Online Video Statistics UK 2022 – How Many Videos do People Watch?
Online Video Statistics 2022
Whether it’s browsing Youtube, getting stuck in the black hole that is Facebook Watch or the genuine risk of losing half an afternoon scrolling through viral dance trend videos on Tiktok, online video is everywhere.
Through demand for our own video transcription services, we see how much video content creation has increased in recent years. But we wanted to see the bigger picture and find out just how much video we consume and how much do the world’s biggest creators produce.
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
For those who prefer their research as short and sweet as a Tiktok, 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 most subscribed to YouTube channel is Indian record label and film production company T-Series which has 187 million subscribers.
- @charlidamelio is the most followed Tiktok account, having over 120 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) to find out how much video they admit to watching in a typical day. 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. And this varies hugely by age range.
When we look at specific age groups, the average changes:
| 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 while the youngest adults in the UK consume more than 9.5 online videos per day on average.
But don’t be fooled into thinking that means video shouldn’t form a part of any marketing for brands targeting an audience of over 55s. Even in this group (which is the age category leasy engaged with online videos) 48% admit to watching online video daily.
At the other end of the scale, 88% of those aged 18 to 24 watch online videos daily.
What might be less expected than the age centric variations is the discrepancy between men and women.
- Men watch an average of 5.64 online videos each day
- For women, this figure drops to 4.41
And we also see variations from city to city as well, with adults in Manchester watching their way through an average of 6.27 videos each day while (at the other end of the scale) those in Norwich watch just 3.3.
Which YouTube channel has the most subscribers?
There are currently over 37 million YouTube channels on the platform, clearly demonstrating just how popular the site is amongst video creators and viewers alike.
- As you can see from the table below, the Youtube channel with the most subscribers in 2022 is ‘T-Series’, with 187 million subscribers to date.
- This is then followed by ‘Cocomelon – Nursery Rhymes’ with 115 million subscribers and PewDiePie which has over 110 million subscribers.
| YouTube Channel | Number Of Subscribers (Millions) |
| T-Series | 187 |
| Cocomelon – Nursery Rhymes | 115 |
| PewDiePie | 110 |
| SET India | 109 |
| Kids Diana Show | 80.9 |
| WWE | 79 |
| Like Nastya | 75.2 |
| Zee Music Company | 74.8 |
| 5-Minute Crafts | 72.9 |
| Vlad and Niki | 69.8 |
The top 10 most subscribed Youtube channels
Which is the most popular Youtube channel in the UK?
As well as finding out which Youtube channels have the most subscribers, we also wanted to discover which channels were most searched for in the UK. We did this by using the search analysis tool Keyword Finder which allowed us to discover average monthly search volumes for each of the 10 most subscribed-to Youtube channels.
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 indicating the channel’s popularity here in the UK.
Which Youtube videos have the most views?
As well as subscribers, views are often used as an important metric amongst Youtubers to determine the success of their channel. To find out which types of videos are viewed the most on Youtube, we conducted an analysis of the 100 most subscribed-to channels on the platform to discover which channels receive the highest number of 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 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 millions views. Her most viewed video so far is her collaboration with Khalid, ‘Lovely’, which had 1.26 billion views (as of July of 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 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.
The Top 10 most followed TikTok accounts of 2021
TikTok has become one of the most popular apps in recent years, with 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) |
| charlidamelio | 120.1 |
| khaby.lame | 89.7 |
| addisonre | 81.9 |
| bellapoarch | 76 |
| zachking | 62.4 |
| willsmith | 58.7 |
| spencerx | 53.7 |
| dixiedamelio | 54.4 |
| lorengray | 53.1 |
| justmaiko | 49.5 |
Tiktok accounts with the most followers in 2021
As the table shows, our research found that:
- @charlidamelio is the most followed Tiktok account, having over 120 million followers.
- @khaby.lame and @addisonre come in second and third place, each having more than 80 million followers.
Which Tiktok accounts are most popular in the UK?
Just like with YouTube above, we wanted to see which of the top 10 most followed accounts had the higher average monthly search volume online in the UK and whether or not this correlates with number of followers. To do this, we again used the online search analysis tool Keyword Finder.
The top 10 most searched-for TikTok accounts As you can see from the graph:
- Addison Rae’s Tiktok account is by far the most searched in the UK, as 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, who is searched for 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, but which accounts’ videos are liked the most? 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 likes per video.
- Dixiedamelio’s videos are also some of the most liked on Tiktok, with an average of more than 17 million likes per video.
- Billie Eilish is in the top 5 of 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, as it’s now been predicted that by next year (2022), online videos will account for a staggering 82% of all internet traffic. But how 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. This means we get the most accurate survey results we can and it’s incredibly important to us that our statistics are credible.
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@takenote.co.
