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- AI Video Editing Statistics (8)
- Beauty Video Marketing Statistics (8)
- Food & Restaurant Video Statistics (9)
- Legal Video Marketing Statistics (8)
- Livestream Video Statistics (7)
- Motion Graphics Statistics (10)
- Online Course Video Statistics (5)
- Real Estate Video Statistics (6)
- Short-Form Video Statistics (9)
- Stock Footage Statistics (4)
- Travel Video Marketing Statistics (7)
- Video Advertising Statistics (4)
- Video Captions Statistics (6)
- Video Editing Statistics (3)
- Video Podcast Statistics (8)
- Video Thumbnail and CTR Statistics (7)
- Wedding Video Statistics (5)
- YouTube Copyright Statistics (8)
AI Video Editing Statistics
"90% of online content will be AI-generated by 2026"
This was a guess, and the agency that printed it has withdrawn it. Europol's Innovation Lab report on deepfakes, published in April 2022, said "experts estimate that as much as 90 % of online content may be synthetically generated by 2026" (Europol, original edition).
"30% of marketing messages will be synthetically generated by 2025"
This is an analyst prediction, not a measurement, and no one checked whether it came true. Gartner predicted in January 2023 that by 2025, 30% of outbound marketing messages from large organizations would be synthetically generated, up from less than 2% in 2022 (Gartner, Internet Archive capture).
"The AI video editing market will reach $X billion"
Market-research resellers publish these figures in free summaries of paid reports, without their methods, and they do not agree on what the market is. Market.us puts the "AI in video editing" market at around USD 4.4 billion by 2033 (Market.us).
"AI cuts video production time by 80%"
The 80% comes from single-customer case studies published by AI avatar vendors. Synthesia headlines a case study in which one UK further-education college reports "80% in video production time savings" (Synthesia, Internet Archive capture).
"YouTube will demonetize AI-generated videos"
YouTube never said this. Days before a July 15, 2025 policy update, The Bridge Chronicle reported that "YouTube has announced it will stop monetizing content featuring AI-generated videos starting July 15, 2025" (The Bridge Chronicle), and Tech Startups headlined "YouTube to demonetize AI-generated videos starting July 15" (Tech Startups, July 9, 2025).
"8 million deepfakes were shared in 2025"
This figure is arithmetic on a forecast, and it became a count by being repeated. The deepfake-detection company Sensity reported that the number of fake videos online roughly doubled every six months from 2018, with 85,047 detected as of December 2020 (Sensity).
"75% of video marketers use AI" and "78% of marketing teams use AI video"
The first is real but old; the second has no survey we could find. Wyzowl's 2024 survey reported 75%, its 2025 survey 51% and its 2026 survey 63%. In July 2026 Swarmify's statistics page still gave "75% of video marketers use AI tools for creation or editing" alongside Wyzowl's 2026 figures (Swarmify).
"A third of YouTube Shorts are AI slop"
This comes from one vendor's test of one new account. Kapwing, which sells an AI video editor, created a new YouTube account and counted the first 500 Shorts it was shown in late 2025: 104, or 21%, were AI-generated, and 165, or 33%, were what it called "brainrot" (Kapwing).
Beauty Video Marketing Statistics
"Creators own 97% of beauty on YouTube"
This is the other side of a 2014 count by a company that sells YouTube ad buying. On February 4, 2014, Pixability said major beauty brands had "only garnered 3%" of the 14.9 billion beauty-related video views it counted on YouTube (Pixability, via Internet Archive).
"86% of top beauty videos are made by creators"
This one is Google's, and narrower than it sounds. A Think with Google data card says 86% of the top 200 beauty videos on YouTube were made by creators "vs. branded or professional content", citing a Nielsen, Carat and YouTube study from May 2017 (Think with Google, via Internet Archive).
"45% of beauty shoppers watch a YouTube tutorial before buying"
The source is a 2017 Google and Deloitte survey of U.S. shoppers, and the question was specific. Google's data card says 45% of beauty shoppers watched a YouTube "how-to" video that used the product, for inspiration, before buying a beauty product (Think with Google, via Internet Archive).
"89% bought a beauty product after watching a video"
Two different 89% figures get attached to beauty, and neither says what the lists claim. The first comes from Wyzowl, a company that makes explainer videos: its 2023 report says 89% of people say watching a video has convinced them to buy a product or service, from 528 respondents surveyed in November 2022, with no breakdown by product or by kind of video (Wyzowl, via Internet Archive).
"Fenty Beauty made $72 million in its first month"
That was earned media value, not sales. WWD reported on October 24, 2017 that Fenty Beauty recorded $72.0 million in earned media value in Tribe Dynamics' September 2017 ranking, third among cosmetics brands (WWD). Earned media value is a vendor's estimate of what social posts about a brand would have cost as paid advertising.
