Online Video Statistics UK 2022 – How Many Videos do People Watch?
Online Video Statistics 2022
Whether it’s browsing YouTube, the black hole of Facebook Watch or spending an afternoon scrolling through viral dance trend videos on TikTok, online videos are hard to avoid.
Through the demand for our video transcription services, we’ve seen how much video content creation increased in recent years. However, we wanted to see the bigger picture. Just how much video do we consume and how much are the world’s biggest creators producing?
We crunched the numbers and pulled it all together for our online video statistics round-up of 2022. Grab your popcorn and let’s dive right in.
Online video statistics – the short version (TL;DR)
For those who prefer their research as short and sweet as TikTok or YouTube shorts, here’s a summary of our findings.
- On average, adults in the UK watch 35 online videos per week (not including streaming services like Netflix)
- The majority of UK adults (68%) now watch videos online every single day.
- Those aged 18-24 watch the most online videos, watching an average of 10 online videos a day.
- The YouTube channel with the most subscribers is Indian record label and film production company, T-Series, which has 187 million subscribers.
- Khaby Lame is the most followed TikTok account, with over 150 million followers.
How many videos are we watching each day?
The short answer:
- Adults in the UK watch an average of 5 online videos every single day
- Men watch more online videos than women
- 15% of UK adults watch at least 15 videos per day
- Amongst 18 to 24s, video watching is most prevalent with an average of 9.53 videos per day
- 68% of adults in the UK watch online videos every single day
To find these statistics, we surveyed 2,000 people in the UK in July 2022 (using Censuswide). We asked questions to learn how much video participants admit to watching in a typical day. Here’s what we asked:
“On average, how many online videos do you estimate you watch in a typical day (include all online videos, for example on YouTube, Facebook/Instagram stories, TikTok, News websites and any other online platform – but not including streaming services like Netflix or iPlayer)?”
They answered:
| Number of videos watched per day | % of respondents who gave this answer |
| 1 – 5 | 34.97 |
| 6 – 10 | 17.23 |
| 11 – 15 | 9.24 |
| 16 – 20 | 5.64 |
| More than 20 (please specify) | 0.75 |
| None | 32.17 |
The average (mean) number of videos per day is 5.01, meaning the typical adult in the UK watches a whopping 35 online videos per week on average.
In other words, people in the UK are watching an average of 5 online videos each day in 2022 (not including streaming services) according to our statistics. However, this varies hugely by age range and other variables.
Average video views by age and sex
We noticed trends in the data when we accounted for different demographics like age. Men and women also indicated different average viewer tendencies.
| Age Group | Average (Mean) Number of Videos They Claim to Watch Per Day |
| 18 – 24 | 9.53 |
| 24 – 35 | 7.76 |
| 35 – 44 | 6.16 |
| 45 – 54 | 4.5 |
| 55+ | 2.25 |
Perhaps in line with what we might assume, the amount of video we watch online decreases amongst older age groups. The youngest adults in the UK consume more than 9.5 online videos per day on average.
However, this doesn’t mean video isn’t an effective marketing tool for brands targeting audience members over 55. Even in this group (which is the age category least engaged with online videos), 48% admit to watching online videos daily.
At the other end of the scale, 88% of those aged 18 to 24 watch online videos daily.
Unlike the age-centric variations, the discrepancy between men and women might be surpizing.
- Men watch an average of 5.64 online videos each day
- For women, this figure drops to 4.41
W also see variations from city to city. Adults in Manchester, for instance, watch an average of 6.27 videos each day while those in Norwich watch just 3.3.
Which YouTube channel has the most subscribers? – Updated for 2023
There are currently over 37 million YouTube channels on the platform. the numbers clearly demonstrate the popularity of the site among video creators and viewers alike.
- The YouTube channel with the most subscribers in 2023 is ‘T-Series’, with 242 million subscribers to date.
- This is followed by ‘Cocomelon – Nursery Rhymes’ with 159 million subscribers and Sony Entertainment Television India, which has over 156 million subscribers.
| YouTube Channel | Number Of Subscribers (Millions) |
| T-Series | 242 |
| Cocomelon – Nursery Rhymes | 159 |
| SET India | 156 |
| MrBeast | 154 |
| PewDiePie | 111 |
| Kids Diana Show | 111 |
| Like Nastya | 105 |
| Vlad and Niki | 96.6 |
| Zee Music Company | 95.1 |
| WWE | 94.9 |
The top 10 most subscribed YouTube channels (updated May 2023)
Which is the most popular YouTube channel in the UK?
As well as finding out which YouTube channels have the most subscribers, we wanted to discover which channels viewers in the UK search for the most. We did this by using the search analysis tool Keyword Finder. Using this method we discovered average monthly search volumes for the 10 YouTube channels with the highest rates of subscribers.
The top 10 most searched for YouTube channels online
As you can see from the graph, WWE is the most searched for YouTube channel in the UK from the top 10 most subscribed to accounts. Clearly the channel is dominating with audiences in the UK.
Which YouTube videos have the most views?
