More than 80 video facts about social media videos that marketers need to know in 2026 Video is now the preferred currency of the algorithm and is no longer optional. With 91% of businesses actively leveraging video in 2026, brands that are still sitting on the sidelines are leaving serious ROI and audience discovery on the table.
The feed still favors content in bite-sized chunks. Short-form videos (under 60 seconds) continue to be the most effective pattern-interrupt and the format with the highest overall conversion rate, regardless of whether you are targeting Gen Z on TikTok or C-suite executives on LinkedIn. AI is the production assistant of choice. Time is the biggest barrier to video marketing, which is why 63% of forward-thinking marketers are now actively using AI tools to edit, scale and accelerate their output without burning out their creative teams.
Nowadays, video is more than just a fad; it is the beating heart of social media strategies. Brands must reevaluate their strategies for squeezing as much money out of their budgets as possible as algorithms change and audience preferences change. To truly thrive, leaning into dynamic video content is a must.
Understanding the most recent social media statistics for video marketing gives your team a significant competitive advantage, whether you are navigating short-form dominance on TikTok or AI-driven feeds on Facebook. Is it time to level up? We’ve rounded up the essential social media video statistics you need to boost your ROI and keep your brand relevant in 2026.
The consensus across the marketing industry is clear: video drives results at every stage of the funnel. Brands are increasing their investments in video because these formats consistently provide substantial and measurable returns. Adoption by marketers and strategy According to Wyzowl, 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool in 2026.
93% of marketers see video as an important part of their overall marketing strategy, a slight decrease from 95% in 2025, but still signaling widespread adoption and maturity across industries.
From 2015 to 2026, a bar chart shows the percentage of businesses that see video as an important part of their marketing strategy, which stands at 93% in 2026. 69% of video marketers favor social videos, making it the most popular video marketing type in 2026.
67% of marketers who currently do not use video plan to start in 2026.
According to HubSpot's 2026 State of Marketing Report, 37.1% of marketers intend to increase their investment in video marketing in 2026. Nearly 20% of marketers say their biggest challenge with using video in their content strategy is finding the time to create it.
63% of video marketers have used AI tools to create or edit marketing videos.
Because they don't know where to start, 37% of non-users give up on their video projects. Video marketing ROI and consumer behavior
According to 82% of marketers, social media video marketing has a positive return on investment. According to 85% of customers, video has helped them make a purchase decision. 93% of video marketers acknowledge video definitively increases users’ understanding of their offerings.
80% of US consumers ages 18-24 prefer watching videos on a smartphone, making it the top device for digital video consumption among the age group. In contrast, 76% of adults in the United States between the ages of 25 and 54 prefer to watch videos on their smartphones. In the EU, 65 percent of 15- to 24-year-olds rely on social media as their primary source of information, beating out traditional search engines for discovery. Music videos account for 50% of the most watched video content type worldwide. This was then followed up by 35% of global audiences watching comedy, meme or viral videos.
Real-time engagement holds strong, drawing 26.8% of global internet users to live streams every week.
Marketer takeaway: Scale smartly with AI
Video has shifted from a “nice-to-have” experiment to the foundational core of your social marketing strategy. For sophisticated practitioners, the conversation is no longer about whether to use video, but how to scale it effectively without burning out your creative team.
Time remains one of the biggest bottlenecks in production. In order to streamline production, forward-thinking brands are incorporating AI tools. This enables teams to concentrate on balancing a content strategy that combines more in-depth educational content with snappy, top-of-the-funnel entertainment. Bonus resource: We created a guide and worksheet to help you extend the life and value of a branded video by turning it into a suite of teasers, clips, GIFs and more. Download it today to ensure you’re getting the most out of your video assets.
Get the guide here. While video is universally popular, a one-size-fits-all approach no longer works. Each network has unique audience expectations, distinct algorithms and preferred content lengths.
When measuring monthly app sessions in the US as of August 2025, YouTube dominates with 11.32 hours, followed by TikTok at 9.05 hours, Facebook at 5.15 hours, and Instagram at 4.41 hours.
Bar chart ranking leading social media apps in the US by average monthly user engagement in August 2025, with YouTube at the top with over 11 hours.
Facebook Video Statistics
Facebook isn’t just a legacy network; it is an AI-driven discovery engine where video reigns supreme.
Optimizations Meta had made in Q4 2025 resulted in a 7% lift in views for organic Feed and video posts on Facebook, according to their latest quarterly earnings call. 15% of all Facebook feed content is now recommended by AI, heavily leaning toward video.
Facebook’s algorithm is now surfacing over 25% more Reels published that day than the prior quarter.
