Short-form video is a format built for mobile. These vertical videos are designed to fit the shape of your smartphone. But according to YouTube, this type of content has become extremely popular on the big screen. Although it seems counterintuitive, it’s hard to argue with this data. YouTube viewers watch more than 2 billion hours of YouTube Shorts (clips up to 3 minutes long on the platform) on TV each month.
“The living room is YouTube’s fastest growing screen, and Shorts Experiences will further help connect viewers with the world’s most active community of creators from the comfort of their couches,” said Kurt Wilms, senior director of product management, YouTube on TV. “We’re finding that viewers increasingly want to watch their favorite content, whether it’s long-form content, podcasts or short-form content, on the big screen at home.”
The living room has become a major growth target across YouTube. US viewers alone watch over 200 million hours of YouTube content every day. YouTube shows short videos in search results for people watching on TV, so even if you weren’t planning on watching a minute-long clip on the big screen, you might end up checking it out anyway. Google TV, a platform from YouTube’s parent company Alphabet, recently announced that it would be adding a line called “Short Videos for You” to the Google TV feed. This is expected to further increase the total playback time.
Because there’s so much screen real estate available when watching vertical videos on your TV, YouTube has updated the viewing experience to display comments next to the video.
“By adapting Shorts for the big screen, we’re unlocking a more immersive way for fans to engage with the content they love, while creating a huge new stage for creators to reach audiences around the world and grow their business,” Sara Ali, YouTube Shorts’ vice president of product management, said in a press release.
This trend extends to podcast audiences as well, even though podcasts are typically an audio-first medium. Streaming companies are increasing their bets that podcasts will become the new daytime talk shows. This is a show that people can not only turn on and watch, but get up to do something else while listening to TV from the next room and still get the gist.
According to YouTube, viewers listened to more than 700 million hours of podcasts each month on living room devices in 2025, up from 400 million hours per month in 2024. Netflix has also invested heavily in video podcasts, signing deals with iHeartMedia, Barstool Sports, Spotify, and other studios to acquire exclusive video rights to certain shows.
If you buy through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect editorial independence.
Source link