"#BeautyTok has billions of views"
These are readings of TikTok's hashtag counters on a given day, not statistics TikTok publishes. TikTok's own July 2021 "Welcome to #BeautyTok" post gives no total; it cites single hashtags as examples, such as 2.2 billion views on #skincarebyhyram (TikTok For Business, via Internet Archive).
"The beauty industry is worth $532 billion"
This is a 2018 estimate from a market-research reseller, for 2017, on a wide definition. Orbis Research valued the global cosmetic products market at USD 532.43 billion in 2017, including oral care, soaps and shower gels (Orbis Research release).
"Unilever is moving half its media spend to social"
The numbers in this one were said by the interviewer. In Unilever's own transcript of a Barclays fireside chat on March 6, 2025, the analyst asking the questions says "you're moving to a social-first advertising strategy, 30% of total spend to 50%", and the chief executive's answer does not repeat the figures (Unilever transcript).
Food & Restaurant Video Statistics
"80% of consumers watch restaurant video content"
We found no survey behind it. The earliest version we could read is an unsourced line on a QR-code menu vendor's blog, published in February 2023. Its only link goes to a general video statistics page from a video-editing app, and that page carried no restaurant or food figure in any version we checked from 2021 to today.
"#FoodTok views grew 57%"
No TikTok publication gives this figure that we could find. The earliest version we read, an April 2022 post by a food-marketing agency, quotes an editor at the menu-research firm Datassential, who in turn quotes "a recent report by the platform" without naming it.
"55% of TikTok users visit a restaurant after seeing its menu"
This is a misreading of a real survey. In MGH's August 2021 survey of 701 U.S. TikTok viewers, the visit-or-order figure was 36%. The same survey found that 55% wanted to visit a restaurant because the food in the video looked appetizing, and 51% because the video showed a unique food item (MGH).
"45% of diners tried a restaurant because of a social media post"
This one is real but narrower than it sounds. MGH surveyed 1,069 U.S. adults who eat at or order from restaurants at least monthly in February 2019; 45% said they had tried a restaurant for the first time because of a social media post made by the establishment itself (MGH).
"30% of millennials avoid restaurants with a weak Instagram presence"
This came from a UK restaurant chain's publicity survey, and no method was ever published. The earliest report we found is The Independent's of April 11, 2017, which credits research by Zizzi, an Italian restaurant chain in the UK, and says 30 per cent of UK 18-to-35-year-olds would avoid a restaurant if its Instagram presence was weak.
"69% of millennials post photos of their food"
The original says take, not post. A February 2017 release by the market research firm Maru/Matchbox said "69% of millennials take a photo or video of their meal before eating" (Maru/Matchbox, Internet Archive capture). It published no sample size, field dates, age range or question, and did not say whether that meant ever or usually.
"Restaurants spend 3% to 6% of sales on marketing"
This began as advice, not a measurement. The earliest version we found, a January 2012 post by a restaurant marketing agency, already calls it "a general rule" that "some mention those figures as gospel", and cites nothing. We found no National Restaurant Association figure behind it; the Association collects marketing costs in its operations report but publishes no percentage publicly.
"90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual"
No study behind it has been found. The figure is usually credited to Eric Jensen's 1996 book Brain-Based Learning, which we could not read. The earliest version we could read is David Hyerle's 2000 book for the education association ASCD, which says only that "research approximates" 80 to 90 percent of the information the brain receives comes through vision, with no citation.
"Menu photos get 70% more orders"
The delivery apps' own photo figures are ceilings, not averages, and they have shrunk. Grubhub's merchant blog said in 2021 that food photography gets restaurants "70% more online orders" and 65% higher delivery and takeout sales (Grubhub).
Legal Video Marketing Statistics
"Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster"
This is a 2015 survey of companies in general, not law firms. Aberdeen Group surveyed 168 companies; those using video in at least one marketing channel reported revenue growth of 13.3% against 8.9% for those that did not (MediaPost, reporting Aberdeen Group).
"Video on a landing page lifts conversions 86%"
This is one vendor's best client result. EyeView Digital reported an improvement in conversion of over 86 percent for one client, TutorVista, after several rounds of testing, measured against the client's original landing page (EyeView Digital, via Internet Archive).
"96% of people seeking legal advice use a search engine"
True only of people who were already searching online. The figure comes from a 2014 Google and FindLaw infographic: "96% of people seeking legal advice use a search engine when looking online", from Google Consumer Surveys of U.S. residents in November 2013 (Google and FindLaw, via Internet Archive).
"1 in 5 (or 25%) of people researching legal topics use YouTube"
The only legal-specific YouTube figure in that infographic is 1 in 5 people researching legal topics visiting YouTube during their process, sourced to YouTube internal data for 2012 with no method published (Google and FindLaw). A list of legal marketing statistics republished by the National Law Review in October 2015 turned it into 25%, citing the same source.
"Viewers retain 95% of a video message, 10% of text"
Insivia, the agency the line is credited to, now says it came from a small survey it ran more than 16 years ago and was not a peer-reviewed study: viewers retain 95% of a video message but only 10% of text (Insivia). It still appears in material sold to attorneys, such as an October 2024 press release.
