YouTube
The long-form-authority pillar
- Daily active users
- 1.3B
- Monthly active users
- 2.7B
- Founded
- 2005
- Avg. session
- 40 min
Figures are approximate, illustrative estimates for comparison purposes and may not reflect current official statistics.
Content formats
- Long-form video
- Short-form video
- Live streaming
How the algorithm works
YouTube optimizes for session watch time across the platform, not just on a single video — click-through rate and average view duration both feed into recommendation weighting.
Key ranking signals
- click-through rate
- average view duration
- session watch time
- returning viewers
1-2 long-form videos per week is sustainable for most creators; Shorts can be posted daily to supplement discovery.
Snapshot as of August 2026 — what's shifted recently
- Session watch time (time spent on YouTube after a video, not just on it) continues to gain weight over single-video metrics.
- Shorts increasingly function as a discovery funnel into long-form, with more explicit cross-promotion in recommendations.
- Click-through rate on impressions is weighed more carefully against downstream retention to discourage clickbait thumbnails.
Algorithms change frequently and without notice. The notes above are illustrative, point-in-time observations, not live data — always cross-check current behavior against each platform's official creator/help resources.
Monetization
- Ad revenue share
- Subscriptions
- Tipping / gifts
- Brand partnerships
- In-app shopping
Requirements: 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in 12 months (or 10M Shorts views in 90 days) for the Partner Program.
Payouts: Ad revenue share is typically 55% to the creator; YouTube generally has the highest per-view payout among the four platforms.
Is YouTube right for you?
Best for creators building deep authority or a searchable evergreen library, and who can sustain higher production value than short-form platforms require.
Read the YouTube creator success guide →