YouTube has never looked more attractive to brands and content creators. The platform now spans everything from quick, scroll-friendly YouTube Shorts to long-form documentaries, all competing for the same audience’s attention on the same channel. But growing on YouTube in 2026 is not as simple as it once was.
Besides competing for viewership, content creators and brands also have to compete with artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content, streamers with large audiences and live sports and news channels.
Metricool’s latest YouTube study takes a data-driven look at how video performance, audience behaviour and content strategy are evolving on the platform, offering South African businesses and creators a clearer picture of what actually works. The study analysed 799 718 videos worldwide from 71 177 accounts across industries, niches, and account sizes.
In this article, we unpack the key findings from the report and what they mean for anyone building a presence on YouTube today.
A Snapshot of YouTube in 2026
Before diving into the details, it helps to see the big picture first. Metricool’s report opens with a snapshot of where YouTube stands in 2026:
- 76% growth in views on long-form videos
- 11% of accounts with less than 10K subscribers have grown
- Views on YouTube Shorts have grown by +127%
- 61% of all views come from the Shorts feed
- Engagement on long-form videos has fallen by 45%
- 83% of all interactions on the platform happen in the first 10 days
- A 3x shorter view duration on YouTube Shorts
The numbers tell a story of contrasts: platform-wide growth on one hand and a fight for attention on the other.
Growing on YouTube Is a Patience Game
Unlike some other social platforms, YouTube doesn’t reward overnight virality as much as it rewards consistency. The report shows that growth on the platform tends to be gradual, and it favours accounts that are already somewhat established but still have room to expand.
The report highlights that accounts with two thousand to ten thousand subscribers have the highest likelihood of growing. These are accounts that are somewhat established and visible to the algorithm but still small enough to grow.
For accounts with fewer than two thousand subscribers, growth is also possible, and almost 10% move to the next tier. On the other hand, if you’re already in the higher tiers, Medium (10k-100k subscribers) or Big (100k to 1 million subscribers), growing becomes a bigger challenge.
Long-Form Video: More Views, Less Watch Time
Long-form video is where YouTube built its reputation, and on the surface, 2026 looks like a good year for the format. But a closer look at the data reveals a more complicated picture and one where rising views don’t necessarily translate into deeper engagement or stronger monetisation.
Views have increased by nearly 76%, and estimated minutes watched are up almost 11%, suggesting that total consumption on the channel is growing at a steady pace. However, average view duration has fallen significantly by 37%.
This means that videos are not holding the attention of viewers for a long time. Combined with a decline in interactions, the pattern shows a platform struggling to keep people around like it used to.
The Cost of a View
With view duration falling, so have ad impressions and monetised playbacks, both falling by more than 50%. For creators and brands, this shows that when viewers spend less time watching videos, there are fewer opportunities for monetisation of the videos with mid-roll ads.
The impact of this is evident in the decline in estimated ad revenue, which fell by 55% in 2026, and estimated premium revenue, which fell by 44% in 2026.
Posting Frequency Sweet Spot for Long-Form
For brands and creators wondering how often they should publish long-form content, the report offers a clear answer. More isn’t always better, and pushing beyond a certain posting frequency can mean more effort for very little extra reward.
The report states that the ideal posting frequency is up to four posts per week. Ironically, the effort of creating more content doesn’t really pay off. On the other end, posting less than once a week doesn’t hurt each individual video’s performance that much.
While 2 to 4 posts a week is effective, the extremes tell a different story. Posting very little, under 0,5 posts/week, gives the weakest monthly result across the board, since with so little content, the performance of that one video becomes your total performance for the month.
In contrast, publishing more than 7 posts per week actually brings total views down compared to the previous ranges. Posting twice as often doesn’t translate into twice as many monthly views.
Hashtags on Long-Form Are Not a Growth Lever
Hashtags are often treated as a quick win on social media platforms, but on YouTube’s long-form videos, their impact is more nuanced. According to the report, posts that include hashtags see a slight drop in views, down nearly 17%, while interactions increase by 13%. YouTube’s algorithm prioritises titles, thumbnails and descriptions.
Hashtags on YouTube help to categorise content and give the algorithm more context, but they can also drive intentional traffic. Someone who lands on your video through a hashtag is more likely to engage because the topic already matches their interests. In other words, that content gets fewer views, but those views come from a more relevant audience.
