From dominating over 80% of internet traffic to reshaping how we shop, learn, and connect, video has undeniably become the beating heart of our digital world.
Key Takeaways
- In 2023, global internet video traffic accounted for 82% of all consumer internet traffic, projected to reach 84% by 2025 according to Cisco's Annual Internet Report
- U.S. adults spent an average of 17 hours and 38 minutes per week watching online videos in Q4 2022, marking a 2.5% increase year-over-year per Nielsen's Total Audience Report
- 91% of global internet users watched online videos in 2023, with mobile devices accounting for 62% of total watch time per Statista
- YouTube has over 2.7 billion monthly logged-in users as of Q1 2024 per YouTube official blog
- TikTok reached 1.7 billion monthly active users globally by end of 2023 per TikTok data report
- Netflix had 260.28 million paid subscribers worldwide in Q4 2023 per company earnings report
- Over 100 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute in 2023 per YouTube milestones
- 50 million content creators on YouTube as of 2023 per YouTube CEO Neal Mohan
- TikTok creators produced 15 billion videos in 2023 per platform data
- Global 5G video upload speeds enabled 20% more live streams per Ericsson consumer lab
- AV1 codec adoption reduced video streaming bandwidth by 30% compared to H.264 in 2023 per Netflix tech blog
- 8K video displays shipments grew 120% to 2 million units in 2023 per Omdia research
- Video Industry generated $250 billion in revenue globally in 2023 per PwC Global Entertainment Report
- Online video advertising spend reached $180 billion worldwide in 2023 per IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report
- Netflix revenue hit $33.7 billion in 2023, up 6.7% YoY per annual report
Video now dominates global internet traffic and consumer habits across all devices.
Consumption
- In 2023, global internet video traffic accounted for 82% of all consumer internet traffic, projected to reach 84% by 2025 according to Cisco's Annual Internet Report
- U.S. adults spent an average of 17 hours and 38 minutes per week watching online videos in Q4 2022, marking a 2.5% increase year-over-year per Nielsen's Total Audience Report
- 91% of global internet users watched online videos in 2023, with mobile devices accounting for 62% of total watch time per Statista
- Short-form videos under 60 seconds captured 55% of total mobile video consumption time globally in 2023 per App Annie State of Mobile report
- During 2022, video content represented 80% of total internet traffic in Europe, rising from 75% in 2021 per ENISA Threat Landscape
- Indian consumers watched 2.2 trillion video views on YouTube in 2022 alone, averaging 5 hours per user per month per YouTube India blog
- 85% of U.S. internet users aged 18-34 watched live streaming videos weekly in 2023 per Pew Research Center survey
- Global video-on-demand (VOD) viewership grew by 12% to 3.2 billion hours watched daily in 2023 per Conviva State of Streaming report
- In 2023, 70% of B2B video views occurred on mobile devices during commuting hours per Wyzowl Video Marketing Statistics
- Australians streamed an average of 21 hours of video content per week in 2023, 15% higher than non-video streaming per OzTAM report
- 96% of video consumers in the U.S. also use video for product discovery in 2023 per HubSpot State of Marketing report
- Video emails had 300% higher click-through rates than static images in 2023 per Campaign Monitor benchmarks
- 78% of people watch videos without sound, relying on captions, increasing view time by 12% per Facebook IQ study 2023
- Global live video streaming viewership surged 99% year-over-year to 1.4 billion hours in Q1 2023 per Streamlabs report
- 64% of consumers made a purchase after watching a brand video on social media in 2023 per Animoto survey
- Video consumption on smart TVs reached 45% of total household video time in U.S. homes in 2023 per Nielsen
- 89% of video marketers reported increased brand awareness from video campaigns in 2023 per Wyzowl
- Daily video views on TikTok exceeded 1 billion globally in 2023 per TikTok for Business report
- 73% of U.S. millennials prefer watching videos over reading text for news in 2023 per Reuters Institute Digital News Report
- Video podcast consumption grew 42% to 28% of total podcast listens in 2023 per Edison Research
- In 2023, 54% of global internet traffic during peak hours was video, peaking at 80% in North America per Sandvine Global Traffic report
- 92% of mobile video traffic in Asia-Pacific was short-form content under 15 seconds in 2023 per Ericsson Mobility Report
- U.K. video streaming overtook traditional TV with 58% share of viewing time in 2023 per BARB report
- 81% of shoppers watched a video before purchasing online in 2023 per eMarketer survey
- Global VR video consumption tripled to 500 million hours in 2023 per Oculus Insights
- 67% of Gen Z watches videos vertically on mobile exclusively in 2023 per Google Consumer Insights
- Video ad viewability reached 78% on connected TVs in 2023, highest among devices per Integral Ad Science
- 88% of marketers say video delivers superior ROI on social media in 2023 per Social Media Today survey
- Brazil saw 3.5 billion video hours watched on YouTube monthly in 2023 per YouTube Cultura
- 75% of video views on Instagram Reels led to profile visits in 2023 per Instagram Insights
Consumption Interpretation
We are now a species that not only breathes air but also streams pixels, constructing entire economies and social fabrics from the moving image.