"One minute of video is worth 1.8 million words"
This line is credited to Forrester analyst James McQuivey, but the 2008 Forrester report it is usually pinned to, "How Video Will Take Over The World", is summarised by Forrester as a forecast that video viewing would rise from 4 to 5 hours a day by 2013, with no words-per-minute claim (Forrester Research, via Internet Archive).
"Video is 53 times more likely to rank on page one"
Forrester's January 2009 analysis compared a single video with a single text page, on 40 popular keywords where Google already showed video results: any given video stood "about a 50 times better chance" of reaching the first page (Forrester Research, via Internet Archive).
"Most clients prefer a lawyer with video"
We found no survey that says this. The only survey we found that asked consumers whether a lawyer's video would help them choose, run for WebVisible by Synovate in 2011 among 1,000 Americans, found 16% picked a video profile of the attorney or practice as information that would help them decide, far behind credentials and experience (WebVisible).
Livestream Video Statistics
"80% would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog"
This comes from a survey run by Livestream, a company that sold live-streaming software, with New York Magazine in late 2016.
"People spend 3x longer watching live video than pre-recorded video"
Facebook said on March 1, 2016 that people spend more than 3x more time watching a Facebook Live video while it is live "compared to a video that's no longer live" (Facebook newsroom). It compared the same kind of broadcast live and as a replay, not live video with produced video.
"LinkedIn Live gets 7x more reactions and 24x more comments"
LinkedIn first said it on August 20, 2019, while LinkedIn Live was in beta: broadcasters were "seeing 7x more reactions and 24x more comments on average for live streams compared to regular video" (LinkedIn Marketing Blog). In March 2020 LinkedIn restated it against "standard native video on the platform", with 7x the reactions (LinkedIn Marketing Blog).
"Live video is 17% of internet traffic"
This is a forecast, not a measurement, and it was about video traffic, not all traffic. Cisco's Visual Networking Index, published in November 2018, forecast that live internet video would account for 17 percent of internet video traffic by 2022 (Cisco VNI Forecast, archived).
"Twitch has 140 million monthly users" and "viewers watch 95 minutes a day"
Both come from Twitch's own advertising site in mid-2018. It listed 140mm+ unique monthly viewers (Twitch advertising site, July 2018 capture) and said its 15 million daily active viewers each spend an average of 95 minutes a day watching live gaming (same page).
"Viewers spend 8x longer with live video than on-demand"
The comparison comes from Ooyala, a video platform company, whose index for the fourth quarter of 2013 found that viewers watched on average more than 42 minutes of live video per play on connected TVs, and nearly 35 minutes per play on PCs (Ooyala press release, archived).
"The live streaming market will be worth billions by 2030"
Market-size forecasts for live streaming come from market-research resellers. None of the ones we checked publishes its method outside a paid report, and their estimates for the same year disagree widely. This page cites none of them.
Motion Graphics Statistics
"Dropbox's explainer video increased conversions 10% and made $48 million"
Dropbox itself never published either number. Its founder's April 2010 "Startup Lessons Learned" slides credit video with one thing: a demo video posted to Digg in March 2008, after which the beta waiting list jumped from 5,000 to 75,000 in one day (Internet Archive capture of the slides).
"Explainer videos increase conversions by 64%"
This is one split test on one home page. Conversion Rate Experts, the agency that ran it, reports that on Crazy Egg's home page the version with a video "generated 64% more conversions than the control" (Conversion Rate Experts case study).
"Animated explainers increase conversions by 20%, according to Unbounce"
The 20% is a client result from an explainer studio, not an Unbounce study. Switch Video's case study for Rypple reports that in a split test the landing page with its video "converted 20% better" than versions with a testimonial video or with image and text only (Switch Video).
"Viewers are 144% more likely to add a product to their cart after watching a video"
It began as one retailer's claim about its own tests, not a study. In March 2011 the housewares e-retailer Stacks and Stacks told Internet Retailer that "tests reveal a consumer who views a product video is up to 144% more likely to add that product to her cart than a consumer who watches no video" (Internet Retailer).
"65% of people are visual learners"
There is no measurement behind it. The earliest datable source we found is a Mind Tools page on memory techniques, online by November 1996, which says "visual learners make up around 65% of the population", with auditory learners at 30% and kinaesthetic at 5%, and cites no study (Internet Archive capture).
"Motion graphics boost shares by 1,200%" and other engagement lifts
These are not measurements of motion graphics. A design agency's 2026 trends guide says animated visuals, kinetic typography and transitions "boost shares by 1,200%" (Visual Soldiers), a figure that began as a 2012 infographic's count of Facebook brand-page posts and was never about motion graphics.
