Every figure on this page links to the organization that produced it, and each was re-checked against that source before publishing. How pet creators' YouTube channels compare with pet brands' (our own read of 305 channels), how many households own pets by the veterinary and industry counts, what Americans spend on pets by three measures, how many pet businesses and jobs there are, what the public pet companies spend on advertising, how pet video performs and what researchers find in it, and where the popular pet numbers came from.
In our read of 305 YouTube channels on October 31, 2026, the median pet creator channel on Feedspot's lists had 218,000 subscribers and the median pet brand channel 5,860: about 37 times as many for the creators. (Our measurement)See details
58 of 276 pet creator channels had a million subscribers or more; one of 29 pet brand channels did. (Our measurement)See details
U.S. households reported spending $137,336 million on pets in 2025; APPA's industry total is $158 billion, $20.7 billion more. (BLS, APPA)See details
The average U.S. household spent $997 on pets in 2025, up 46% from $681 in 2019, before inflation. (BLS)See details
AVMA counts 58.9m dog-owning households in 2026; APPA counts 71 million in 2025. Quote the source with the number. (AVMA, APPA)See details
Veterinarian prices were 4.6% higher in September 2026 than a year earlier, against 3.7% for all items. (BLS)See details
Census counted 162,773 pet care businesses with no employees in 2024, 48% more than in 2019. (U.S. Census Bureau)See details
The claim that cats are 15% of internet traffic has no published measurement; a 2015 museum exhibition put all pet content at under 1 percent of YouTube streams. (Origin traces)See details
How do pet creators' YouTube channels compare with pet brands' channels?
The prominent pet creators are far bigger. On October 31, 2026 we read the public YouTube statistics of 276 creator channels on Feedspot's Pet, Dog, Cat and Animal YouTubers lists and 29 channels run by pet stores, pet food brands and U.S.-listed pet companies. The median creator channel had 218,000 subscribers; the median brand channel had 5,860. That is about 37 times as many. 58 of the creator channels had a million subscribers or more, against one brand channel: The Reptile Zoo, a reptile store. 17 of the 29 brand channels had fewer than 10,000 subscribers, including the channels of Zoetis, IDEXX and PetMed Express.
Measure (read October 31, 2026)
Pet creator channels (n=276)
Pet brand channels (n=29)
Median subscribers
218,000
5,860
Channels with 1 million+ subscribers
58
1
Median lifetime views per public video
91,126
40,600
Median year the channel was created
2012
2011
Source: Mark Studios' read of the YouTube Data API (channels.list). Per-channel data: channels.csv.
The creators are not new. The median creator channel was created in 2012, and only 17 of the 276 were created in 2020 or later, so the lists are dominated by channels that have been building an audience for more than a decade. Of the 244 creator channels that state a country, 155 list the United States. Together the 276 creator channels had 125.3 billion lifetime views.
Read this as a comparison of two frames, not of creators and brands in general. Feedspot ranks channels by popularity, so its lists hold the most prominent pet creators, while the brand group is every brand channel we could tie to a pet store, food brand or listed pet company. What it does show is where the audience already is: a pet brand that wants to reach pet video viewers on YouTube is starting far behind the creators those viewers already follow. This edition reads channel totals only; YouTube's API quota ran out before we could read individual uploads, so it has no figures on Shorts share or upload length.
How many U.S. households own a pet?
Somewhere between six and seven in ten, depending on who is counting. Pew Research Center found in April 2023 that 62% of U.S. adults own a pet and 35% have more than one Pew Research Center. The American Pet Products Association, a trade group whose members sell pet products, reports that 95 million U.S. households owned at least one pet in 2025 APPA, up from 94 million in 2024 APPA. The American Veterinary Medical Association's own survey of 7,547 people, fielded in early spring 2026, counts fewer dog and cat homes than APPA does, and the gap has widened.
