Resources / Research guide · 2020–2026
Short Form
Video Stats
Seven years. Eight platforms. The numbers behind short video—with the context that makes them useful.
2026 is a partial year. Entries use disclosed results or dated milestones, never an assumed full-year total.
Selected benchmarks
Scale, attention
and participation.
A quick reference to notable disclosures. These cards use different dates and measures; they are not a platform ranking.
YouTube
200B+
daily Shorts views
Reaffirmed August 2026YouTube · August 2026 ↗
60%+
of time spent on video
Facebook and Instagram · May 2026Meta · May 2026 ↗
4.5B+
daily Reels reshares
Instagram · May 2026Meta · May 2026 ↗
TikTok
189M
monthly EU users
H1 2026 · EU onlyTikTok · H1 2026 transparency report ↗
6×
weekly immersive-video views
Quarter over quarter · October 2024LinkedIn · October 2024 ↗
X (formerly Twitter)
100M+
daily vertical-video users
October 2023 measurementX · vertical video, October 2023 data ↗
Snapchat
550M+
monthly Spotlight users
Q2 2025Snap · Q2 2025 results ↗
640M
global monthly active users
Q2 2026 · all PinterestPinterest · Q2 2026 results (SEC) ↗
Methodology
Read the number.
Check the denominator.
What this guide covers
There is one entry for every platform in every year from 2020 through 2026: 56 annual entries. Each records a selected disclosure, a format milestone or an explicit evidence gap. This is a research timeline, not a complete annual time series.
We prioritize platform announcements, earnings materials, transparency reports and regulatory filings. Company-reported metrics have not been independently audited for this guide. Sources sit beside the claims they support.
Rows use the year measured when it is identifiable; later publication dates remain visible in the source labels. Otherwise the row reflects the dated announcement. No missing values have been estimated.
Five measures to keep separate
- Views or plays: activity that can include repeat viewing.
- Users or members: people or accounts, with different activity and registration definitions.
- Time spent: duration or a share of time, not a user count.
- Shares or uploads: actions taken by viewers or creators.
- Paid performance: advertising results, separate from organic viewing.
Short form has no single definition. This guide covers Shorts, Reels, TikTok, Spotlight, vertical video and video Pins, with broader video or audience context labeled where short-only data is unavailable.
Platform 01 / 08 · 2020–2026
YouTube
video stats
Shorts provides one of the clearest published records of daily short-video viewing. Its counting method changed during this period.
Daily Shorts views
Billions of views per day
Not charted = no comparable value in this guide; it does not mean zero. *2026 is a partial year.
| Year | Reported figure or milestone | Context & primary source |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Shorts beta beginsFormat milestone |
India beta launched in September 2020. The retrospective establishes the starting point; it does not provide a comparable 2020 daily-view total. |
| 2021 | 15B+ daily viewsShorts · global |
Reported in July 2021, as Shorts expanded. This is viewing activity, not 15 billion different people. |
| 2022 | 30B daily viewsShorts · global |
By July 2022, YouTube also reported 1.5 billion monthly logged-in Shorts users. Views and monthly users are separate measures. |
| 2023 | 70B+ daily viewsShorts · global |
September 2023 disclosure also cited more than 2 billion signed-in monthly viewers. |
| 2024 | 70B+ daily viewsShorts · global |
Reaffirmed in March 2024. A repeated threshold is not evidence of zero growth during the year. |
| 2025 | 200B+ daily viewsShorts · global |
Announced June 2025. Shorts view counting changed on March 31, so a direct growth rate against earlier totals would be misleading. |
| 2026 | 200B+ daily viewsShorts · global · partial year |
Reaffirmed in an August 2026 announcement. This is a disclosed daily level, not a full-year 2026 total. |
Platform 02 / 08 · 2020–2026
Facebook
video stats
Facebook Reels expanded globally in 2022. Some widely quoted Meta statistics combine Facebook and Instagram or include longer videos.