According to the Sprout Social 2026 Content Strategy Report, 48% of social users are most likely to interact with short-form video (under 60 seconds) on Facebook.
Live video on Facebook is the most popular form of interaction for 22% of social media users. Bubble and bar charts demonstrate that short-form video is the most interacted brand content format on Facebook, with 39 percent of users engaging with it. Across all industries, video accounts for 24% of all brand content published on Facebook, according to findings in the Sprout Social 2025 Content Benchmarks Report.
The percentage of video content published by brands increased by 3 percentage points on Facebook in 2024.
Government and healthcare brands post the least video content on Facebook compared to other industries at 16%.
74% of Facebook videos are watched without sound.
66% of businesses use Facebook as a channel for video marketing.
Over half of all marketers (55%) find Facebook to be the most effective video marketing channel after YouTube and Instagram.
Marketer takeaway: Design for sound-off discovery
You are wasting a lot of reach if you continue to treat Facebook as a chronological feed for your current followers. Facebook has evolved into an AI-driven discovery engine that heavily favors and recommends short-form video.
Brands need to align with what the Facebook algorithm is actively pushing, meaning a consistent, daily publishing cadence of Reels. And because the majority of users scroll through their Facebook feed in public or shared spaces with their volume off, your videos must be engineered for “sound-off” consumption. In the first three seconds, you must visually entice the viewer and rely on dynamic text overlays or captions to tell your story completely in silence. Instagram Video Statistics
Instagram is fully cementing its identity as a video-first platform in 2026.
52% of social users gravitate toward short-form video (under 60 seconds) on Instagram to drive their interactions, according to the Sprout Social 2026 Content Strategy Report.
Only 19% of the Instagram audience favors long-form content exceeding 60 seconds, indicating a sharp preference for bite-sized media.
Bar chart illustrating the types of brand content social users interact with most on Instagram, led by short-form video at 52 percent.
Brands are currently publishing single video content for only 28% of their total Instagram posts, lagging behind consumer demand.
With 38% of all content consumed on Instagram, reels make up more than half. Multi-media and multi-video posts remain the least utilized formats on Instagram across all industries.
The average Instagram post in 2025 gets 377.1 likes, 11.82 comments, 17 saves, and 39.96 shares.
In comparison, 475.93 likes, 91.51 shares, 38.9 saves, and 18.07 comments are recorded for a typical Reels interaction in 2025. The like is the type of interaction with the highest average engagement on Instagram Reels in 2025, with approximately 476 interactions. Video time spent on Instagram has increased by more than 30% year-over-year as of Q3 2025.
22% of social users actively interact with Instagram Live, making it the third most interacted-with content format on the platform.
According to Meta, Reels has reached an annual revenue run rate of over $50 billion across both Facebook and Instagram.
Instagram is used by 69% of businesses to market their videos. 63% of industry professionals increased their video activities on Instagram as of 2025.
The percentage of video content published by brands increased by 3 percentage points on Instagram in 2024.
Marketer takeaway: Close the content gap
There is a glaring disconnect on Instagram right now between what users want to see and what brands are actually publishing. While the audience is overwhelmingly gravitating toward the quick, dynamic motion of Reels, many brands are still clinging to static posts or single-video formats.
By shifting production resources away from long-form content and focusing on short-form Reels, brands must close this content gap in order to succeed on Instagram. By giving the Instagram algorithm the high-engagement formats it craves, and mixing in underutilized formats like multi-video carousels to stand out in a saturated feed, you can stand out in a saturated feed.
YouTube Video Statistics
YouTube bridges the gap between quick-hit entertainment and deep-dive education better than any other platform.
Consumption and population YouTube is the most popular online platform because 85% of adults in the United States say they use it regularly. Roughly 90% of US teens say they use YouTube, making it the most popular platform among teens.
61% of US users say they are more likely to use YouTube versus other social sites to research brands.
After discovering a product or service on YouTube, users in the United States are 87% more likely to take action. Users spend an average of 2.5 hours per day watching videos on YouTube and TikTok and a weekly average of 18 hours and 36 minutes per user.
In the UK, YouTube commands 51 minutes of daily average watch time in 2025, an increase from 47 minutes the previous year.
YouTube is a dual-engine powerhouse: 52% of social users are most likely to interact with short-form video, while a substantial 49% still heavily engage with long-form video over 60 seconds.
Donut charts showing 52 percent of users are most likely to interact with short-form brand video on YouTube, closely followed by long-form video at 49 percent.
Marketer adoption and advertising
A striking 82% of video marketers leverage YouTube as a cornerstone of their strategy.