"The motion graphics market is worth $X billion"
The figures come from market-research resellers who sell the full reports and do not publish their methods, and they disagree by a factor of five. For 2025, Verified Market Reports sizes the global motion graphics market at USD 18.4 billion (Verified Market Reports) and Custom Market Insights at USD 98.3 billion (Custom Market Insights), about 5.3 times as much by our calculation.
"Animator jobs will grow 16%"
That was BLS's projection for 2020 to 2030, and it has been replaced five times.
"Motion graphics designers earn a median of about $75,000"
That is a 2019 BLS figure with the wrong date on it. A motion graphics salary page updated in July 2026 says the median for multimedia artists and animators was $75,270 "in May 2020" (MotionGuru). BLS published $75,270 as the median for May 2019 (2020 handbook, Internet Archive capture); its May 2020 median was $77,700 (2021 handbook, Internet Archive capture).
"96% of people have watched an explainer video"
This one is real, but it comes from a company that sells explainer videos, and from a small sample. Wyzowl's 2026 survey of 266 people, split between marketers and consumers, found 96% of consumer respondents had watched an explainer video to learn about a product or service, down from 98% in its 2025 survey of 205 (Wyzowl 2026, Wyzowl 2025, both Internet Archive captures).
Online Course Video Statistics
"The optimal course video is under six minutes"
The finding reached the public in autumn 2013, before the paper. Philip Guo, the researcher who ran the analysis, wrote it up on the edX blog in a post usually dated November 13, 2013, which says the findings had already appeared in a Wall Street Journal article on online courses and its infographic; a blog repeating the post the next day credits "Philip Guo's website, Oct 2013".
"Online learners retain 25 to 60% more, against 8 to 10% in a classroom"
This is the most-cited claim in e-learning marketing and it is wrong twice over at its own source. The earliest datable document is a March 2000 equity research white paper, Corporate e-Learning: Exploring a New Frontier, written by two investment analysts at WR Hambrecht + Co.
"Only 3% of people finish an online course"
Both the very low and the moderately low versions are real numbers with different denominators, as the completion section sets out. The figure usually quoted as "about 15%" comes from Katy Jordan's public MOOC dataset, which she compiled from news stories and blog posts rather than platform data, and which reports 15%.
"The human attention span is eight seconds"
This one is borrowed from elsewhere to justify short lessons. The BBC traced it to a 2015 Microsoft Canada report that did not conduct the research but cited a statistics website, whose own listed sources had no record of it; the Microsoft document drew on a survey of 2,000 people for its other findings.
"The global e-learning market will be worth $X billion"
Every version of this figure traces to a market-research reseller rather than to any statistical agency, filing or survey owner, and the resellers do not agree with one another. For the same market in the same base year, the published estimates we found differ by more than threefold, and the ten-year projections by roughly eightfold.
Real Estate Video Statistics
"Listings with video receive 403% more inquiries"
This is usually credited to a 2009 Australian study, sometimes to NAR. It is neither.
"73% of homeowners are more likely to list with an agent who uses video"
The origin is Properties Online, Inc., a company that sells single-property websites to agents, in its 2012 annual review: 73%. The figure has never changed across the editions we could date. The agent-adoption number printed beside it has changed constantly — 9% in the 2017 edition, 12% in 2021 — which is not how a survey result behaves.
"85% of buyers and sellers want to work with an agent who uses video"
This traces to a single sentence in a June 2014 Inman column: 85% of buyers and sellers prefer an agent who uses video marketing, and only 15% of agents use it. The column credits the 2013 Google and NAR Digital House Hunt study, and its author's own byline identifies them as the communications coordinator for a company then describing itself as the largest provider of walk-through video house tours.
"Homes with aerial photos sell 68% faster"
This one is a photo caption. The earliest datable carrier is an 8 June 2016 guest post on a real-estate trade blog: "According to MLS statistics, the properties photographed by drones sold 68 percent faster." No MLS is named, no sample, no market, no period.
"Video generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined"
The measurement underneath it counted posts on the ten biggest brand pages on Facebook, and it said something different. As published in August 2012, citing M Booth and Simply Measured: videos are shared 12 times more than links and text posts combined.
"Listings with virtual tours get 87% more views"
The earliest retrievable form of this is a virtual-tour vendor's statistics page: "Listings on Realtor.com receive 87% more views if they include a virtual tour. (Realtor.com 2007)." That report cannot be located in any form, and the surrounding stat block is otherwise dated 2006 to 2008.
Short-Form Video Statistics
"TikTok has 1.5 billion (or 1.6, or 1.9 billion) monthly users"
TikTok has not published a worldwide monthly user figure since September 27, 2021, when it said more than 1 billion people came to TikTok every month. In January 2024 its CEO told the U.S. Senate that TikTok was a community of "more than a billion people worldwide", including well over 170 million Americans.
"YouTube Shorts get 70 billion (or 200 billion) views a day" and "Reels get 200 billion plays"
All three are real, but they are routinely quoted with the wrong date. YouTube's 70 billion was first said on Alphabet's October 24, 2023 earnings call, so it describes late 2023. Its 200 billion was first announced on June 18, 2025, after YouTube began counting a Shorts view every time a Short starts to play, with no minimum watch time.