AVMA: Pet Ownership and Demographic Sourcebook, 2024 and 2026 editions, read through Internet Archive captures because avma.org blocks scripted requests. APPA: State of the Industry releases. The two surveys differ in method and sponsor; APPA does not publish its sample size.
For a pet business the practical reading is that dogs live in roughly 44% to 53% of U.S. homes and cats in roughly 34% to 39%. AVMA puts the pet population at 88.9m dogs AVMA and 77.0m cats AVMA in 2026, and 89.7 million dogs in 2024, up from 52.9 million in 1996 AVMA. Smaller groups are still sizeable: 3.5 million households kept fish AVMA, 2.7 million birds AVMA and 2.4 million reptiles in 2026 AVMA, and APPA counted 11 million households with backyard chickens in 2024 APPA.
Who owns pets?
In Pew's 2023 survey, ownership is highest in rural areas, where 71% of adults have a pet Pew Research Center. Pew found that 68% of White and 66% of Hispanic adults own a pet, against 37% of Asian and 34% of Black adults Pew Research Center, and that 77% of partnered adults have one Pew Research Center. Among pet owners, 49% have dogs only, 23% cats only and 24% both Pew Research Center. APPA says Gen Z made up 18.8 million pet-owning households in 2024 APPA, 22% of cat owners in its 2026 Cat Report APPA, and that men are 43% of cat owners APPA and 63% of Millennial dog owners APPA.
Owners treat pets as family, which is why emotional video works in this market. 97% of U.S. pet owners told Pew in 2023 that their pets are part of the family Pew Research Center, and 51% said a pet is as much family as a human member Pew Research Center, rising to 64% among lower-income owners Pew Research Center. In 2024 AVMA found 88.8% of dog owners and 84.7% of cat owners see their pet as a family member AVMA.
Did the pandemic pet boom last, and how many animals go through shelters?
About 23 million U.S. households, close to one in five, acquired a cat or dog during the COVID-19 crisis, according to an ASPCA poll of 5,020 people ASPCA, and 90 percent of those dogs were still in their homes in May 2021 ASPCA. AVMA's data show dog ownership rising from 38% of households in 2016 to 45% in 2020 and then levelling off AVMA. Shelter Animals Count, a program of the ASPCA, estimates 5.8 million cats and dogs entered U.S. shelters and rescues in 2025 Shelter Animals Count, 4.2 million were adopted Shelter Animals Count and 597,000 were euthanized Shelter Animals Count. There are 13,471 animal-sheltering organizations in the U.S. Shelter Animals Count.
How many pets are there in the UK and Canada?
UK estimates disagree the same way the U.S. ones do. UK Pet Food, the pet food makers' trade body, estimates 36.5 million pets in the UK in 2026 UK Pet Food, including 15.5 million dogs UK Pet Food and 13 million cats UK Pet Food. PDSA, a veterinary charity, puts the numbers at 10.2 million dogs PDSA and 11.3 million cats PDSA; UK Pet Food counts pets in households and PDSA estimates from adults surveyed by YouGov. In Canada, the Canadian Animal Health Institute estimates 7.2 million dogs and 8.2 million cats in 2024 CAHI.
How much do Americans spend on pets?
Between about $137 billion and $158 billion in 2025, depending on whether you ask households or the industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Survey, which asks households what they spent, puts total U.S. household pet spending at 137,336 million dollars in 2025 BLS. APPA, the pet products trade association, puts 2025 spending at about $158 billion, including $68 billion on food and treats, as quoted in PetMed Express's annual report PetMed Express 10-K, and the market research firm Packaged Facts estimated $157 billion, as quoted in Chewy's Chewy 10-K. APPA's figure is $20.7 billion more than households report. The two measure different things: the BLS asks a sample of households what they spent, while the industry figures are estimates of what the pet market sells. They are not expected to match, but anyone quoting a total should say which one it is.
