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WARC has published a report estimating that YouTube generated USD $40.4 billion in advertising revenue in 2025, though growth in that business is slowing.
According to the report, YouTube's total revenue exceeded USD $60.0 billion in 2025, with more than a third coming from Premium subscriptions. Advertising still accounted for the larger share, but growth slowed to 11.7% in 2025 from 14.7% in 2024.
WARC forecasts a further slowdown, with ad revenue growth falling to 7.0% this year and 7.9% by 2027. That would take YouTube's advertising revenue to USD $43.2 billion, then to USD $46.6 billion.
"Rising consumption of video content on YouTube, and in particular on TV screens, has not yet translated into the kind of year-on-year ad revenue growth we see elsewhere in the digital ad market. YouTube has been less successful than rivals such as TikTok in its attempts to persuade marketers of its role in driving lower-funnel outcomes, hence its growing focus on winning a greater share of TV budgets," said Alex Brownsell, Head of Content at WARC Media and Lead Editor of the Report.
Screen shift
The findings point to a platform whose audience is becoming more engaged even as advertising growth matures. YouTube now reaches nearly 2.6 billion monthly users worldwide, while average daily time spent rose to 58 minutes in 2025 from 48 minutes a year earlier.
India was YouTube's largest market with 500 million users, followed by the US with 254 million. Indonesia and Brazil followed with 151 million and 150 million users, respectively.
Television is becoming YouTube's fastest-growing screen. In the US, connected TV now accounts for 45% of total YouTube watch time, with average sessions lasting more than 45 minutes and completion rates of 95% or higher.
That shift puts YouTube in more direct competition with traditional broadcasters and streaming services for living-room viewing. Netflix has emerged as a key rival, with its ad-supported tier strengthening its position with both subscribers and advertisers, WARC argued.
TikTok was also identified as a growing threat, particularly in performance advertising and social commerce. At current rates, TikTok's ad revenue could overtake YouTube's by 2028, the report said.
Shorts effect
YouTube Shorts has become central to that competition. The vertical video format now averages more than 200 billion daily views globally, and monetisation has been improving.
In several major markets, including the US, revenue per watch hour for Shorts has moved ahead of traditional in-stream formats. Additional growth will depend on whether advertisers adapt creative work to suit the format, according to the report.
Younger audiences appear especially important. WARC described Gen Z as YouTube's most commercially active audience, saying 51% of Gen Z males and 43% of Gen Z females purchased after watching an advert on YouTube Shorts.
Those figures suggest YouTube has strengthened its position as a shopping and discovery channel for younger users, even as marketers continue to debate how it compares with other social platforms in direct response.
Marketer trust
YouTube ranked as the most preferred and most trusted media brand among marketers globally for a third straight year, according to Kantar data cited by WARC. The platform also ranked second in brand safety behind Netflix.
Ad format choice is producing notable differences in campaign results, the report found. In-feed ads delivered click-through rates of 1% to 3%, based on Store Growers data, compared with an all-platform average of 0.65%.
By contrast, non-skippable in-stream ads generated click-through rates of less than 0.3%. WARC said those formats are better suited to awareness campaigns than direct-response activity.
The analysis also highlighted YouTube's widening role beyond video clips and creator channels. Music remains the most-watched category globally, but the platform has also expanded into podcasts, gaming, news, education and children's programming.
YouTube has now overtaken Spotify for podcast viewing. Viewers watched more than 700 million hours of podcasts on YouTube via TV screens in a month, up 70% year-on-year.
Its content base is also becoming more relevant to artificial intelligence systems. WARC said YouTube has overtaken Reddit as the leading social platform source for large language models, creating a new layer of visibility for brands with a strong presence on the service.
The biggest subscriber base belongs to MrBeast with 503 million subscribers, while Indian music company T-Series leads on views with 322 billion. WARC said that the mix of local, creator-led and interest-driven programming remains one of YouTube's clearest distinctions from broadcasters and subscription streaming platforms.
Research cited from DoubleVerify, Kantar and WARC's own Voice of the Marketer study found that marketers still intend to increase spending on YouTube. Even with slowing ad growth, the platform remains a central part of media plans, the report said.