• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

YouTube has overtaken Netflix in worldwide daily viewing time -- now totaling over 1 hour and 30 minutes, according to Digital i, a global media measurement and analytics company.

Research from average daily viewing time across nearly 20 international markets -- including the U.S. -- shows YouTube had 99.1 minutes per day in 2025 versus Netflix at 87.1 minutes daily.

The research company says that, as other analysts have noted, YouTube continues to gain a “growing position as a mainstream television platform rather than a purely social video service.”

Looking further into the data, daily time spent on YouTube equals over 2 hours (120.3 minutes) -- when it comes to those users who are not Netflix subscribers.

In its definition of "heavy" Netflix users, the research shows average daily YouTube viewing drops to just over one hour a day (109.9 minutes), with the heavy Netflix subscribers at more than two-and-a-half hours of viewing daily( 168.1 minutes).

Some of the most-viewed YouTube Channels include the creator-focused platforms. In 2025 the most-viewed area was ‘YouTube Movies” with 1.22 billion hours viewed, followed by "Law & Crime Network" with 297.1 million and Asmongold TV (a gaming platform) at 245.8 million.

The data comes from a 2025 study collected from YouTube and Netflix users in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the U.K, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Poland, Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, and Australia.