Credit: Christian Wiediger via Unsplash.
YouTube has overtaken Netflix for daily audience attention for the first time, with average viewing rising to 99.1 minutes per account in 2025, according to Digital I, a global streaming media measurement company.
The finding comes from Digital i's measurement across 20 international markets, where it found Netflix usage fell from 100.5 minutes per account in 2024, to 93.4 minutes in 2025.
Australian’s were identified as the 8th highest YouTube viewers, averaging 93 minutes of daily watch time.
YouTube's share of living room viewing grew from 28% to 35% between January 2024 and December 2025, while mobile viewing fell from 35% to 31%.
Gen Z remains YouTube's most engaged age group, averaging 111 minutes per day.
Men aged 55-64 were identified as the strongest growth demographic, with viewing up 5% year-on-year.
Netflix remains a significant presence on YouTube itself, with Netflix's official channel recording the highest reach of any channel on the platform in 2025 at 78.2 million unique accounts.
"YouTube's evolution from a social video service into a dominant global attention platform is one of the defining media shifts of the decade," said Matt Ross, chief analytics officer at Digital I.
"Our data shows audiences increasingly treating YouTube not as social media, but as a primary entertainment destination."
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