YouTube is untouchable when it comes to mobile streaming. According to a new report by App Annie, among the top five apps used to stream last year, YouTube took up 70 percent of the time spent streaming on Android devices. The number is especially staggering when you take into account the fact that YouTube doesn’t operate in China, a market where the other four get their boost from.
YouTube’s advantage is the fact that it is a platform that hosts a variety of content. Unlike social media platforms such as TikTok, in which videos last a maximum of one minute, or Netflix, whose programs are at least 25 minutes long, YouTube offers everything in between and then some.
“This wider breadth of content helps better suit consumers’ viewing habits: There’s something for you regardless of how much time and attention you have available,” said Lexi Sydow, an analyst for App Annie. “Leveraging advertising allows YouTube to keep its content free and available to all types of users and offer paid tiers to remove ads for users willing to pay.”
Not only does YouTube offer a variety of content suited for varying schedules, but the platform is also easier to access. “Since YouTube relies on content from its user base and sees a whopping 500 hours of content uploaded every minute, there’s a seemingly never-ending selection of local videos for people in every country to watch,” The Verge noted. “YouTube can serve its global audience far faster and easier than Netflix can.”
Earlier this month, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai shared that YouTube TV had surpassed two million subscribers during their Q4 2019 earnings call. The service is now the third largest Live TV Streaming Service.
It’s behind Hulu Live TV, which announced 3.2 Million subscribers, and Sling TV, which had 2.7 million at the end of the last quarter. YouTube TV is now substantially larger than AT&T TV Now, which lost 219,000 subscribers and now has fewer than a million, and fuboTV which is projected to have about 300,000.