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 database snapshot covering the whole of 2025. 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: Dec 31, 2025
Highest growth rate of all platforms
What this report is built on
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 database snapshot covering the whole of 2025. The report covers activity, subscriber growth, view thresholds, public contact availability and category labels.
- 1.9MYouTube creator accounts analyzed
- Part of a 23.6M account cohort
- Data snapshot: Dec 31, 2025
- Highest growth rate of all platforms
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 creator growth rate of all platforms analyzed.
Source: Click Analytic, May 2026
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 the source report, 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 and growth signals on YouTube
Lowest active rate of all three platforms in the study.
More than half of tracked YouTube creators were not recently active.
The highest creator growth rate of all platforms analyzed.
YouTube creators with 10,000+ subscribers as of Dec 31, 2025.
View performance and channel reach
The source report shows 11.2% of YouTube accounts above 100K average views, compared with 9.1% for Instagram Reels and 8.2% for TikTok videos.
Among the full YouTube cohort, the source displays 34.4% in the 18-24 creator-age group and 30.9% in the 25-34 group. The displayed age rows cover 78.1% of YouTube accounts, leaving 21.9% unclassified or unavailable. TikTok displays 50.6% in the 18-24 creator-age group.
The source report labels 35.2% of YouTube accounts as Music and 31.4% as Gaming. The classification is multi-label, so the two percentages describe label frequency and must not be added as unique channels.
Median engagement in the source report decreases across the displayed subscriber tiers: 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
The strongest growth rate of any platform in the 2026 dataset.
YouTube’s 30.8% is nearly double TikTok’s 10%+ growth rate.
YouTube’s growth rate is nearly three times higher than Instagram’s.
The source reports 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, but 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.
284,000 directly contactable YouTube creators in the dataset.
Top niches on YouTube
Music is the most frequent category label in the source report at 35.2% of YouTube accounts. Category labels can overlap.
Gaming is deeply aligned with YouTube’s long-form formats: let’s plays, commentary, walkthroughs, and streaming archives all generate strong repeat viewing.
The source report labels 35.2% of YouTube accounts as Music and 31.4% as Gaming. These are overlapping category rates from a multi-label classification, not two mutually exclusive shares. They should be evaluated separately rather than added together as unique accounts.
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 exactly these categories. 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.
Key takeaways for marketers
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 the leading signal
The source reports 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.
Explore the Report by Topic
Creator Economy Report 2026
Cross-platform overview of supply, engagement, and brand-deal history.
ExploreCreator Pricing Report 2026
Pricing benchmarks by tier across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
ExploreTikTok Creator Statistics
Deep dive on TikTok creator supply and audience signals.
ExploreFind YouTube Influencers
Free search across YouTube creators by niche, country, engagement.
ExploreClick Analytic's 2026 research analyzed 1.9 million YouTube channels with at least 10,000 subscribers, the practical threshold where a creator has enough consistent reach and engagement to drive measurable brand-campaign results.
A healthy YouTube engagement rate (likes and comments relative to views) is roughly 2, 5%, and smaller channels often score higher. Click Analytic calculates engagement from a creator's recent videos, so you compare creators on actual performance rather than subscriber count alone.
Not on their own, a large subscriber base can mask low watch-through and inactive followers. Click Analytic weighs average views per video, engagement rate, and an audience-quality score (AAS) that flags fake or low-value subscribers, so you judge real influence instead of vanity metrics.
Paste any channel into Click Analytic to see verified metrics, subscriber growth over time, average views, engagement rate, audience demographics, and the AAS fake-subscriber score, drawn from a database of 400M+ creators across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
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, 100K range in minutes and export it with contact details.
Prioritize average views per video and engagement rate over raw subscriber count, then verify audience authenticity (AAS) and audience location to confirm the creator reaches your target market. Click Analytic surfaces all of these on one profile so you can vet a creator before you pay.
Find and evaluate creators with Click Analytic
Search 400M+ creator profiles, filter by audience quality, run campaigns end-to-end.