Source
Who produced it
2025 U.S. pet spending
Consumer Expenditure Survey
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (households report their own spending)
$137.3 billion
Packaged Facts estimate, quoted by Chewy
Market research firm
$157 billion
Packaged Facts estimate, quoted by Central Garden & Pet
Each company figure is as printed in that company's latest 10-K on SEC EDGAR.
Per household, the average U.S. household spent 997 dollars on pets in 2025 BLS, up from 681 dollars in 2019 BLS, a rise of 46% before inflation. That average includes households with no pets. Spread over APPA's 95 million pet-owning households, the BLS total comes to about $1,446 per pet-owning household, close to the $1,516 AVMA's survey found pet owners spent in 2024, excluding the cost of getting the pet AVMA. Pets took 1.2% of total household spending BLS.
The money splits four ways in the BLS data: 357 dollars a household on pet food BLS, 361 on veterinary services BLS, 187 on pets, supplies and medicine BLS and 93 on services such as grooming and boarding BLS. Veterinary care is 36% of the total, and households spent 49,690 million dollars on it in 2025 BLS; the BLS flags the vet figure as having a high sampling error. APPA reports vet care at 29% of dog owners' pet spending, the largest single share APPA. In its 2026 sourcebook, AVMA found dog-owning households spent $595 a year on vet care AVMA and cat-owning households $426AVMA.
Spending is concentrated among richer households. The top fifth by income spent 2,049 dollars on pets in 2025 BLS and the bottom fifth 514BLS, and the top fifth accounted for 40.9% of all household pet spending BLS. APPA found 22% of owners spent less on their pets in 2025 APPA, while seventy-seven percent said in 2024 that the economy had not affected their pet ownership APPA.
How fast are pet prices rising?
Vet bills are rising faster than prices overall; pet food and supplies are not. In September 2026, veterinarian services prices were 4.6% higher than a year earlier BLS CPI, pet services 3.6% BLS CPI, pet food 1.5% BLS CPI and pets and supplies 0.1% BLS CPI, against 3.7% for all items BLS CPI. Vet prices rose 6.3% across 2025 BLS CPI and 9.4% across 2023 BLS CPI; pet services rose 5.0% in 2025 BLS CPI. In the UK the Competition and Markets Authority found average vet prices rose 63% from 2016 to 2023, against 32% general inflation CMA.
Do owners skip care because of cost?
Many do. In the PetSmart Charities-Gallup study, fielded November 2024 to January 2025, 52% of U.S. dog and cat owners said they had skipped or declined needed vet care in the past year Gallup, 71% of them because of cost Gallup, and 66% said they could pay $1,000 or less for lifesaving treatment Gallup. Only 23% had been offered a payment plan by their vet Gallup. Pet insurance is still small: 7.6 million pets were insured in North America at the end of 2025, according to the insurers' trade association NAPHIA NAPHIA. In the UK, 51% of owners worry about affording vet care PDSA.
How many pet care businesses and jobs are there?
The pet services business is growing fast, and most of its businesses are one-person operations. The Census Bureau counted 162,773 pet care businesses with no paid employees in 2024, such as independent groomers, walkers and sitters U.S. Census Bureau, up from 109,918 in 2019 U.S. Census Bureau, a rise of 48%. They took in 4,013,728 thousand dollars between them U.S. Census Bureau, about $24,700 each. Businesses with employees are fewer and larger: BLS counted 28,121 pet care establishments with staff in 2025 BLS QCEW, up 40% from 20,035 in 2019 BLS QCEW.
Establishments, workers and pay: BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, annual averages. Receipts: 2022 Economic Census, employer establishments. Since 2022 the retailer code includes online pet retailers, so its receipts are not comparable with earlier censuses.
