YouTube’s Reach is Unmatched, Regardless of Age

In a fragmented media landscape where consumer attention is harder to capture than ever, YouTube stands out as the digital platform with the #1 highest reach in the US today. According to eMarketer’s US Time Spent with Media 2025 report, YouTube doesn’t just reach a wide audience, it reaches everyone at every age better than anyone else, and in a more surprising demographic breakdown than one might expect.

While 18 to 34-year-olds remain YouTube’s heaviest core users (spending up to 65 minutes per day on the platform), the YouTube audience with the highest rate of growth is actually coming from adults 45+. 

These older viewers are rapidly increasing their time on the platform and, in many cases, spend even more time on YouTube each day than kids and teens. Adults 55+ alone now account for nearly 20% of all time spent on YouTube in the U.S., surpassing the under-18 cohort in terms of total share of minutes. With older groups growing their YouTube view time more quickly than younger groups, this gap is expected to only increase over time.

This shift shatters the long-standing assumption that YouTube is a strictly youth-heavy or Gen Z platform. Instead, it has become a true cross-generational media hub – a place where older adults are becoming just as engaged as younger ones, and where content variety caters to every age and every interest.

For advertisers, this has massive (and massively exciting) implications. YouTube isn’t just a performance channel or a Gen Z go-to. It’s a platform where brands can connect with multigenerational households, speak to niche interest groups, and deliver relevance at scale across all age brackets.

As digital video continues to overtake traditional TV, platforms that offer broad, deep, and daily engagement like YouTube will only become more valuable. For advertisers looking to future-proof their media strategy, betting on YouTube isn’t just safe, it’s essential.