YouTubers are digging for gold on a bigger screen: TV

• Some YouTube creators are adapting their content for TV screens by producing longer videos.
• Longer content on TV can boost revenue with more ad breaks and higher rates.
• YouTubers share how they're optimizing their videos for the big screen.

YouTube wants to be the new TV, and some content creators are doubling down on it to make more money.

The company announced in February that TV had surpassed phones as the main place to watch YouTube in the US. On average, viewers watch over 1 billion hours of YouTube on their TVs.

The rising TV viewership is starting to boost ad revenue for some creators.

YouTube creator Jordan Matter has 28 million subscribers for his challenge and skit-based videos featuring his daughter. In the past 28 days, 65% of his channel's total ad revenue came from TV, despite TV viewers accounting for 45% of his total audience, he told Business Insider.

In December, YouTube said that creator earnings from TV were up more than 30% year over year.

Creators, including Matter, are developing longer videos and compilations as they chase TV viewers and ad dollars. Longer videos can include more ad breaks, thus boosting revenue.

"If you have a 45-minute video, you can have three or four different ad-break segments," Dan Weinstein, cofounder and co-CEO of Underscore Talent, told BI.

Compilations that combine existing videos are also an easy way for short-form content creators to join the TV trend, Weinstein said.

"Really funny, viral, short-form stuff actually does tend to do pretty well if sort of strung together," Weinstein said.

Extra long videos and piecing together shorter ones

YouTubers don't need highly produced Netflix-style shows to do well on TV. Victor Potrel, SVP of partnerships and creator services at digital-media company TheSoul Publishing, said he sees YouTube consumption on the TV as an accelerating trend.

"It's more the evolution of people gradually changing their consuming habits but wanting the same content on their TV devices," Potrel said.

TheSoul manages several YouTube channels, including 5-Minute Crafts, Bright Side, and 123 Go!. For TV, Potrel said TheSoul packages videos based on themes such as home decor and builds them into longer videos that are an hour or even three hours long.

"You don't need to radically change the way that you produce content," Potrel said. "Mostly, it's been about packaging the content and adapting it for the screen."

The company said TheSoul's share of global views on connected TVs went up from 17% in 2022 to 24% in 2024, and watch time increased from 28% to 41%. Global emerging markets have also shown an increase in TV viewership. For instance, views of TheSoul's content on connected TVs in India doubled from 2022 to 2024, reaching 10%.

Revenue has increased, as well. Longer watch times have led to higher ad rates for TheSoul's creators, Potrel said.

Reaching different audiences on TVs

YouTubers are trying to appeal to both kids and Gen-Z viewers on TV. Their viewing behaviors are very different — with kids sitting down to watch more engaging pieces of content and Gen Z listening to videos in the background while multitasking.

For Matter, who makes videos for kids, his team has adapted in two ways: they have doubled the length of the videos and elevated production quality with subtitles and video graphics.

Meanwhile, Kiana Parker, EVP of programming and content at sketch-comedy YouTube channel Smosh, said Gen Z and millennial viewers tend to enjoy accessible content on TV that doesn't require a lot of background knowledge.

"What can you put on and be busy folding your laundry to, or go run out of the room to grab something and come back and still feel like you didn't miss the entire thing," Parker said.

Now, most of Smosh's content is 30 to 45 minutes long, which is comparable to a TV series. The Smosh Pit YouTube channel used to frequently upload shorter videos between 12 and 15 minutes long.

"Our current production value splits the difference between quality, but also casualness," Parker said. "Our editing style is more freeform, where the editors are inserting jokes into the video, or we leave in a blooper."

The Smosh team is continuing to explore new strategies and create content for larger screens. They're doing so partly because the team is reading the tea leaves on where YouTube is headed as a platform.

"Whenever YouTube is really adamant about a product it's always a quiet indicator to really care about it," Parker said.