"Short-form video has the highest ROI of any format"
This began as an investment-intent figure, not a return. HubSpot's 2022 Marketing Industry Trends Report, published in November 2021 from a survey of 1,067 marketers, found that 30% of social media marketers planned to invest more in short-form video than in any other social media strategy in 2022 (HubSpot, archived).
"73% of consumers prefer short-form video to learn about a product"
The number is Wyzowl's, from its 2022 edition, and the answer it counts is "a short video", offered alongside options such as text-based articles. The question does not mention Reels, Shorts or TikTok. Wyzowl makes explainer videos, counts marketers and consumers in one respondent total, and does not publish the size of the consumer group or the countries surveyed.
"Short-form videos get 2.5x more engagement than long-form"
This is a stated preference, not a measurement of engagement. It comes from the Sprout Social Index, Edition XVIII, a survey of 1,236 U.S. consumers fielded from February 22 to March 1, 2022, which said "consumers find short-form videos 2.5x more engaging than long-form videos" (Sprout Social).
"Vertical video ads get 9x (or 90%) higher completion"
The 9x appears in Mary Meeker's Internet Trends 2015 presentation, credited to Snapchat: full-screen vertical video ads on Snapchat had a 9x higher completion rate than horizontal mobile video ads, measured against industry-standard horizontal ads as measured by Nielsen (KPCB, archived).
"88% of TikTok users say sound is vital"
TikTok's own business blog reported in June 2021 that research it commissioned from Kantar found 88% of TikTok users said sound is "essential" to the TikTok experience (TikTok For Business). In December 2021 TikTok restated it as 88% saying sound is "vital", this time footnoted to a different study, run by Nielsen in July 2020 (TikTok For Business).
"The ideal TikTok length is 21 to 34 seconds"
TikTok did publish 21-34 seconds, as the recommended length for paid In-Feed ads, in a February 2022 tips sheet for advertisers based on modelling of ad performance from May to July 2021 (TikTok For Business). It was never advice for ordinary posts.
"Shorts can be 60 seconds and Reels 90 seconds"
Both limits are out of date. YouTube has accepted Shorts of up to 3 minutes since October 15, 2024. Instagram's own Reels page now gives 20 minutes in the app, and Meta says reels on Facebook have no length limit. The 90-second figure survives in Meta's developer documentation for reels posted through its API.
Stock Footage Statistics
"The stock footage market is worth $X billion"
Every version of this number we found starts on a market-research reseller's sales page, where the headline is the free summary of a paid report and the method sits behind the paywall. We did not buy or bypass any of them, so no figure from them appears on this page.
"A stock footage clip earns about $X a year"
The most specific version, 3.38 dollars per clip per year, traces to a single contributor's drone-footage portfolio, described second-hand in a 2022 post on the blog of Xpiks, a company that sells software to stock contributors. It is one person's results, from one niche, before the royalty cuts described above.
"Only 7% of marketers use stock video"
This line, usually paired with "40% use stock photography", appears in a January 2019 blog post that names no survey. The numbers match a 2018 survey of online marketers by Venngage, but that survey asked which type of visual marketers used most, and the option chosen by 7.1% was "videos and presentations", which includes webinars and animation.
"Pond5 pays contributors 50-60%"
These were real rates, and fee-comparison pages still quote them in 2026. Pond5 announced to contributors that from January 15, 2025 artists earn a 30% royalty and exclusive video artists 40%, in a dated notice on its contributor site. Five months earlier it had replaced contributor-set pricing, which it said had produced over 1,000 price points, with two fixed video tiers.
Travel Video Marketing Statistics
"2 in 5 travellers use YouTube Shorts for travel inspiration"
This figure is real, but it describes India. It comes from a Google-commissioned Kantar survey of 1,000 online adults aged 18 and over in India, published by Think with Google in November 2025: YouTube Shorts was a source of inspiration for 2 in 5 Indian travellers (Think with Google).
"Travel views on TikTok grew 410% since 2021"
TikTok did publish this, but not the data behind it. Its business blog said in September 2023 that since 2021 it had seen a 410% increase in views of travel content (TikTok for Business). The footnote on that line points to a TikTok survey of UK users, which cannot measure view growth, and the post gives no base figure or definition of travel content.
"Two-thirds of travellers watch travel videos when planning a trip"
This is a 2014 figure measured on a narrow group and then widened. Google and Ipsos MediaCT's "Traveler's Road to Decision" study found 65% of U.S. leisure travellers who had watched travel videos did so "when thinking about taking a trip" (Google/Ipsos).
"40% of millennials choose a destination by how Instagrammable it is"
This was a single question put to young British adults to promote an insurer. In 2017, holiday-home insurer Schofields asked about 1,000 UK adults aged 18 to 33 to rank five factors in choosing a holiday; 40.1% put "how Instagrammable the holiday will be" first (Schofields).