As well as subscribers, views are an important metric YouTubers use to determine the success of their channel. To find out which types of videos audiences view the most on YouTube, we analyzed the 100 channels with the highest subscriptions on the platform. This process allowed us to discover which channels receive the most views on average per video.
| YouTube Channel | Average Number Of Views Per Video (Millions) |
| Billie Eilish | 258 |
| Rihanna | 228 |
| J Balvin | 210 |
| Katy Perry | 207 |
| Bruno Mars | 186 |
Top 5 Youtube channels with the most views in 2021
As you can see from the table:
- The 5 channels with the most views per video out of the top 100 most-subscribed YouTube channels are all singers.
- Billie Eilish has the highest average views per video, averaging approximately 258 million views. Her most viewed video so far is her collaboration with Khalid, ‘Lovely’, which had 1.26 billion views (as of July 2021).
- Rihanna, J Balvin, Katy Perry and Bruno Mars’ videos are also amongst the most-viewed, each having an average of more than 186 million views.
Methodology: To calculate the average number of views per video, we divided the total number of views each user received on all of their videos by the number of videos they’ve posted. We did this for the 100 most followed YouTube accounts.
The Top 10 most followed TikTok accounts of 2021 (Updated for 2023)
TikTok has become one of the most popular apps in recent years. The platform boasts an estimated 1 billion users. Given its popularity as a video-sharing social media service, we wanted to know just how many followers the top 10 most followed accounts have to date.
| TikTok Account | Number of Followers (Millions) |
| khaby.lame | 158.3 |
| charlidamelio | 150.6 |
| bellapoarch | 92.7 |
| addisonre | 88.7 |
| mrbeast | 82.2 |
| zachking | 76.4 |
| kimberly.loaiza | 74.8 |
| willsmith | 72.8 |
| tiktok | 71.9 |
| cznburak | 70.9 |
TikTok accounts with the most followers in 2021 (updated to May 2023)
As the table shows, our research found that:
- @khaby.lame is the most followed TikTok account, having over 158 million followers.
- @charlidamelio and @bellapoarch come in second and third place, with over 150 million and over 92.7 million followers respectively.
Which TikTok accounts are most popular in the UK?
We wanted to know which of the top 10 most followed accounts had the higher average monthly search volume online in the UK. Also, we looked into whether or not this correlates with number of followers. To do this, we again used the online search analysis tool Keyword Finder.
Here are the top 10 most searched-for TikTok accounts.
- Addison Rae’s TikTok account is by far the most searched in the UK. We found that 13,000 searches are made for her TikTok profile on average each month.
- The second most popular TikTok account in terms of online searches appears to be that of Charlie D’amelio. People search for his page more than 5,000 times on average every month.
- It also seems that female creators on TikTok are searched for more frequently than male creators.
Which TikTok videos have the most likes?
It’s clear that the likes of Addison Rae and Charlie D’amelio have some of the most popular TikTok accounts in terms of followers and online searches. However, which accounts’ videos get the most likes? To find out, we conducted an analysis of the 100 most-followed TikTok accounts to discover which accounts receive the highest number of likes on average per video.
| TikTok Account | Average Number Of Likes Per Video (Millions) |
| dina | 17.4 |
| dixiedamelio | 17 |
| bts_official_bighit | 14.6 |
| billieeilish | 13.7 |
| charlidamelio | 5.2 |
Top 5 most liked TikTok accounts
- Dina has the most likes per video on TikTok, with an average of 17.4 million per video.
- Dixiedamelio’s videos are also some of the most liked on TikTok, with an average of more than 17 million per video.
- Billie Eilish is in the top 5 accounts with the most likes on both YouTube and TikTok.
Online video marketing statistics of 2022
The popularity of online videos is clearly continuing to skyrocket. Predictions indicate that in 2022, online videos will account for a staggering 82% of all internet traffic. However, do online videos benefit businesses’ marketing strategies?
- 88% of marketers say that video marketing provides them with positive ROI
- The ideal lengths of online videos are as follows:
- Instagram: 30 seconds
- Twitter: 45 seconds
- Facebook: 1 minute
- YouTube: 2 minutes
- According to Facebook, consumers are 23% more likely to remember which brand made a given video advert if the brand is featured in the first 3 seconds of the video.
- According to Twitter, tweets with videos attract 10 times as much engagement than those without.
- What’s more, an impressive 25% of consumers have made a purchase after seeing a Story on Instagram.
So it’s clear to see that online video is an imperative element of a marketing strategy and that we’re consuming more and more video all the time. It’s a trend that looks set to continue for the long term too.
Methodology and Data
We commissioned our survey using Censuswide, which polled 2,000 adults in the UK on our behalf in July 2021. We chose Censuswide because the specialist research company provides demographically representative panels and adheres to ESOMAR standards for conducting research. These credentials mean we received the most accurate survey results possible. It was incredibly important to us to produce credible statistics.
To calculate the average number of views per video on our YouTube views section, we divided the total number of views each user has received on all of their videos by the number of videos they’ve posted. We did this for the 100 most followed YouTube accounts.
We’re happy to provide access to all of the raw data we worked with, including our survey responses, YouTube and TikTok desk research. To acquire a copy of the data, please contact clientservices@verbit.ai.
