In its 20 years, YouTube has become a staple of many consumers’ media habits and, subsequently, brands’ ad budgets. But there remains plenty of room to better monetize its audience and for advertisers to take better advantage of its massive reach.

YouTube is the biggest media platform in the world in terms of user base. Globally, its viewers outnumber the biggest social media, digital video, and digital audio platforms. And this is despite the fact that it has been banned in some highly populous countries (including China).

YouTube also leads all other digital platforms for US time spent. US adults will spend an average 37 minutes per day on the platform in 2025, ahead of Netflix (36 minutes), Facebook (20 minutes), Instagram, and TikTok (17 minutes each).

Ad spending on YouTube will be up over 750% in 2025 versus 2015. This rapid rise has been fueled by a boom in digital video consumption and a significant improvement in its ad products. But it still sits some way behind the wider digital video ad category. For comparison, US digital video ad spending increased 1,776% in the past 10 years.

YouTube’s jack-of-all-trades identity could also be a limiting factor in its ad take.It has more overall users than Facebook, Netflix, or Spotify and a greater amount of total raw engagement (in terms of time spent). But its identity as a leading social media platform, premium video provider, or audio streamer isn’t always entirely obvious. So advertisers on the platform may be confused as to how they should build it into their plans.

Read the full report, YouTube for Marketers Explainer.