YouTube is regarded as the most effective video marketing platform by nearly 7 out of 10 marketers. In 2025, 67% of marketers worldwide planned to increase their YouTube presence. 2.58 billion people worldwide could be reached by YouTube ads, or 42.8% of all internet users. YouTube’s global advertising reach grew by 53 million users year-over-year, marking a 2.1% increase.
Males aged 25 to 34 constitute the single largest demographic segment for advertising at 11.5%.
YouTube ad reach via Connected TVs (CTV) is exceptionally high in the United States, where 84.6% of the platform’s ad audience can be reached on a television screen, compared to the global average of 40.5%.
YouTube Short ads have a 2.3x higher long-term ROAS than paid social.
Utilizing YouTube's advanced data, brands can increase their impact on purchase intent by three times. Creators & Channels
Compared to users of other platforms, 98% of users are more likely to trust YouTube creators' reviews and recommendations. MrBeast reigns supreme with 451 million subscribers in January 2026, while T-Series trails at 307 million subscribers.
T-Series captured unrivaled monthly volume in January 2026, amassing 319.41 billion views worldwide, surpassing Cocomelon Nursery Rhymes which only amassed 212.48 billion monthly views.
The lesson for marketers is to master the dual-engine powerhouse. To master YouTube in 2026, embrace its unique identity on both ends of the content spectrum. Use YouTube Shorts to capture the massive top-of-funnel audience that prefers quick hits. But, the real ROI happens when you pair that with long-form, highly searchable videos.
For serious bottom-of-funnel conversions, investing in in-depth tutorials and educational content is essential because 87% of US users are likely to take action after finding a product on YouTube. Last but not least, make the most of your production quality for the living room, where nearly 85% of US ad viewers watch ads on Connected TVs. TikTok Video Statistics
TikTok is rapidly shifting from pure entertainment to a primary news and discovery hub for Gen Z and Millennials.
Behavior of the audience and growth TikTok surpassed 3.5 billion global monthly active users (Sofina Group ByteDance Project.
According to the Sprout Social 2026 Social Media Content Strategy Report, 50% of social users have a TikTok profile and 72% of Gen Z have a TikTok profile, showing the app’s popularity with younger audiences.
1 in 5 Americans (20%) now say they regularly get news on TikTok, up from just 3% in 2020.
Bar chart showing an increasing percentage of US adults who regularly get news on TikTok, peaking at 43 percent among ages 18 to 29 in 2024.
43% of adults under the age of 30 in the United States say they regularly receive news from TikTok, while 55% of adults over the age of 18 in the United States say they regularly receive news from the platform. The network's retention in the UK is driven by younger demographics, with 18- to 34-year-olds spending 49 minutes per day on TikTok in 2025. Video content formatting and economics
60% of TikTok users cite short-form video (under 60 seconds) as their most frequent interaction format.
Even with extended upload limits, only 32% of users prioritize long-form video on the network.
The average length of a TikTok video in 2024 will be 42.7 seconds, up from 39 seconds in 2023. Bar chart showing the average duration of a TikTok video increased from about 39.5 seconds in 2023 to nearly 42.7 seconds in 2024.
There is a correlation between audience size and publishing volume: "Huge" TikTok accounts post an average of 29.79 posts per week, while "Tiny" profiles only post 2.49 posts per week. According to HubSpot, 28% of marketers will increase their investment in TikTok content by 2025. Financial incentives matter for creators, as TikTok Live shares 50% of virtual item revenue compared to Kick’s 95% and Rumble’s 100%.
The lesson for marketers is to publish frequently and authentically. TikTok has fundamentally shifted into a massive search and discovery engine. If you are trying to reach Gen Z or Millennials, treating TikTok as a primary news and informational hub is no longer optional. The content of those videos needs to be value-driven, despite the fact that the majority of viewers prefer short, punchy content. To expand your reach and establish trust in niche communities, set a higher publishing frequency, emphasize authentic storytelling, and work with creators. LinkedIn Video Statistics
LinkedIn is at the center of a massive visual revival that is sweeping the B2B market. 27% of social users are most likely to interact with short-form video on LinkedIn.
Over half of LinkedIn users still prefer text-based posts and are significantly less likely to engage with video, image, or influencer content, according to the Sprout Social 2026 Content Strategy Report. Bar charts detailing how users want brands to show up on LinkedIn, showing a preference for educational product information and 51 percent mostly interacting with text posts.
LinkedIn users rate educational product information and updates from company leadership as the top forms of content they want to see from brands.
Live video on LinkedIn gets 24x more comments and 7x more reactions than native video.