"86% became interested in a destination after seeing user-generated content"
The survey was about photos from friends and family, run by a company that sold user-generated content software. Stackla's 2019 consumer survey in the U.S., UK and Australia reported that 86% had become interested in a destination after seeing photos posted by friends, family or peers on social media (Stackla).
"Guests are 67% more likely to book when a hotel has a video tour"
This traces to a 2007 comparison of self-selected website visitors. Hotel rich-media vendor VFM Interactive and Omni Hotels tracked nearly 130,000 visitors to Omni's websites for 34 days and found those who chose to view videos or virtual tours were 67% more likely to book than those who did not (Hotel Online, reprinting the 2007 release).
"83% of people discover new destinations on TikTok"
The 83% is real but describes TikTok users, not people. TikTok's travel industry guide attributes "83% of TikTok users agree that TikTok sparks their interest in visiting new destinations" to GWI panel data on TikTok users aged 18 and over in eight countries, collected in 2023 (TikTok for Business).
Video Advertising Statistics
"Viewers retain 95% of a message from video and 10% from text"
This traces to the agency Insivia, and Insivia has retracted it. Its own site now describes the 95% figure as a claim "marketers have repeated" rather than a research finding, saying it "originated from a small survey we conducted over 16 years ago.
"Video on a landing page increases conversions by 80%"
The origin is a white paper published by EyeView Digital, a company that sold landing-page video. Its actual sentence is that "in some cases the boost in conversion was over 80%" — a best case across the vendor's own client tests, not an average.
"82% of internet traffic is video"
This is a Cisco forecast, not a measurement, and the denominator is usually wrong. Cisco's November 2018 announcement projected IP video at 82 percent of total IP traffic by 2022, up from 75 percent — a statement about network bytes, not about what people watch.
"The global video advertising market is worth $X billion"
Market-research resellers do not agree on this within an order of magnitude. For the same named market and the same year, Straits Research puts it at USD 14.2 billion and The Business Research Company at $140.28 billion — a factor of 9.9 between them (our calculation).
Video Captions Statistics
"85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound"
A May 2016 Digiday article reported that "as much as 85 percent" of video views happen with sound off, according to several publishers and an agency. It was their own data, not Facebook's, from ten years ago. Old publisher data.
"Captions increase video views by 40%"
From a 2009 press release by subtitle company PLYmedia. Its trial found subtitles increased the time people spent watching by almost 40%, which is not the same as views (PLYmedia, archived). Misquoted vendor trial.
"Viewers are 80% more likely to finish a video with captions"
Two different sources. PLYmedia's 2009 trial said 80% more people watched to the end with subtitles. Verizon Media's 2019 study found 80% of respondents said they are more likely to watch an entire video with captions (Verizon Media and Publicis Media), a stated preference, not a measured increase. Two sources, often mixed.
"80% of caption users are not deaf or hard of hearing"
Ofcom's 2006 review estimated about 7.5 million UK adults had used TV subtitles, about 6 million of them without a hearing impairment (Ofcom, archived). That works out to 80% (our calculation), but Ofcom never stated a percentage. AP-NORC's 2025 poll offers a newer comparison: 13% of U.S. True, but from 2006.
"Captions increase watch time by 12%"
Facebook's February 2016 ads post said internal tests showed captioned video ads increased view time by an average of 12% (Facebook for Business, archived). It covered Facebook video ads only, and no method was published. Dated platform claim.
"Four in five 18- to 24-year-olds use subtitles"
A 2021 survey commissioned by Stagetext and run by Sapio Research, not YouGov, found 80% of 18- to 24-year-olds use subtitles some or all of the time (Stagetext). YouGov's own 2023 poll put the share who prefer subtitles on at 61%, using a different question. True, question differs.
Video Editing Statistics
"Video is most of internet traffic"
The newest video share its producer states on a public page is Sandvine's: 65% of all internet traffic in 2022 (Sandvine, January 2023). Later reports from its successor, AppLogic Networks, keep the figure behind a download form. True, but dated.
"500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute"
Google first put it in writing in April 2019: its written testimony to a U.S. House Judiciary hearing says "We see over 500 hours of video uploaded every minute" (congress.gov). YouTube's CEO repeated more than 500 hours in a September 2019 speech published on the YouTube blog. Replaced by YouTube.
"Viewers retain 95% of a message in video and 10% in text"
It first appears, with no source, in Insivia's 2013 list of video statistics as 95% against 10% (archived copy). Insivia now says it came from a small survey of around 200 B2B buyers in the late 2000s, calls the result "directional" and "not a peer-reviewed neuroscience study," and publishes no data. No published study.
Video Podcast Statistics
"There are over 4 million podcasts"
True as a count of feeds, but most are inactive. The Podcast Index lists 4.7 million feeds, and about 10% published in the last 90 days. Listen Notes counts 3.8 million, with 551,764 active in 2026. True, mostly inactive.
