Nielsen’s January report on viewing usage across linear TV and streaming revealed that YouTube is once again the overall top streaming service in the U.S., with 8.6% of viewing on television screens. Netflix, meanwhile, saw 7.9% of TV usage. The new data points to YouTube’s dominance in the TV streaming arena and marks 12 consecutive months of the platform being in the top spot.

The Google-owned streaming service announced that viewers now watch a daily average of over 1 billion hours of YouTube content on their televisions, which could indicate that there’s a preference for user-generated videos among U.S. consumers rather than traditional TV shows. Sixty-one percent of Gen Z reported that they favor user-generated content over other content formats. Plus, creators are seeing an increase in viewership come from TVs. According to the company, the number of top YouTubers that receive the most watch time on TVs has sky-rocketed by more than 400%. 

Although YouTube has control in the living room, TikTok is still on the lead with mobile devices. As TikTok begins testing longer video limits, the short-form app is pushing into the long-form content space that YouTube currently holds. In a similar way, YouTube is moving into TikTok’s lane with Shorts. With many creators posting on both platforms it will be interesting to see which lands on top.

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