LinkedIn video views last anywhere from 13 to 15 seconds on average. Takeaway for Marketers: Increase your executive presence. While over half of the professional audience still relies on traditional text posts, short-form LinkedIn video is becoming a pattern disruptor. Ditch the text-heavy company updates and put your executives and subject matter experts on camera to deliver concise educational insights (13 to 15 seconds). For major announcements or deep-dive Q&As, pivot to LinkedIn Live, which generates 24x more comments and 7x more reactions than standard native video.
X (Twitter) Video Statistics
Once the absolute domain of the written word, X is aggressively pivoting to capture video viewership.
Despite its text-heavy origins, 37% of social users prefer engaging with short-form video on X, narrowly beating written posts at 36%.
Video content currently accounts for 20% of all brand publishing on X across industries.
In 2025, X made its full-screen video tab available to its more than 100 million American users. Marketer takeaway: Capitalize on the content gap
Despite a clear shift in consumer behavior toward video on X, there is a massive content gap: video accounts for only 20% of brand publishing. In fact, user preference for short-form video (37%) has actually edged out traditional written posts (36%). Smart marketers have a distinct advantage because of this. Brands can use the new full-screen video tab on Twitter to attract the attention of the more than 100 million American users by incorporating relevant video clips into their marketing strategy. Emerging Platforms: Threads, Snapchat, and Bluesky
Platforms like Threads, Bluesky, and a resurgent Snapchat are the result of the fragmentation of the social ecosystem. Despite adoption, 68% of marketers globally planned to ignore Threads entirely in 2025.
Users of Threads say that short-form video (less than 60 seconds) and text posts are the most likely to get their attention, followed by content created by users and influencers. Snapchat’s Spotlight feature reached over 946 million monthly active users, according to Snap Inc. Investor Reports.
The number of US Snapchatters posting to Spotlight increased 47% year-over-year in Q4 2025.
According to the Sprout Social Q3 2025 Pulse Survey, 47% of consumers are most likely to engage with short-form brand video (under 60 seconds) on Bluesky.
Alternatively, 19% of Bluesky users are likely to engage with long-form video, proving video appetite extends beyond micro-content.
The lesson for marketers is to test and repurpose effectively. Investing in emerging networks is a long-term play focused on community building and niche targeting. To your advantage, you do not need to completely rethink your production method to succeed. Early adopters exhibit a strong desire for the same short-form video formats that are prevalent on other networks. Strategically repurpose your top-performing clips from TikTok or Instagram Reels to use these emerging spaces as low-risk testing grounds.
Statistics on Influencer Video Marketing Creators hold the keys to audience trust, acting as modern-day brand ambassadors.
Content creators drive digital culture, as 74% of users aged 15 to 24 in the UK actively follow influencers.
Sponsored influencer video and image content outperforms traditional organic brand content in reach by an impressive 92%, according to the Sprout Social 2025 Influencer Marketing Report.
For brand partnerships, 53% of influencers prefer to produce short videos of 15 to 30 seconds. Delivering 30- to 60-second videos for brands is preferred by 50% of creators. 43 percent of influencers are willing to produce ultra-short deliverables under 15 seconds for brand partnerships. 42% of influencers actually prefer broadcasting live for brands.
Only 27% of influencers prefer content that lasts longer than 60 seconds due to increased resource demands. Bar chart displaying influencers' preferred content to create with brands, led by short-form video between 15 and 30 seconds at 53 percent.
Marketer takeaway: Align with creator workflows
Partnerships with influencers effectively increase visibility. To maximize influencer campaign ROI, align your creative briefs with how creators actually work. The sweet spot for collaboration is short-form video, with the majority of creators preferring deliverables under 30 seconds. Forced production of long forms creates unnecessary friction. Build authentic partnerships by respecting their workflow and leaning into ultra-short trends.
To find the right creator partners and manage these video campaigns from end-to-end, use the Sprout Social Influencer Marketing platform to identify influencers whose audiences align perfectly with your target demographic.
The numbers don’t lie: video is the most powerful tool in your marketing arsenal right now. However, producing high-quality videos is only half the battle. You need to strike a balance between short, entertaining clips and value-driven content that your audience actually wants to watch in order to truly stand out in today's crowded feeds. Stop guessing what your audience wants and start measuring your own network performance against these industry benchmarks. With Sprout Social, you can seamlessly schedule video content across all major networks, track video views and engagement in one unified analytics dashboard, and uncover trending audio through social listening.
Are you prepared to implement these insights, streamline your video publishing, and demonstrate your impact on the bottom line? Start a free trial of Sprout Social today and take the guesswork out of your social media video ROI.