"Podcast ads get 4.4x better brand recall"
From a December 2018 press release by podcast ad network Midroll, which commissioned the Nielsen studies behind it. It says "up to" 4.4 times better recall than display ads, and the display-ad comparison came from a separate 2017 AP-NORC survey (Scripps investor release). 2018 vendor claim.
"80% of listeners hear all or most of an episode"
Edison's Infinite Dial 2018 reported two separate answers among people who had ever listened: 35% typically hear the entire episode and 45% most of it (Edison, 2018). Edison's newest reading we found is from 2019: 52% the entire episode and 41% most of it, among monthly consumers (Edison, 2019). Dated.
"YouTube is the most popular podcast platform"
True in both major trackers. YouTube first led a U.S. survey in 2019: in a February 2019 University of Florida and Futuri Media survey of regular podcast users, it was the most-used of all platforms people listened on, at 70% (Broadcast Dialogue, 2019). True.
"Podcast listeners are more educated and affluent"
Edison has reported this since at least 2017, when 45% of monthly podcast consumers had household income of $75,000 or more against 35% of adults (Edison, 2017). Its 2025 figures show a narrower gap: 51% of monthly consumers have college degrees against 46% of the population, and 47% earn $75,000 or more against 43% (Edison, 2025). True, gap narrowing.
"62% of video podcast viewers are 18 to 34"
We found no primary source. Edison's own data puts 38% of weekly video podcast watchers between 18 and 34. No source found.
"50.6% of shows post full videos on YouTube"
It is Podtrac's count for its top 250 U.S. podcasts, not all podcasts. Podtrac's February 2025 chart, published by Podnews in April 2025, puts full video on YouTube at 50.6% of those shows, and Podnews summed it up as "only half of the big shows are in YouTube as full video episodes" (Podnews, 2025). Top 250 only, 2025.
"Video podcasts overtook audio: 82% vs 78%"
Accurate for one quarter. It is Edison's Q3 2025 reading. By Q1 2026 the same question showed 78% for video and 80% for audio only. True for Q3 2025.
Video Thumbnail and CTR Statistics
"90% of the best-performing videos on YouTube have custom thumbnails"
This one is YouTube's, but it has never had a method. It first appears in YouTube Creator Academy's thumbnail lesson; the earliest English capture we found, dated December 26, 2015, reads: "90% of the best-performing videos on YouTube have custom thumbnails." (Internet Archive capture).
"The average YouTube CTR is 2%" (or 3-4%, 4-5%, 4-6%)
YouTube has never published an average CTR. Its only figure is the statement that half of channels and videos fall between 2% and 10%, unchanged since March 2018 (see above).
"Thumbnails with faces get 38% more clicks"
The 38% is about likes on Instagram photos, not clicks on YouTube thumbnails. It comes from a 2014 Georgia Tech and Yahoo Labs study of a random selection of 1.1 million Instagram photos, which found photos with faces were 38% more likely to receive likes and 32% more likely to receive comments, after controlling for the poster's followers and activity (CHI 2014 paper).
"The brain processes an image in 13 milliseconds" and "visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text"
The 13 milliseconds is a real lab result about something else, and it is disputed. MIT reported in January 2014 that people could identify images seen for as little as 13 milliseconds (MIT News). The task was spotting a named target, such as "picnic", in a rapid stream of six or 12 pictures shown for between 13 and 80 ms each (Potter et al., Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics).
"Netflix found 82% of viewers choose what to watch by the thumbnail"
Netflix measured something narrower. Its May 2016 post says artwork made up over 82% of members' focus while browsing Netflix, in consumer research run in early 2014, and that members spent an average of 1.8 seconds considering each title.
"Custom thumbnails increase clicks by 154%"
We found no study behind it. The earliest text version is an August 2016 Neil Patel post saying simple and beautiful thumbnails "can increase your engagement by 154%". It links to his own 2014 QuickSprout infographic, where the line is "+154% more clicks by women for YouTube videos with a thumbnail that stands out" (and "+64% for men").
"More than 70% of YouTube watch time comes from recommendations"
YouTube has never published this figure in its own posts. It first appears in an August 30, 2017 Verge feature built on interviews with YouTube staff, which reported that "more than 70 percent of the time people spend watching videos on the site is now driven by YouTube's algorithmic recommendations" (The Verge).
Wedding Video Statistics
"98% of brides regret not having a wedding video"
The wording first appears, in our search, in a 2013 HuffPost contributor post by the co-founder of a wedding video company, citing no survey. The closest real figure is a 2006 survey commissioned by videographer trade group WEVA International, in which 98% of 500 brides recommended having the wedding filmed (WEVA, 2006). Misquoted survey.
"63% of brides without video regretted it"
From the same 2006 WEVA survey. Among brides with no video, 63% said they would recommend hiring a professional videographer. It measured a recommendation, not regret. Misquoted survey.
