After the landmark ruling that deemed Meta and Google responsible for depression in teens, a Google spokesman said the case misunderstands YouTube, “which is a responsibly built streaming platform not a social media site.”
Don’t tell my clients that.
Like nearly every other agency on the planet, we’ve included YouTube as part of the proactive social media management that we orchestrate to help meet customers and prospects wherever they are.
Before AI turned search on its head, YouTube had risen to become the second most popular search engine as users searched for answers they could watch and listen to as opposed to just read. And that, for many businesses, is why YouTube remains such an important part of their overall marketing and social media strategy.
So, Is YouTube Social Media or a Streaming Platform?
YouTube is widely considered both. While Google often describes it as a streaming or video sharing platform, research organizations and marketers classify it as social media because it enables user-generated content creation, interaction and community engagement. (Most definitions of social media include platforms that allow users to create, share and interact with content, and YouTube clearly checks all three boxes.)
Google’s positioning reflects its biggest revenue opportunity (replacing your cable bill with streaming services). But in practice, YouTube remains one of the most widely used social platforms in the world, with more than 2.7 billion users. Organizations like Pew Research Center consistently classify it that way, and global data from DataReportal ranks YouTube among the largest and most popular social media platforms.
The Power of YouTube as a Social Media Site
There exist some 120 million active YouTube channels (content creators). Nearly 30,000 hours of new video content is uploaded by YouTube creators every hour with the average number of views hovering around 6,000 (a figure that is heavily skewed by entertainment and style video clips).
For B2B brands, the benchmarks look very different. In many cases, 100-300 views within 48 hours are considered healthy for a new or growing channel.
That context matters.
Roughly 90% of YouTube channels have fewer than 1,000 subscribers, and typical engagement rates (likes, comments and shares) range from 1.5% to 3.5%. So why bother?
Because even a small slice of 120 million channels represents a massive opportunity. Smaller channels can consistently reach highly targeted, niche audiences — the exact audiences many B2B brands are trying to connect with.
That’s why we advocate that YouTube is a social media marketing tool, one that performs best as a long-tail component of a broader marketing mix.
Come on Google, let’s not give up your social media identity yet. 2.7 billion people can’t be wrong.
This blog is courtesy of Jennifer Koon, MMC Founder and Principal Consultant.