Receipts of employer pet care businesses grew 89% in current dollars between the 2017 Economic Census, when they were 5,354,319 thousand dollars Census, and 2022. Veterinary receipts grew 51% from 41,692,570 thousand Census. Wage and salary jobs in pet care rose from 135.7 thousand in 2019 BLS to 197.5 thousand in 2025 BLS, up 46%, and veterinary services jobs from 403.1 thousand BLS to 473.6 thousand BLS. Pet retailers employed 136.6 thousand BLS. County Business Patterns, which counts differently, had 25,551 pet care Census, 34,296 veterinary Census and 9,921 pet store establishments in 2023 Census. Census also counted 29,808 veterinary businesses with no employees in 2024 Census.
What do pet care workers and vets earn, and is the field growing?
Animal caretakers, the occupation that covers groomers, kennel staff, walkers and sitters, held about 365,300 U.S. jobs in 2025 BLS, and 25% of them were self-employed BLS. BLS projects that animal care and service jobs will grow 11% from 2025 to 2035 BLS, with about 69,400 openings a year BLS, and veterinarian jobs 9% BLS. Veterinary technologist jobs are also projected to grow 9% BLS, with 13,400 openings a year BLS, as are veterinary assistant jobs, at 9% BLS.
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics counts wage and salary jobs only, so it shows fewer veterinarians than the AVMA's count of all U.S. veterinarians.
The AVMA estimates there were 133,475 U.S. veterinarians at the end of 2025 AVMA, 91,889 of them women AVMA, and that nearly 20% of 2025 graduates owed more than $300,000 for their veterinary degree AVMA. The UK regulator RCVS had 37,216 vets eligible to renew their registration in 2025 RCVS.
What do the public pet companies report, and how much do they spend on advertising?
The largest online pet retailer, Chewy, had net sales of $12.6 billion in fiscal 2025 Chewy 10-K from 21.327 million active customers Chewy 10-K, who spent $591 each on average Chewy 10-K. Autoship subscriptions were 83.3% of its sales Chewy 10-K. Chewy quotes Packaged Facts that online channels were an estimated 41% of U.S. retail pet product sales in 2025, up from 24% in 2019 Chewy 10-K. Petco, the largest store chain, had net sales of $5.96 billion in fiscal 2025 Petco 10-K, of which services such as vet care, grooming and training brought in 1,025,144 thousand dollars Petco 10-K, and it ran about 300 full-service vet hospitals Petco 10-K.
Advertising budgets show how much these companies rely on media to reach owners. Chewy spent 824.9 million dollars on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2025, 6.5% of net sales Chewy 10-K, about $38.70 per active customer.
Advertising as each company defines it in its 10-K on SEC EDGAR. Shares other than Chewy's are Mark Studios' calculations from the same filings.
Freshpet, a fresh dog food maker, spends the largest share: its media mix includes national TV plus streaming, digital and social media channelsFreshpet 10-K. PetMed Express says it posts short-form videos on pet wellness on Instagram and Facebook PetMed Express 10-K, and Chewy publishes free educational videos and tutorials Chewy 10-K and buys paid social media and product placement Chewy 10-K. BARK, which reported over 9 million social media followers in 2022 BARK 10-K, now lists TikTok among the marketplaces where it sells BARK 10-K, and cut advertising sharply as revenue fell. Zoetis says it is investing more in direct-to-consumer marketing because owners are taking a bigger role in choosing products Zoetis 10-K.
How big are the pet health companies?
Zoetis earned 6,587 million dollars from companion animals in 2025 Zoetis 10-K, about 70% of its revenue Zoetis 10-K. IDEXX's companion animal revenue was 3,953,285 thousand dollars IDEXX 10-K, even as it reported U.S. same-store vet clinic visits down about 2%IDEXX 10-K. Elanco's pet health revenue was 2,300 million dollars Elanco 10-K. Trupanion's subscription business had 1,096,173 pets enrolled at the end of 2025, in the U.S., Canada and, through brokered policies, parts of Continental Europe Trupanion 10-K, with subscription revenue of $989.3 millionTrupanion 10-K, and spent 288 dollars on average to acquire each new pet Trupanion 10-K. As of February 2026, Chewy had about 20,000 vet practices on its practice platform, an estimated half of U.S. clinics Chewy 10-K.
