YouTube celebrated its 20^th birthday earlier this year. Over the course of two decades, it has played a major role in upending how content is viewed, created, and consumed. 

But, unlike a number of other legacy social networks, the platform continues to go from strength to strength. Back in 2022, I argued on these pages that media companies need a dedicated YouTube strategy, a sentiment that remains equally relevant three years on. 

Here are six reasons why many media companies need to reconsider the value they attach to YouTube, and six proven tactics to help maximize their impact and approach to the platform.

YouTube enjoys huge reach and engagement 

According to the Business of Apps website, YouTube has more than 2.7 billion monthly active users. Over 238 million of these users are in the U.S., the StatsUp site notes. In terms of reach, that makes it either the biggest, or second largest, social network in the world, depending on your source. Either way, it’s a huge audience.

Lastly, engagement dwarves other social networks. “YouTube takes the lion’s share of … social media time,” comments Simon Kemp, the Chief Analyst at DataReportal. “The world spends almost twice as much time using YouTube as it spends using the platform’s next nearest rival, TikTok.” 

Despite this, many publishers continue to treat YouTube as an afterthought compared to shinier, newer, visual-oriented platforms like the aforementioned TikTok or Instagram. 

Esra Dogramaci, a digital news executive and YouTube specialist, who has worked for international broadcasters including Al Jazeera, BBC, DW, and others, agrees. “News organizations [and] publishers should have always been paying attention to YouTube,” she told me. “We often forget that YouTube is the second biggest search engine, and [the] world’s largest video platform.”

It’s a core platform for reaching Gen Z and Gen Alpha

Efforts to more effectively engage younger audiences is a key goal for many media companies. It’s no surprise that YouTube can be a pivotal plank in these strategies. Afterall, as Rande Price, VP, Research at Digital Content Next, recently reflected, “prioritizing video formats that are concise, authentic, and visually native to social platforms is essential to reaching Gen Z.”  

Data published at the end of last year found that more than seven in 10 Gen Z consumers (71%) discover new media content (such as music, podcasts, and TV series) through YouTube, only just behind social media as a whole (72%).

Moreover, 73% of U.S. teens aged 13-17 (a mix of Generation Z and Generation Alpha, a demographic born after 2010) say they use YouTube every day. According to insights from the Pew Research Center, that means YouTube is “the most widely used and visited platform” among this age group. That includes 15% who said that their use of the platform is “almost constant.”

Short-form video is growing in popularity 

There are multiple ways to harness YouTube to attract younger audiences. As Price points out, “tone, pace, and relevance” are intrinsic to this. Those sentiments are applicable to all content on the platform, including YouTube Shorts, an area seeing considerable growth. Last month, Neal Mohan, YouTube’s CEO, revealed that “YouTube Shorts are now averaging over 200 billion daily views!” 

That audience isn’t just Gen Z, although they are a significant share of Shorts consumers. 

Publisher’s short video strategies therefore should encompass YouTube, as well as TikTok, and Reels on Facebook and Instagram. These formats can also encourage consumption of long-form video, as well as acting as their own, standalone, genre.

“YouTube Shorts is… the ‘take away’ version prior to the ‘dine in’ experience,” contends Dogramaci. She argues that Shorts can serve as a gateway to your main channel especially if it is fully optimized. (For tips on how to do this, read to the end of the article!) 

“It appeals to younger audiences with short-form content,” she says, “provided that you’ve done all the housekeeping in terms of channel and video optimization.”

YouTube is becoming a podcasting behemoth 

YouTube now has 1 billion monthly active podcast users worldwide. That’s more users than Spotify, Variety says. 

According to Edison, YouTube is the most popular service for listening to podcasts in the United States, ahead of Spotify and Apple. So, if content creators aren’t distributing their podcasts on YouTube, they are potentially missing out.

Furthermore, “YouTube is often the first place people go when looking for a new podcast,” the platform’s blog claimed earlier this year. To aid with this discovery, in May, the company began releasing a weekly chart of YouTube’s Top 100 podcast shows in the U.S.

And as the differentiation between video and audio content continues to blur, Gen Z is driving much of this trend, Edison found. Their research stated that this age group feels that “video provides a better understanding of context/tone through facial expressions and gestures,” and it also enables consumers to feel “more connected to the podcaster(s).”

It’s big on screens of all sizes 

Although the smaller screen garners a considerable amount of YouTube consumption, the growth of connected TV’s (CTV) has also been pivotal in YouTube’s continued growth. 

In the U.S., YouTube is now watched on TV screens by more people than on mobile. Or, as the company put it at the end of last year, “YouTube is the new television.”

That said, the platform is at pains to point out that this isn’t the same as “the ‘old’ television,” pointing to Shorts (which are popular on TV, just ask my kids), live streams, podcasts, sports, and full shows, as part of the platform’s content mix. 

Emphasizing its popularity, data from Nielsen shows that 11.6% of all TV viewing time in the United States is to YouTube.  That’s ahead of viewing time from the likes of Disney, Fox, and Netflix. 