Daily Reels plays across Meta
Billions of plays per day · Facebook + Instagram combined
Not charted = no comparable value in this guide; it does not mean zero. *2026 is a partial year.
| Year | Reported figure or milestone | Context & primary source |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | No comparable Reels figure verifiedResearch gap |
This review found no comparable 2020 Facebook Reels audience or daily-play figure. The US Reels launch followed in 2021. |
| 2021 | US Reels launchFormat milestone |
Facebook introduced Reels in the United States in September 2021. A launch date is not an audience count. |
| 2022 | 150+ countriesReels availability |
Meta expanded Facebook Reels globally in February 2022. Countries indicate distribution, not active viewers. |
| 2023 | 200B+ daily Reels playsFacebook + Instagram combined |
Q2 2023 disclosure. This is one combined total across both apps, not a Facebook-only figure. |
| 2024 | 60%+ of time on videoBroader video · both Meta apps |
Q1 2024 statement covered video time on Facebook and Instagram. It included more than short Reels. |
| 2025 | Over half of watch timeReels longer than 1 minute |
Meta said longer Reels drove over 50% of Facebook watch time. It also said these were a quarter of Reels produced by creators with more than 10,000 followers. |
| 2026 | 60%+ of time on videoBroader video · partial year |
Meta reaffirmed this Facebook-and-Instagram video share in May 2026. It is not a new Facebook-only short-video audience count. |
Platform 03 / 08 · 2020–2026
Instagram
video stats
Reels grew from a new creative format into a major share of Instagram activity. Plays, time spent and reshares each describe a different behavior.
Time spent watching Reels
Share of total time within Instagram (%)
Not charted = no comparable value in this guide; it does not mean zero. *2026 is a partial year.
| Year | Reported figure or milestone | Context & primary source |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 15-second Reels debutFormat milestone |
Instagram introduced Reels in August 2020. The initial clip length describes the launch product, not the current limit. |
| 2021 | 30-second Reels ad testsAdvertising milestone |
Meta announced initial Reels advertising tests in April 2021. This is a format-development milestone, not a view-volume statistic. |
| 2022 | 20%+ of Instagram timeReels engagement share |
Meta reported this share in its Q1 2022 earnings call. The denominator is time within Instagram. |
| 2023 | 200B+ daily Reels playsFacebook + Instagram combined |
The same Q2 2023 combined Meta total appears in the Facebook section. Do not add the two entries together. |
| 2024 | 50% of Instagram timeReels engagement share |
Meta reported in April 2024 that Reels alone made up half of time spent within Instagram. |
| 2025 | Video time up 30% year over yearBroader Instagram video |
Reported with Q3 2025 results. This growth measure covers video time, not a 30% increase in unique Reels viewers. |
| 2026 | 4.5B+ daily Reels resharesInstagram sharing · partial year |
Meta cited this daily sharing volume in May 2026. Reshares are actions, not unique people or video views. |
Platform 04 / 08 · 2020–2026
TikTok
video stats
TikTok audience disclosures vary by country and region. The platform also expanded beyond very short clips, making duration an essential part of any analysis.
TikTok’s US audience
Millions of US users · broader platform context
Not charted = no comparable value in this guide; it does not mean zero. *2026 is a partial year.
Graph sources
| Year | Reported figure or milestone | Context & primary source |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 100M AmericansUS platform community |
TikTok described its US community in September 2020. This is broader platform reach, not a short-video view count. |
| 2021 | 1B+ monthly usersGlobal platform audience |
September 2021 announcement. Monthly users are not daily views, and this is not a US-only count. |
| 2022 | Longer-video rollout beginsFormat milestone |
TikTok’s 2024 retrospective dates the rollout of longer videos to 2022. No comparable 2022 short-only view total is asserted here. |
| 2023 | 150M+ US usersUS platform community |
March 2023 disclosure. Compare geography and measurement definitions before relating it to the 2021 global figure. |
| 2024 | 50% of viewing timeVideos longer than 1 minute |
In March 2024, TikTok said users spent half their time watching videos over one minute. This measures time, not half of uploaded videos. |
| 2025 | 200M+ monthly active recipients32 European countries |
September 2025 disclosure includes the EEA, UK and Switzerland. It is broader than the EU-only region used below. |
| 2026 | 189M monthly usersEU · H1 2026 |
Reported in the seventh EU transparency report, published August 2026. The narrower geography means this cannot be read as a decline from the 2025 Europe figure. |
Platform 05 / 08 · 2020–2026
LinkedIn
video stats
Early years offer platform membership context rather than a reliable short-video series. More recent disclosures describe video viewing, uploading and paid-video activity.