If you use hashtags, stick to one or two that are directly related to your product or business.
YouTube Shorts: Easy Come, Easy Scroll
Thanks to the growth of short-form video platform TikTok, YouTube Shorts are becoming ever more popular, as demonstrated in the reported +127% increase in views on Shorts in 2026.
YouTube Shorts have become central to how brands get discovered on YouTube, and the report’s findings make it clear why. But the format’s biggest strength, its speed and reach, also comes with a trade-off in how long viewers actually stick around.
Brands quickly understood the importance of Shorts in 2026, with the report stating that posting frequency in Shorts reached over 20%. This frequency increase directly affected views in Shorts, with people watching more Shorts but for less time. Each piece of content is now watched for an average of around 16 seconds, 32 seconds less than in 2025. Interactions are also down, dropping by 15%.
For brands and content creators, this means that the content on Shorts is reaching more users’ feeds, but they’re swiping away faster and interacting less. The ideal posting frequency for Shorts is two to four times a week. However, posting more
Are Shorts Optional?
Channels that don’t publish YouTube Shorts average 4 364 views per long-form video, below the global average of 5 985 views across all channels in the study. In contrast, those publishing Shorts (around 5 per month) see that number climb to 8 789 views per long-form video, 46% above the global average.
However, there is a limit. Channels posting 35 or more Shorts see their long-form performance drop back to the same level as channels posting none at all, so beyond a certain point, volume stops helping.
For brands, it’s less a conversation of how many Shorts to publish and when to publish, but rather if the audience wants. But the pattern is consistent enough to make a case: if you’re not publishing any Shorts right now, it’s something worth experimenting with.
The Algorithm Brought You Here: Traffic Sources
Understanding how viewers actually find content is essential for any brand building a YouTube strategy. The findings confirm just how much of YouTube’s discovery today runs through algorithmic recommendations rather than direct searches.
According to the study, over 61% of all organic views – within the sample – come from the Shorts feed, making the Shorts algorithm the dominant force in how content gets discovered on the platform today.
Subscribers and YouTube searches are next, accounting for more than 11% and 9% of views, respectively. Only 3% of users actively go to specific channels to look for videos. This tells us that when developing a YouTube strategy, brands need to understand that in an ecosystem where most traffic depends on algorithmic recommendations, knowing how to work with the algorithm is no longer optional.
Best Times to Post on YouTube
It’s important to have a good understanding of the shelf life of content on YouTube. For the first three days, your video is likely to hit its strongest moment, as the algorithm pushes it to your subscribers and users with similar interests. This is when most of your interactions will come in and when views are at their peak. After that, the pace slows down sharply and levels out, which will prompt YouTube to push out your content to a broader audience through suggested content, and from there it settles into a steadier, lower rhythm that can last a long time.
To really crack the platform, you need to focus on not only posting consistently but also at optimal times. According to the study, the 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. time slot sees the highest number of long-form videos published on YouTube, suggesting that most brands have identified it as their go-to posting window. However, for Shorts the peak time shifts to the afternoon, and most content is posted between 2 and 6 p.m.
If you are looking to post during high-activity times, use the above timeframes as a reference. If you want to avoid competition, look for less crowded times.
Three Key Takeaways for Local Brands
Pulling all of this together, Metricool’s report distils its findings into three central takeaways that any brand or creator serious about YouTube should keep in mind heading into the rest of 2026.
1. More Views, Less Watch Time
Both long-form and Shorts are seeing significant increases in views, but duration is declining. Viewers are making it to the content, yet that content is losing its ability to keep them watching.
2. Increased Publishing Doesn’t Equal Better Performance
If you are going to post long-form content, 2-4 posts per week is where your efforts will see the most payoff. That is where individual video performance and total monthly views hold up best. For YouTube Shorts, posting more frequently adds more monthly views, so consider how much content you can produce without sacrificing quality.
3. Content Lives Longer on YouTube
After a video is published, it experiences an initial spike where it earns a big part of its total views and interactions, but performance doesn’t drop off immediately. Unlike social media platforms, your YouTube content can stay active for months or even years, even if it’s at a slower pace.
YouTube has never looked more attractive to brands and content creators. The platform now spans everything from quick, scroll-friendly YouTube Shorts to long-form documentaries, all… Read More
