Sports and children’s programming dominated the YouTube TV landscape in 2024.
Global viewers streamed over one billion hours of content daily, YouTube said in its annual recap on its blog. The post also highlighted key trends and innovations that transformed how audiences engage with big screen content.
Sports and children’s programming dominated the YouTube TV landscape in 2024. Watchtime for sports content on TV grew by over 30% year-over-year, reflecting a shift in how fans consume their favorite games and highlights. This surge was fueled by its new ‘Watch With’ feature which allows creators to deliver live commentary, analysis, and reactions to games and events.
Meanwhile, family-friendly content remained a staple of the YouTube TV experience. Channels like ‘Ms. Rachel’ achieved some of the highest watchtimes, reinforcing YouTube’s appeal among younger audiences and families. This was supported by the enhanced safety and user controls YouTube introduced, empowering parents to restrict access to inappropriate content.
The report also noted that popularity of podcasts on TV had surged, with viewers streaming over 400 million hours of podcasts monthly. This trend signals a shift toward multimedia storytelling, as creators blend audio and video formats to engage audiences more deeply.
Creators are increasingly optimising content for TV, as evidenced by a 35% increase in 4K video uploads year-over-year. This focus on quality is yielding results, with a 30% rise in creators earning the majority of their revenue from TV audiences. Enhancements like the addition of a subscribe button directly within the TV video player have further streamlined viewer engagement, driving a 40% increase in net subscriptions through TVs.
Notably, YouTube was the lone streaming service to top 10% household TV market share in November, ahead of Netflix (7.7%), Prime Video (3.7%) and Hulu with 2.7%, according to a Nielsen report.