Video viewership growth
Relative index · prior-year comparison = 100
Not charted = no comparable value in this guide; it does not mean zero. *2026 is a partial year.
Graph sources
| Year | Reported figure or milestone | Context & primary source |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 675M membersRegistered-member context |
Reported in February 2020. Members are not monthly active users or video viewers. No short-only viewing total is implied. |
| 2021 | 800M membersRegistered-member context |
December 2021 disclosure. This is a platform-size marker, not a short-video statistic. |
| 2022 | 875M+ membersRegistered-member context |
October 2022 disclosure. Keep this membership series separate from later video-growth percentages. |
| 2023 | 1B membersRegistered-member context |
LinkedIn marked one billion members in November 2023. It did not identify these members as short-video viewers. |
| 2024 | Immersive video views grew 6×Weekly views · quarter over quarter |
October 2024 disclosure also reported overall video viewership up 36% year over year. These are different comparison periods and scopes. |
| 2025 | Video uploads up over 20%FY2025 · creator activity |
Reported July 2025 for the fiscal year ending June. Upload growth describes supply, not audience size or calendar-year viewing growth. |
| 2026 | Paid video growing nearly 30%Year-over-year business signal |
April 2026 disclosure. LinkedIn did not further specify this metric’s denominator in the highlight; it should not be presented as organic short-video view growth. |
Platform 06 / 08 · 2020–2026
X (formerly Twitter)
video stats
X’s strongest disclosures concern all-video activity, vertical-video usage and major live moments. They do not form one consistent annual short-only audience series.
Video views growth
Relative index · previous 12-month period = 100
Not charted = no comparable value in this guide; it does not mean zero. *2026 is a partial year.
Graph sources
| Year | Reported figure or milestone | Context & primary source |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | No comparable figure verifiedResearch gap |
This review did not verify a dated 2020 short-only audience or view total. A missing number means unavailable evidence, not zero activity. JEMSU research gap · no estimate supplied |
| 2021 | 3.5B video views per dayAll video · January 2021 data |
Twitter’s planning guide cites internal January 2021 data. It also reports video viewing time up 34% year over year; neither figure is limited to short clips. |
| 2022 | Immersive video viewer launchesFormat milestone |
Twitter announced a full-screen video viewer and easier video discovery in September 2022. |
| 2023 | 100M+ daily vertical-video usersGlobal · October 2023 |
X’s product page cites October 1–31, 2023 internal data. It also attributes about 20% of total daily platform time to vertical video. |
| 2024 | Video views up 40%All video · year over year |
X’s review compares December 1, 2023–November 30, 2024 with the prior 12 months. It is not a short-only growth rate. |
| 2025 | Dedicated video tab launchesUS rollout · January 2025 |
A product milestone for video discovery. The launch article repeats earlier growth data; that is not a new 2025 annual result. |
| 2026 | 605M video viewsSuper Bowl LX event · February 2026 |
A conversation-specific event result. It is neither average daily platform volume nor a short-only viewing total. |
Platform 07 / 08 · 2020–2026
Snapchat
video stats
Spotlight has a useful record of monthly audience and viewing growth. Creator participation figures add another perspective, but are not audience counts.