Creation
- Over 100 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute in 2023 per YouTube milestones
- 50 million content creators on YouTube as of 2023 per YouTube CEO Neal Mohan
- TikTok creators produced 15 billion videos in 2023 per platform data
- 70% of YouTube creators use smartphones exclusively for filming in 2023 per Tubics survey
- Average length of YouTube Shorts increased to 15 seconds in 2023 per YouTube Analytics
- 82% of video creators reported using AI tools for editing in 2023 per Descript survey
- Global video production market saw 25% rise in user-generated content volume in 2023 per Grand View Research
- 60% of Instagram Reels are created with in-app effects and music in 2023 per Meta creator study
- Twitch streamers broadcasted 150 million hours of content monthly in 2023 per TwitchTracker
- 45% of video creators earn income from multiple platforms in 2023 per Influencer Marketing Hub
- Vertical video format used in 90% of new social media content creations in 2023 per Hootsuite trends
- 360-degree video uploads grew 40% on YouTube VR in 2023 per YouTube VR blog
- 75% of Bilibili creators use live streaming for real-time interaction daily in 2023 per Bilibili report
- Podcast video conversions hit 40% of total episodes produced in 2023 per Riverside.fm stats
- 55 million TikTok LIVE hosts went live monthly in 2023 per TikTok shop report
- User-generated video ads increased 35% on Facebook in 2023 per Meta advertising trends
- 68% of creators plan to invest in 8K video production in 2024 per 2023 surveys
- AR filters used in 30% of Snapchat video stories creations in 2023 per Snap Lens Studio
- 2.5 million educational videos uploaded to Khan Academy YouTube channel cumulatively by 2023 per Khan Academy
- Gaming clips on Twitch totaled 1.2 billion unique videos in 2023 per SullyGnome
- 80% of LinkedIn video content is repurposed from longer formats in 2023 per LinkedIn stats
- 4K video uploads on Vimeo surged 50% in 2023 per Vimeo engineering blog
- 95% of professional video creators use cloud storage for collaboration in 2023 per Adobe Creative Cloud survey
- Music videos accounted for 25% of all YouTube views in 2023 per IFPI global report
- 360p was the most common resolution for mobile video creation at 40% share in 2023 per Akamai media report
Creation Interpretation
While creators flood our screens with an unprecedented tide of content—from 15-second Shorts to billion-hour live streams—this isn't just a numbers game; it's the democratization of a once-exclusive medium, now powered by smartphones, driven by AI, and financed across platforms, reshaping not just how we watch, but how we work, learn, and connect.
Economics
- Video Industry generated $250 billion in revenue globally in 2023 per PwC Global Entertainment Report
- Online video advertising spend reached $180 billion worldwide in 2023 per IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report
- Netflix revenue hit $33.7 billion in 2023, up 6.7% YoY per annual report
- YouTube ad revenue exceeded $31.5 billion in 2023 per Alphabet SEC filings
- TikTok global ad revenue topped $16 billion in 2023 per eMarketer forecasts
- Video streaming subscriptions market valued at $100 billion in 2023 per Statista
- Creator economy payouts from platforms totaled $20 billion in 2023 per SignalFire report
- OTT video market CAGR projected at 21% from 2023-2028 reaching $380 billion per MarketsandMarkets
- Programmatic video ad spend grew 25% to $70 billion in 2023 per Magna Global
- Disney streaming revenue $23 billion in FY2023 per earnings
- Short-form video ad market valued at $10 billion in 2023 per Insider Intelligence
- Live streaming commerce generated $500 billion in China alone in 2023 per iResearch
- Video production services market size $50 billion globally in 2023 per IBISWorld
- User-generated content sponsorships paid $5 billion to creators in 2023 per Aspire Influencer report
- Connected TV ad revenue $30 billion in U.S. 2023 per Nielsen
- Gaming video market $25 billion including esports streaming in 2023 per Newzoo
- Enterprise video conferencing software market $12 billion in 2023 per Grand View Research
- Music video production budgets averaged $1 million per major label video in 2023 per Billboard
- Ad-supported streaming tiers generated $4 billion incremental revenue for Netflix in 2023 per Q4 earnings
- Video on demand royalties paid $2.5 billion to filmmakers in 2023 per Motion Picture Association
- Influencer video marketing ROI averaged 5.2x in 2023 per Traackr
Economics Interpretation
In a world where our collective attention has become the planet’s most lucrative resource, a quarter-trillion-dollar video industry exists not merely to entertain us, but to methodically transform every glance, scroll, and click into streams of revenue flowing from advertising, subscriptions, and our own creative labor.