Given these findings, in an age of investment in FAST channels (Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television) it’s a reminder that brands and media companies still need to factor YouTube into their video strategies. Its TV audience is simply too big to ignore. 

YouTube matters to news consumers 

The variety of content on YouTube, and its reputation as a source for entertainment, influencers, and User Generated Content (UGC) can mask its popularity as a platform for news and information. New data from the Digital News Report 2025 emphasizes this. Around a third of their global sample uses YouTube (30%) for news each week, just behind Facebook (36%). Given that weekly usage of YouTube for any purpose stood at 63% this is a high percentage of global digital news consumers using the platform for news. 

In major markets such as India, the use of YouTube for news stands at more than 50%, an important consideration for international news brands seeking to gain a foothold in the world’s most populous nation. Large news audiences on the platform can also be found in other major emerging markets such as Nigeria, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Brazil.

Making inroads into these markets won’t necessarily be easy for traditional media brands, however, as much of the consumption is centered around what the Report authors refer to as “alternative media voices.” This category includes online influencers and personalities, independent journalists, as well as politicians who can go direct to audiences, by-passing traditional media gatekeepers. 

Nevertheless, given concerns about misinformation on YouTube – and other social networks – there are opportunities for trusted news and media brands to meet user needs for news and information. And they are in a position to do so in a manner that also offers the credibility that audiences desire.

Conclusion

YouTube’s reach, variety of content offerings, and resonance with younger and news audiences mean that it is an essential distribution platform for publishers in 2025. Of course, it’s not without its challenges. Around 70% of content is algorithmically recommended, meaning that YouTube’s recommendation engine can divert viewers away from publisher channels to other creators. It can also be very difficult to drive traffic from the site back to your own properties. 

Yet, YouTube’s size, versatility, and reach – especially with Gen Z and teens – make it hard to overlook. Whether your goal is audience growth, revenue diversification, or brand-building, a dedicated YouTube strategy will be a must for many content creators. Publishers who invest in understanding and leveraging YouTube’s evolving ecosystem will be best positioned to thrive in the digital content landscape; and the pivotal role YouTube plays in this space. 

Bringing it all together: 6 essential tips to successfully implement a YouTube strategy Esra Dogramaci has been leading teams innovating on YouTube for more than a decade. Her experience includes leading the BBC World Service YouTube channels, through to receiving a YouTube Innovation Grant in 2023. The grant enabled her to develop and iterate on YouTube Shorts, while working as the Managing Editor at SBS, one of Australia’s public broadcasters. In June 2025, Esra presented a session on YouTube for Changer on behalf of the Google Digital News Initiative on YouTube for busy newsrooms. The presentation is here. Based on that presentation and our conversation, here are six practical recommendations that will enable media companies to nail their presence on YouTube.  Ditch the “Archive” Mindset: Stop treating YouTube as a mere “archive or simple video upload mechanism,” she says. Many media companies with a broadcast arm fall into the trap of “cutting and pasting TV content onto YouTube.” This material “regularly fail[s] to perform because the audiences are different.”  Meet User Needs: Success on YouTube is “less about volume, and more about understanding your audience and curating an offering that will resonate with them,” Dogramaci advises.  She highlights how former Vox producers Cleo Abram and Johnny Harris use YouTube to illustrate this. They “upload once or a few times a month and their videos will typically perform better” because “they know their audience, so they can engineer their content to perform.”  Presented in a style that “is a far cry from the buttoned down presenter reading your evening TV news bulletin,” their work remains substantial and substantive. It’s not dumbed down and connects with audiences by explaining “why this matters,” or “why you should know,” or “why this affects you.” Prioritizing the Right Metrics: Don’t get fixated on views alone. “A view can be one second, it can be 10 minutes, it can be the same person watching a clip over and over again.” Instead, Dogramaci advises that the most important performance indicators on YouTube are watch time, subscribers, and active subscribers.  Watch time, representing the “actual amount of content consumed,” is crucial; “the more the better,” as it signals resonance and makes your video more likely to be surfaced.” Think of subscribers as your “loyal fans,” she suggests. Engineer Every Video for Peak Performance: This means obsessing over the thumbnail, a “shop window” that must entice viewers. Your headline must be catchy, and accurate, supported by keywords, tags, and accurate video descriptions. A great banner, custom URL, and content organized into playlists, are also vital for success. Embrace Niche and New Formats: The “best performing channels are those that know their audience and don’t try to be everything to everyone.” Even big broadcasters might see that their best-performing content is focused on niches. This content, like Deutsche Welle’s “dress code” series, can be evergreen. In contrast to broadcast, “YouTube content [often] has a much longer shelf life,” Dogramaci says.  Implement Continuous Improvement Don’t just upload and forget. Dogramaci recommends bringing different YouTube teams and channels together to learn from each other. By sharing best practices, Dogramaci helped oversee growth at 20 BBC YouTube channels, akin to “the biggest growth of any off-platform product in those years (300% in watch time and 550% in subscribers).”  In applying these principles, media leaders should avoid simply piling more work onto busy teams. “The bottom line is… always about doing less, just doing it better,” she says.