43.0%
Active in the last 30 days
Lowest active rate of all three platforms in the study.
Source: Click Analytic, May 2026
YouTube Data · 2026 edition
YouTube Creator Statistics 2026
This page presents YouTube creator statistics from Click Analytic's 2026 research. We analyzed 1.9 million YouTube creator accounts with at least 10,000 subscribers using a full-year 2025 data snapshot. The report covers activity, subscriber growth, view thresholds, public contact availability and category labels.
Try Click Analytic free1.9MYouTube creator accounts analyzed
Part of a 23.6M account cohort
Data snapshot: full-year 2025
Highest share above the 10% growth threshold
The numbers that matter most
57.0%
Dormant creators
More than half of tracked YouTube creators were not recently active.
Source: Click Analytic, May 2026
30.8%
10%+ subscriber growth in 6 months
The highest share above 10% six-month subscriber growth among the three platform cohorts.
Source: Click Analytic, May 2026
Explore the Report by Topic
YouTube’s role in the 2026 creator economy
The study counted 1.9 million YouTube creator accounts, or 8% of the 23.6 million platform accounts across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. This was the smallest of the three platform cohorts. The totals count accounts, not deduplicated people.
In our 2026 research, 30.8% of YouTube accounts crossed 10% subscriber growth over six months, the highest reported share among the three platform cohorts. YouTube also had the highest share of accounts above the 100K average-view threshold at 11.2%, compared with 9.1% for Instagram Reels and 8.2% for TikTok videos.
Cross-platform context
YouTube was the smallest platform cohort, but it had the highest reported share above both the 10% six-month growth threshold and the 100K average-view threshold.
Activity signals on YouTube
43.0% of YouTube creators were active in the last 30 days, the lowest active rate of the three platforms, and 57.0% were dormant.
View performance and channel reach
Our 2026 research shows 11.2% of YouTube accounts above 100K average views, compared with 9.1% for Instagram Reels and 8.2% for TikTok videos.
In our 2026 research, 34.4% of YouTube creators are aged 18 to 24 and 30.9% are aged 25 to 34, against 50.6% aged 18 to 24 on TikTok.
Our 2026 research labels 35.2% of YouTube accounts as Music and 31.4% as Gaming. A channel can carry more than one label, so the two figures overlap.
Median engagement falls as channels grow: 0.37% at 10K-50K, 0.23% at 50K-100K, 0.18% at 100K-500K, 0.15% at 500K-1M and 0.13% at 1M+. These are platform-level benchmarks, not a performance guarantee for an individual channel.
Growth momentum: finding rising channels early
YouTube's 30.8% share above the 10% six-month growth threshold was about 1.7 times TikTok's 17.7% share.
The share of YouTube accounts above that threshold was nearly three times Instagram's 10.4% share.
Our 2026 research found 30.8% of YouTube accounts above 10% subscriber growth over six months, compared with 17.7% of TikTok accounts and 10.4% of Instagram accounts above the equivalent follower-growth threshold. This is a cohort-level comparison and does not mean every active YouTube account grows faster.
Contactability and outreach reach
Among YouTube creators, 14.9% list a public email address, equal to roughly 284,000 directly contactable creators. That places YouTube in the middle of the three platforms: far ahead of TikTok’s 4.6%, but substantially behind Instagram’s 39%. For outreach-led partnership programs, YouTube offers a meaningful pool of reachable creators, though it is less efficient than Instagram and far more accessible than TikTok.
The implication for teams running creator outreach is practical: YouTube is viable for email-led sourcing, but requires more filtering to reach a usable shortlist. Roughly 1 in 7 YouTube creators provides contact information publicly. That is enough to support direct outreach workflows, especially within established niches like Music and Gaming where creator presence is dense and professionalized. For campaigns requiring fast, high-volume outreach across many creators, Instagram remains the more efficient platform for direct contact access.
Top niches on YouTube
Music is the most frequent category label in our research at 35.2% of YouTube accounts. Category labels can overlap.
Gaming accounts make up 31.4% of the YouTube cohort. For a campaign, review the creator's actual format: a walkthrough, commentary series and streaming archive offer different opportunities for a product demonstration or sponsorship. Category size alone does not show which format earns repeat viewing.
Our 2026 research labels 35.2% of YouTube accounts as Music and 31.4% as Gaming. A channel can carry both labels, so the two shares overlap.
For brands, this concentration creates clear implications. Teams in entertainment, consumer electronics, gaming peripherals, streaming platforms, and youth lifestyle categories will find the highest creator density on YouTube in Music and Gaming. Brands outside Music and Gaming can still activate meaningful YouTube partnerships, but should expect a narrower creator pool per vertical. Filtering for recent activity and growth momentum becomes even more important when working in less-saturated niches, since viable creators are fewer but often deliver more differentiated audiences.
Strategic takeaways
YouTube is the smallest platform, not the weakest
YouTube represented 1.9M accounts, or 8% of the study. It had the highest reported share above the 10% six-month growth threshold and the 100K average-view threshold.
Dormancy is a real constraint
With 57.0% of creators dormant, recency filters are mandatory on YouTube. A broad creator list without activity signals will include a majority of non-posting accounts.
Growth is an early signal
Our 2026 research found 30.8% of YouTube accounts above 10% subscriber growth over six months, compared with 17.7% on TikTok and 10.4% on Instagram. Use current account-level data before selecting a creator.
Click Analytic's 2026 report analyzed 1.9 million YouTube creator accounts with at least 10,000 subscribers using a full-year 2025 data snapshot. The 10,000-subscriber threshold defines the study cohort; it does not guarantee campaign reach or results.
There is no universal healthy engagement-rate cutoff for every YouTube channel. This report's median rates range from 0.37% for 10K-50K channels to 0.13% for channels with 1M+ subscribers. Compare channels within the same subscriber tier, using the same engagement definition and time period, alongside average views.
Subscriber count is a starting point. Compare average views per video and engagement with the size of the channel, then check available audience location for campaign relevance. These measures describe performance and audience fit; they do not prove that subscribers are genuine or that a campaign will convert.
Enter a YouTube channel in Click Analytic to review available subscriber counts, growth, average views, engagement and audience demographics. Metric availability varies by channel and data coverage. Click Analytic does not show an Audience Authenticity Score for YouTube channels.
Click Analytic lets you filter 400M+ creators by platform, niche, country, language, follower tier, and engagement rate. You can build a shortlist of, say, US fitness YouTubers in the 10K to 100K range in minutes and export it with contact details.
Compare average views per video and engagement alongside subscriber count. Check available audience location and age, then review recent videos for subject matter, presentation and suitability for your campaign. Use the same metric definitions and time period when comparing shortlisted channels.
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