Spotlight’s monthly audience
Millions of monthly Spotlight users
Not charted = no comparable value in this guide; it does not mean zero. *2026 is a partial year.
| Year | Reported figure or milestone | Context & primary source |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Spotlight launchesNovember 2020 milestone |
Snap introduced its entertainment feed on November 23, 2020. This marks the format’s start, not a full-year audience total. |
| 2021 | 125M+ monthly usersSpotlight audience |
Reported in May 2021. This is monthly Spotlight usage, not the number of Snapchat users posting videos. |
| 2022 | Watch time more than doubledSpotlight · Q4 year over year |
Snap’s February 2023 investor day reported the Q4 2022 comparison. The row uses the measurement year, not the publication year. |
| 2023 | 350M+ monthly usersSpotlight audience |
Reported at Snap’s May 2023 NewFronts presentation. |
| 2024 | 500M+ monthly usersSpotlight · Q3 2024 |
Snap reported audience growth of 21% year over year for the quarter. |
| 2025 | 550M+ monthly usersSpotlight · Q2 2025 |
Snap also reported Spotlight time spent up 23% year over year and more than 40% of total content time spent. |
| 2026 | US daily creators up 70%Spotlight posting · Q1 2026 |
Snap reported year-over-year growth in US creators posting to Spotlight each day. This measures creator participation, not viewer growth. |
Platform 08 / 08 · 2020–2026
Pinterest
video stats
Pinterest’s video and Idea Pin disclosures offer useful creative signals. Recent audience totals provide context, but do not reveal a separate short-video audience.
Video views growth
Relative index · 2019 = 100
Not charted = no comparable value in this guide; it does not mean zero. *2026 is a partial year.
Graph sources
| Year | Reported figure or milestone | Context & primary source |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Video views grew to 3×2020 versus 2019 · all video |
Pinterest’s business research states that 2020 video views were three times the previous year. Three times the level equals a 200% increase. |
| 2021 | 9× average comment rateIdea Pins versus standard Pins |
April 2021 data cited in the May launch announcement. Idea Pins were a video-first, multi-page format that could also include images. |
| 2022 | 158% higher click-through rateVideo-like ads versus static ads |
Pinterest reported prior-year results in July 2022, alongside 42% lower CPC and 58% lower CPA. The release does not supply a full sample methodology. These are paid-ad results. |
| 2023 | 498M monthly active usersGlobal platform · Q4 2023 |
Year-end audience context from the February 2024 results release. This is not the audience for video Pins alone. |
| 2024 | 553M monthly active usersGlobal platform · Q4 2024 |
Year-end platform audience. Do not label all monthly users as short-video viewers. |
| 2025 | 619M monthly active usersGlobal platform · Q4 2025 |
Reported in Pinterest’s 2025 annual report. This continues the platform-context series, not a video-only series. |
| 2026 | 640M monthly active usersGlobal platform · Q2 2026 |
Quarterly figure reported in August 2026. It is neither a forecast nor a full-year 2026 result. |
Before making a chart
Four changes that
matter to your analysis.
01. A YouTube view changed
From March 31, 2025, Shorts views count starts and replays with no minimum watch time. The previous measure remains available as engaged views. Do not calculate a clean engagement growth rate across that break.
02. Reels does not always mean short
In June 2025, Meta announced a gradual move to share all new Facebook videos as Reels, without length or format restrictions. Later Reels statistics can therefore cover a broader content mix.
03. Pinterest formats evolved
Pinterest classifies organic Idea Pins created before August 16, 2023 as video in analytics. Its video-view metric requires at least two seconds of continuous playback with at least half the video in view. Format labels and view rules matter.
Pinterest Help · analytics format changes ↗Pinterest Help · video metrics ↗
04. Geography and combined totals matter
TikTok’s 32-country Europe audience and its EU audience have different boundaries. Meta’s 200-billion daily Reels figure combines two apps. Neither example supports a simple platform-by-platform growth ranking.
TikTok · September 2025 ↗TikTok · H1 2026 transparency report ↗Meta · Q2 2023 prepared remarks (PDF) ↗
From research to a useful scorecard
Measure what your
videos need to do.
Platform scale shows an opportunity. Your own audience and business results show whether a creative approach works.
Earn attention
Track reach, engaged viewing, retention and completion for comparable durations. Keep organic and paid distribution separate.
Build interest
Look at shares, saves, meaningful comments, profile visits and return viewers. Compare rates using the same denominator.
Prompt an action
Use tagged links and your own analytics to measure qualified site visits, inquiries, trials or purchases. Record attribution limits.
Frequently asked questions
Make the numbers
work harder.
Which platform has the most short-video views?
