Sponsors Need to Know About YouTube in 2026: 4 Facts From the Primary Sources
YouTube outperforms social platforms on both consideration and purchase influence. Shoppers are 1.7x more likely to say YouTube positively influenced brand consideration and 1.6x more likely to say it influenced their actual purchase decision, compared with social platforms, tied to more than 35 billion hours of shopping-related content watched on YouTube in the past year. Source: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/next/article/search-and-video/media-planning-in-changing-video-landscape/
63% of YouTube viewers say they've bought from a brand because they saw it on YouTube. Self-reported, not a tracked conversion number, treat as directional influence evidence. Source: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-emea/marketing-strategies/video/shoppable-video-youtube/
YouTube beats social platforms on attention, relevance, and trust. Viewers are 1.5x more likely to pay attention to YouTube content, rate it 1.7x more relevant, and consider it more than twice as trustworthy as social platform content (Google-commissioned BCG study). Source: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-emea/marketing-strategies/video/video-influence-on-consumer-purchase-decision-process/
UK-specific: average UK adult watches 60 minutes of YouTube daily across all devices, including connected TVs. Source: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-emea/marketing-strategies/video/shoppable-video-youtube/