"Couples regret skipping the videographer"
The earliest survey we found is WEVA's 2003 poll of 453 brides: 60% of those with no video wished they had had their wedding videotaped (WEVA, 2003). The newest large survey figure is The Knot's 19% from its 2023 study. A "35% regret" figure credited to a 2017 Zola survey appears only in news coverage; we found no copy published by Zola. True, but dated.
"The average wedding videographer costs $2,300"
Accurate for The Knot's survey, but the same $2,300 appeared for 2024 weddings as well, after $1,900 in 2021 and $2,100 in 2022 (archived Knot page, 2025). Quote it with its year and source, since Zola's index says $3,993. Needs a year.
"Couples watch their wedding video 20 or more times"
We found no survey or published data behind any version of this claim, only vendor copy. No source found.
YouTube Copyright Statistics
"98% (or 99%) of copyright issues are handled by Content ID"
This is YouTube's own figure, but its meaning has shifted. Google first said in July 2016 that over 98% of "copyright management" on YouTube took place through Content ID. Its 2018 piracy report said over 98% of "copyright issues" in one sentence and 98% of "copyright claims" in its sidebar.
"Content ID has paid out $X billion"
Every version is YouTube's, and which one an article quotes mostly reveals when it was written. The chain runs from more than $1 billion in 2014 to more than $12 billion as of December 2024, and the wording "from ads alone" first appears with the $5.5 billion figure in YouTube's first transparency report.
"A few seconds of a song is fair use"
No law, court rule or YouTube policy sets a safe number of seconds. The only documents we found that attach seconds to fair use are the 1996 Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia. A U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee adopted them as a nonlegislative report on September 27, 1996, and its December 1996 committee print suggests using "up to 10%, but in no event more than 30 seconds" of an individual musical work.
"Content ID scans X years of video every day"
These figures are YouTube's, but they are more than a decade old. YouTube's fifth-anniversary figures in May 2010 already said 100 years of video were scanned by Content ID every day, and its press statistics page said Content ID scanned over 100 years of video every day in December 2010 and over 400 years by December 2013.
"500 hours of video are uploaded every minute"
Every edition of the copyright report from 2021 and 2022 says more than 500 hours of video are uploaded every minute, without a date or source. That matches the figure Google gave in written testimony to a U.S. House Judiciary hearing in April 2019, which YouTube's CEO repeated in September 2019; our video editing statistics page traces it.
"A third of takedown notices are invalid"
This comes from the Urban, Karaganis and Schofield study described above, and it is usually misquoted twice. First, the study found 28.4% of sampled requests had characteristics that "raised questions" about their validity, and 4.2% fundamentally flawed; a questionable notice is not a proven invalid one.
"Copyright strikes expire after 90 days"
This was true until 2025. From at least June 2020 until July 2025, YouTube's Help Center said simply that copyright strikes expire after 90 days. By August 2025 it had been replaced by the current rule: a strike expires in 90 days only if the uploader completes Copyright School and the channel has fewer than three strikes.
"Most Content ID claims are false"
No YouTube document or independent study measures how many Content ID claims are mistaken. The number usually offered is YouTube's own statement that over 60% of disputes in the first half of 2021 were resolved for the uploader. YouTube counts a claim the claimant simply let expire as resolved for the uploader, and only a small fraction of claims are ever disputed.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the 8-second attention span real?
- No. The BBC traced it to a 2015 Microsoft Canada report that did not conduct that research but cited a statistics website, whose own listed sources had no record of it. Attention researchers say an average attention span is not a measurable quantity, because attention depends on the task. See the trace.
- Does video on a landing page increase conversions by 80%?
- Not as an average. It comes from a white paper by EyeView, a company that sold landing-page video, which said that in some cases the boost was over 80%. The two tests it describes in full found almost 32% (eToro) and 86% for TutorVista after several rounds of optimising the video. See the trace.
- Is 82% of internet traffic video?
- It is a Cisco forecast, not a measurement. Cisco projected IP video at 82 percent of total IP traffic by 2022, a statement about network bytes, and later discontinued the forecast series. See the trace.
- Do viewers retain 95% of a message from video and 10% from text?
- The figure traces to the agency Insivia, which has retracted it. Its site now says the number came from a small survey it ran over 16 years ago, that it was directional, and that it was not a peer-reviewed neuroscience study. See the trace.
- Do 90% of the best-performing YouTube videos have custom thumbnails?
- YouTube says so, but it has never published a method. The line first appears in YouTube Creator Academy's thumbnail lesson, and YouTube never defined best-performing or gave a sample or a period. See the trace.
- Is one minute of video worth 1.8 million words?
- It is arithmetic, not research: 1,000 words per picture, multiplied by 30 frames a second, multiplied by 60 seconds. It is usually credited to Forrester analyst James McQuivey, but Forrester's summary of the 2008 report it is pinned to has no words-per-minute claim. See the trace.
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