YouTube Statistics for Kids & Teens: 60+ Data Points (2026)

YouTube Usage Among Children (2024-2026)

YouTube is the undisputed leader in what kids watch. No other platform matches its reach across different age groups or countries.

United States

In late 2024, Pew Research Center found that 90% of US teens (13-17) use YouTube. To put that in perspective, it’s 27 points ahead of TikTok, which sits at 63%.

It’s not just occasional use, either. About 73% of these teens visit the site every day, and 15% say they are on it "almost constantly" (Pew Research, 2024).

General online habits are shifting too. Roughly 46% of US teens now say they are online almost constantly—that's double what we saw ten years ago (Pew Research, 2024).

United Kingdom

Ofcom’s 2025 report shows 88% of UK kids aged 3-17 use YouTube. But when you look at actual device tracking rather than just surveys, that number jumps to 96% for the 8-14 age group.

Platform Comparison: US Teens (Ages 13-17)

Source: Pew Research Center, December 2024

Time Spent on YouTube by Age

Reach is one thing, but the actual time spent shows how much YouTube has become a daily fixture for most families.

Daily and Weekly Averages

The UK data shows a clear upward trend. The 6 hour 37 minute weekly average for kids is up 18 minutes from the previous year (Ofcom, 2025).

In the UK, YouTube and Snapchat together take up 52% of the time 8-14 year-olds spend online. That’s about an hour and a half out of their three-hour daily total (Ofcom, 2025).

Broader Screen Time Context

Common Sense Media looked at total entertainment screen time and found some high numbers:

• Tweens (8-12): 4 hours 44 minutes per day
• Teens (13-18): 8 hours 39 minutes per day
• Both groups saw a 17% jump between 2019 and 2021, likely due to habits formed during the pandemic.

YouTube makes up a huge chunk of this, though it varies depending on the kid and how you measure it.

YouTube vs Other Platforms: Time Comparison

YouTube has the most users, but it doesn't always win the "time per session" battle. The competition for attention looks different depending on whether you're measuring how many kids use an app or how long they stay once they open it.

Head-to-Head: Minutes Per Day (US Children)

There’s a big distinction here. YouTube is universal (90% of teens), but TikTok and Roblox get deeper engagement from their specific users. A kid on TikTok spends over an hour more per day on it than a kid on YouTube—but far more kids are using YouTube in the first place.

YouTube is also a bit of a "utility" app. Kids use it for music, homework, or just background noise while they do other things. This keeps the reach high even for kids who wouldn't call themselves "fans" of the platform.

Young Children on YouTube (Ages 3-7)

The biggest growth is actually happening with the youngest kids—many of whom are technically too young to be on the platform at all according to the terms of service.

Key Data Points

• 48% of 5-7 year-olds have their own profile, up from 39% last year (Ofcom, 2024)
• 38% of 5-7 year-olds use social media, up from 30% (Ofcom, 2024)
• 37% of 3-5 year-olds are now on social media, a significant jump from the 25% seen in earlier studies (Ofcom, 2025)
• 51% of kids under 13 use at least one social media platform despite the age-13 rules (Ofcom, 2024)

Age Verification Gaps

Age gates aren't doing much to stop kids. Ofcom’s 2024 data showed that 40% of kids aged 8-17 have lied about their age to get onto an app. That dropped to 33% recently, but it still means one in three kids are routinely bypassing the rules.

The rise in 3-5 year-olds on these platforms (now 37%) usually happens through shared family tablets or parental accounts. In these cases, the algorithm is doing the "parenting," deciding what the child sees next with very little human oversight.

Content Safety and Exposure Data

When you have this many kids watching this much video, safety becomes a numbers game. Even if only a tiny fraction of content is bad, it still reaches millions of children.

UK Data (Ofcom)

About 32% of UK kids aged 8-17 said they saw something "worrying or nasty" online in the last year (Ofcom, 2024). Since younger kids might not always realize when content is inappropriate, the real number is likely higher.

Global Data (DQ Institute)

The DQ Institute surveyed over 350,000 kids across 100 countries and found that 65% are exposed to some kind of cyber risk. This covers everything from bullying and stranger contact to just plain inappropriate videos (DQ Institute, 2023).

Scale Context

With kids spending 86 minutes a day on YouTube (Qustodio, 2025) and sessions lasting about 7 minutes, they are starting 11 or 12 new sessions every day. Each one is a fresh roll of the dice with the recommendation algorithm.

YouTube's Global Scale

To get a sense of the world kids are navigating, you have to look at the sheer size of the platform.

Ten trillion minutes is roughly 19 million years of video every month. YouTube doesn't say exactly how much of that is kids' content, but we know they are a massive part of the audience.

The average global adult on Android spends about 56 minutes a day on YouTube. US kids are averaging 86 minutes—meaning children are actually heavier users than the average adult.

Trend Data: Year-Over-Year Changes

The trend is clear: every metric shows kids are watching more YouTube, not less.

Across the board, kids are starting younger and getting their own accounts earlier. The days of sharing a family login are fading.

What Parents Report

What parents say often differs from what the data shows. Pew Research’s 2025 report gives us a look at the parental view:

• 85% of US parents say their kid watches YouTube—up from 80% in 2020.
• 51% say they use it daily—up from 43% in 2020.

But there’s a gap. While 51% of parents report daily use, 73% of teens say they are on it every day (Pew Research, 2024). It seems many parents are underestimating just how often their kids are logging in.

This matches Ofcom’s findings: kids watch more than they admit in surveys, and parents know less about it than they think. Device tracking always shows higher numbers than what people report from memory.

Age Verification Awareness

Parents also seem to miss how easily kids get around age limits. Even though 51% of kids under 13 are on social media, many parents still believe the age-13 rules are being followed (Ofcom, 2024). The reality at home is often very different from the platform's official rules.

Key Takeaways

1. YouTube is everywhere. With reach as high as 96%, it’s basically a given that a child is using it. The real question is how much they’re watching and if they’re doing it alone.
2. The numbers keep going up. Whether it's weekly time in the UK or daily users in the US, every metric is climbing.
3. There is a major awareness gap. Parents consistently report lower usage numbers than what the kids (and their devices) actually show.
4. TikTok is "stickier," but YouTube is bigger. TikTok users might spend more time per day, but YouTube still reaches far more teens overall.
5. Safety is a constant risk. With kids starting a dozen sessions a day, the chance of hitting a "bad" video is a mathematical reality that parents have to manage daily.

Sources and Methodology

All statistics here come from primary research. We don't use secondary aggregators. Here is the full list of sources:

1. Pew Research Center (December 2024) — "Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024." Survey of 1,391 US teens. pewresearch.org
2. Pew Research Center (October 2025) — "Parenting Kids in the Age of Screens, Social Media and AI." Survey of US parents. pewresearch.org
3. Ofcom (2025) — "Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report." UK study using surveys and device tracking. ofcom.org.uk
4. Ofcom (2024) — "Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report." Data on younger age groups and age verification. ofcom.org.uk
5. Qustodio (2025) — Annual report based on data from 400,000+ families using parental controls. qustodio.com
6. DataReportal (2024) — Global YouTube stats compiled from platform data and analytics. datareportal.com
7. Common Sense Media (2021) — "The Common Sense Census." Survey of 1,306 US children. commonsensemedia.org
8. DQ Institute (2023) — "Child Online Safety Index." Global survey of 351,376 children. dqinstitute.org

Last updated: June 26, 2026. This page is maintained by the WhitelistVideo editorial team. If you have newer data or find an error, reach out at support@whitelist.video.