These disclosures do not support a fair universal ranking. YouTube publishes daily Shorts views; Meta sometimes combines Reels plays across two apps; other networks publish users, time growth or event results. Rank only figures with matching definitions, dates, geography and coverage.
Are all 2026 figures final?
No. This guide was updated October 9, 2026. The 2026 entries are specific reported periods or announcements available by that date. They are not full-year totals or year-end forecasts.
Why do some years show users instead of video views?
Some platforms do not publish a consistent short-only series. Clearly labeled audience context or a documented format milestone is more defensible than an invented estimate. Missing short-only evidence does not mean no video activity.
Does short form always mean less than 60 seconds?
No. Platforms changed their formats during this period, and some short-video feeds carry longer videos. This page preserves the scope of each source instead of forcing all disclosures into a single duration limit.
What do B, M, MAU, YoY and QoQ mean?
B means billion; M means million; MAU means monthly active users; YoY means year over year; QoQ means quarter over quarter. Registered members are not equivalent to MAU. A threefold level is a 200% increase, not a 300% increase.
Can these statistics predict my results?
No. Platform totals and company-reported advertising comparisons do not predict an individual account’s reach, engagement or sales. Use them to form a hypothesis, then test with your own creative, audience and measurement setup.
Keep exploring
From the research
to your next video.
Explore the tools in One Click Videos by JEMSU, then build a repeatable way to create, publish and learn.
Primary-source index · 55 references
- YouTube · October 2021 retrospective ↗
- YouTube · July 2021 ↗
- YouTube · July 2022 ↗
- YouTube · September 2023 ↗
- YouTube · March 2024 ↗
- YouTube · June 2025 ↗
- YouTube · August 2026 ↗
- YouTube Help · Shorts view definition ↗
- Meta · September 2021 ↗
- Meta · February 2022 ↗
- Meta · Q2 2023 prepared remarks (PDF) ↗
- Meta · Q1 2024 earnings call (PDF) ↗
- Meta · October 2025 ↗
- Meta · June 2025 video changes ↗
- Meta · May 2026 ↗
- Meta · August 2020 ↗
- Meta · April 2021 (French) ↗
- Meta · Q1 2022 earnings call (PDF) ↗
- Meta · Q3 2025 earnings call (PDF) ↗
- TikTok · September 2020 ↗
- TikTok · September 2021 ↗
- TikTok · March 2023 ↗
- TikTok · March 2024 ↗
- TikTok · September 2025 ↗
- TikTok · H1 2026 transparency report ↗
- LinkedIn · February 2020 ↗
- LinkedIn · December 2021 ↗
- LinkedIn · October 2022 ↗
- LinkedIn · November 2023 ↗
- LinkedIn · October 2024 ↗
- LinkedIn · FY2025 results, July 2025 ↗
- LinkedIn · April 2026 ↗
- X / Twitter · planner, January 2021 data (PDF) ↗
- Twitter · September 2022 ↗
- X · vertical video, October 2023 data ↗
- X · 2024 advertiser review ↗
- X · January 2025 ↗
- X · Super Bowl LX, February 2026 ↗
- Snap · November 2020 ↗
- Snap · May 2021 ↗
- Snap · February 2023 investor day ↗
- Snap · May 2023 ↗
- Snap · Q3 2024 results ↗
- Snap · Q2 2025 results ↗
- Snap · April 2026 ↗
- Pinterest Business · 2020 comparison ↗
- Pinterest · May 2021 ↗
- Pinterest · July 2022 ↗
- Pinterest · FY2023 results, February 2024 ↗
- Pinterest · FY2024 results, February 2025 ↗
- Pinterest · 2025 annual report (SEC) ↗
- Pinterest · Q2 2026 results (SEC) ↗
- Pinterest Help · video metrics ↗
- Pinterest Help · analytics format changes ↗
- Meta · Q3 2022 prepared remarks (PDF) ↗
Research scope: selected public disclosures reviewed for this guide through October 9, 2026. Source pages can be revised after publication. Quoted thresholds such as “more than” remain thresholds. JEMSU analysis is labeled separately from reported facts.