Platforms
- YouTube has over 2.7 billion monthly logged-in users as of Q1 2024 per YouTube official blog
- TikTok reached 1.7 billion monthly active users globally by end of 2023 per TikTok data report
- Netflix had 260.28 million paid subscribers worldwide in Q4 2023 per company earnings report
- Instagram Reels garnered 200 billion daily plays in 2023 per Meta Q4 earnings call
- Twitch averaged 2.5 million concurrent viewers daily in 2023 per Stream Hatchet analytics
- Facebook Watch accumulated 500 million daily video views in 2023 per Meta transparency report
- Snapchat Spotlight videos received over 250 million daily submissions in 2023 per Snap Inc. investor day
- Vimeo hosted 260 million unique monthly visitors in 2023 per company annual report
- Bilibili, China's video platform, had 326 million monthly active users in Q3 2023 per earnings call
- Dailymotion served 300 million monthly video views across 190 countries in 2023 per Vivendi report
- Rumble saw user growth to 67 million monthly active users in 2023 per company filings
- LinkedIn video uploads increased 45% year-over-year to 2023 per LinkedIn Marketing Solutions blog
- Pinterest video Pins engagement rose 60% in 2023 per Pinterest Newsroom
- X (formerly Twitter) video views hit 8 billion daily in 2023 per company blog
- Kwai (Kuaishou International) reached 500 million monthly users outside China in 2023 per app analytics
- Likee had 150 million monthly active users focused on short videos in 2023 per SingularityNET report
- ShareChat's video content platform hit 180 million monthly transacting users in India 2023 per Mohalla Tech
- Triller video creation app users created 2 billion videos in 2023 per company stats
- ByteDance's CapCut app had 200 million monthly users editing videos in 2023 per Sensor Tower
- Discord's video watch parties peaked at 10 million concurrent users during events in 2023 per Discord blog
- Reddit video posts grew 300% to 50 billion views in 2023 per Reddit IPO prospectus
- Spotify video podcasts reached 300 million hours streamed in 2023 per company wrapped
- Apple's Apple TV+ had 25 million subscribers by end 2023 per analyst estimates Ming-Chi Kuo
- Disney+ peaked at 150 million subscribers globally in 2023 per Disney fiscal report
- Amazon Prime Video had 200 million subscribers in 2023 per Statista estimates
- HBO Max (now Max) reached 97 million subscribers in 2023 per Warner Bros. Discovery
Platforms Interpretation
While YouTube’s 2.7 billion monthly users and TikTok's 1.7 billion users grab the biggest headlines, the collective, fragmented statistics from platforms like Twitch, Instagram Reels, and even LinkedIn reveal a simple, voracious truth: the entire human population is now professionally, socially, and sometimes accidentally in the business of watching, making, and living inside video.
Technology
- Global 5G video upload speeds enabled 20% more live streams per Ericsson consumer lab
- AV1 codec adoption reduced video streaming bandwidth by 30% compared to H.264 in 2023 per Netflix tech blog
- 8K video displays shipments grew 120% to 2 million units in 2023 per Omdia research
- Edge computing cut video streaming latency by 50ms on average for live events in 2023 per Akamai
- HDR video content consumption rose to 25% of total streams on YouTube in 2023 per Google
- WebRTC usage in video calls reached 80% of peer-to-peer connections in 2023 per WebRTC Ventures
- CDN video delivery handled 70% of global traffic with 99.99% uptime in 2023 per Cloudflare year in review
- Adaptive bitrate streaming optimized 95% of mobile video sessions in 2023 per Mux data
- VR headset shipments hit 13.5 million units in 2023, up 38% YoY per IDC
- AI-driven video compression saved 40% data costs for hyperscalers in 2023 per Gartner
- 5G fixed wireless delivered 4K video to 20 million homes in 2023 per GSMA intelligence
- Interactive video technology engagement boosted completion rates by 25% in 2023 per Eko platform stats
- H.266/VVC codec promised 50% bitrate efficiency over HEVC, piloted in 2023 per Fraunhofer HHI
- Cloud gaming video streams peaked at 1.5 million concurrent users on GeForce Now in 2023 per Nvidia
- 360 video stitching algorithms improved real-time rendering by 3x speed in 2023 per Unity tech blog
- Video analytics AI detected 99% accuracy in object recognition for security cams in 2023 per Milestone Systems
- Low-light video enhancement via AI increased usable footage by 60% in smartphones 2023 per DXOMARK
- QUIC protocol accelerated video HTTPS delivery by 15% latency reduction in 2023 per Google QUIC blog
- Spatial audio in video streams adopted by 40% of OTT platforms in 2023 per Dolby report
- Blockchain for video rights management processed 1 million NFTs in 2023 per Theta Network
- Mesh delivery networks cut video costs by 70% for short-form content in 2023 per Peer5 (now Wowza)
- Neural radiance fields (NeRF) generated photorealistic videos 10x faster in 2023 per NVIDIA research
Technology Interpretation
While we're busy chasing pixels into eight glorious K's, the real revolution in video is happening behind the scenes, where 5G, AI, and smarter codecs are quietly making everything sharper, faster, and more immersive without us even noticing the magic—or the data bill.
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