How much pet video is there, and how does it perform?
A lot, and the platforms themselves say so. YouTube's Culture & Trends team reported in August 2022 that more than 18 million cat-related videos had been uploaded that year YouTube, over 90,000 a day YouTube. It singled out the cat channel That Little Puff, with over 6 billion views YouTube, and Chef Cat ChangAn, which passed 1 billion views in 2022 mostly from Shorts YouTube and gained 99% of its subscribers that year YouTube. Videos about Stray, a video game with a cat as the hero, drew over 225 million views in the weeks after its July 2022 launch YouTube. YouTube has not published a newer count of pet uploads.
Older counts are smaller and narrower. In October 2014, ReelSEO, using data from the video analytics firm Tubular, reported about 2 million cat videos on YouTube ReelSEO with 24.6 billion views between them ReelSEO, an average of 12,000 per video ReelSEO. Tubular's 2015 analysis put the average for YouTube's whole Pets and Animals category at 6,542 views per video Tubular, below Entertainment's 9,816Tubular. TikTok said in August 2019 that its #PetBFF campaign hashtag had over 500 billion views TikTok, a figure we report as TikTok published it but which is implausibly large for a single campaign; TikTok gave $1 to the ASPCA for each U.S. video made with it TikTok and £1 to Blue Cross for each of the 10,000 UK videos TikTok.
Search data show owners researching on their phones. Google reported that U.S. mobile searches for "best dog food for" grew over 70% between 2015-16 and 2017-18 Think with Google, and Pinterest said searches for "dog patio ideas apartment" rose 40% in 2020 Pinterest. Facebook's 2016 study of about 160,000 U.S. users who shared cat or dog photos Facebook Research found dog people had 26 more friends on average Facebook Research, cat people were more often single, 30% against 24% Facebook Research, and cat people were 2.2 times as likely as chance to befriend other cat people Facebook Research.
Who watches pet videos, and does it do them any good?
Almost everyone on social media has seen them. In a German-language online survey of 3,246 people, published in 2024 by the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Animals, 98.5% of those who used social media had seen animal videos Animals, and informative animal videos were the type most often watched, by 52.9%, ahead of funny ones Animals. Indiana University's 2015 study of cat video viewing surveyed 6,795 internet users Computers in Human Behavior, but its sample was 88.4% female Computers in Human Behavior, so it says little about viewers in general. A 2026 Korean study of 66 office workers found 15 minutes of puppy video cut anxiety scores among those with normal blood pressure by 6.64 points Frontiers in Public Health and systolic blood pressure in those with high readings by 6.65 mmHg Frontiers in Public Health; the lead author is chief executive of Happy Dog TV, a pet video company, which the paper discloses.
What do researchers find in popular pet videos?
Researchers keep finding stressed animals in the most popular clips, and many viewers notice. A 2025 Hannover study of 162 funny pet videos found signs of stress in the animals in 82% of them Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 93.8% still met the study's benchmark for a successful video Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, and 32% showed pets bred with traits such as flat faces that cause health problems Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science. In the same German survey, 45.8% said animal suffering was often recognisable in videos Animals, 62.5% had disliked or criticised such a video Animals and 91.8% wanted a warning label Animals.
Earlier studies found the same pattern. In a 2011 study of 400 YouTube videos of dogs chasing their tails, a Royal Veterinary College team recorded laughter in 55%PLoS One, although about a third of the dogs showed clinical signs, and viewers most often called the behaviour funny, 46%PLoS One; the videos averaged 863 views PLoS One. The viral "tickling slow loris" video had 9,338,000 views when it was removed in 2012 PLoS One, and in its early months a quarter of commenters said they wanted a loris as a pet PLoS One. Studies from 2018 to 2025 of 346 YouTube videos of people handling exotic cats and primates PLoS One, 1,378 TikTok primate videos American Journal of Primatology, of which 43.1% showed primates in a home American Journal of Primatology, dog bites in 143 YouTube videos Scientific Reports and lion-cub handling in South Africa, where 77% of 49 videos showed stressed cubs Animals, point the same way. On pet health advice, a 2026 study found 92% of the 50 most-engaged TikTok videos about tick prevention for dogs and cats were made by people who are not vets Veterinary Record; the top videos had a median 1,652 likes Veterinary Record.
How do pet owners find products, pets and vets?
Increasingly online, though local factors still decide the vet. APPA reports that in 2024 51% of U.S. pet product buyers typically shopped online, against 47% in stores APPA, and that social media such as TikTok, YouTube and Instagram plays a crucial role in Gen Z owners' buying, with Gen Z pet-owning households up 43.5% from 2023 to 2024 APPA. In 2025, 32% of dog owners bought dog food at supermarkets APPA, and 51% groomed their dogs at home APPA.
In the PetSmart Charities-Gallup study fielded from late 2024 to January 2025, 81% of U.S. owners go to a vet when their pet is sick or hurt, Gallup, while 44% also consult online resources Gallup and 17% rely only on sources other than a vet Gallup. Just 8% have ever had a vet telehealth appointment Gallup. In PDSA's 2026 report, 61% of UK owners found their pet online PDSA, in its 2025 survey around a fifth saw it advertised on social media first PDSA, and 21% did no research before getting one PDSA.
The UK's competition regulator surveyed owners on how they chose their current vet. Among those who had been with their practice for less than 10 years, 68% named location CMA, 44% recommendations from family or friends CMA and only 19% online reviews CMA. When the CMA began its investigation, 16% of practices showed any prices on their websites CMA, and in mid-2025 over 40% still showed none CMA. Six large groups own 60% of UK practices CMA, and common pet medicines are typically 50% to 60% cheaper at online pharmacies CMA. UK vet practices supplied 60% of worming and flea treatments in 2024 PDSA and online pharmacies 17%PDSA.
What is happening to vet practice visits?
Fewer visits, higher bills. Vetsource data from about 6,000 U.S. practices, reported by AVMA News, show patient visits down 2.3% from August 2023 to August 2024 AVMA News while revenue per patient rose to $622AVMA News, new clients fell 8.6%AVMA News and prices rose 8.24%AVMA News. Vetsource sells software to practices, and its clients are not a random sample. Rover's May 2026 survey of 1,000 owners found 83% had noticed pet costs rising in the past 12 months Rover and 38% could not cover an emergency vet visit without debt Rover; Rover sells pet-care bookings.
What do the popular pet numbers really say?
Five numbers turn up in almost every pet marketing article. We traced each to where it started.
"Cats are 15% of internet traffic"
No measurement behind it has ever been published. The earliest dated form we found is a CBS This Morning segment of September 2, 2013, introduced with "Fifteen percent of all Internet traffic is connected to cats" and no source on the page CBS News. A same-day write-up said the report credited Friskies, the cat food brand, for 15%Breitbart; Bloomberg Businessweek later called it 15 percent from "a recent study by Friskies" Bloomberg Businessweek, and a 2015 CNN column made it a Purina estimate, 15%CNN. We found no Friskies or Purina page carrying the number, including in Internet Archive captures of both sites. It is still repeated as a "2015 CNN report", 15%AOL, and as a "2015 survey" in a 2025 blog post, 15%Pure Storage blog. The best counter-figure came from the curator of the Museum of the Moving Image's 2015 exhibition on internet cats, who said pets in general were less than 1 percent of YouTube traffic NPR; the exhibition's figures put cats at 16% of views in YouTube's Pets & Animals category, against 23% for dogs TIME. Use instead: YouTube's own 2022 count of 18 million cat-related uploads, and say no traffic share has been measured.
"2 million cat videos posted on YouTube in 2014, with 26 billion views"
Two errors in one sentence. The original, a ReelSEO post of October 2014 using Tubular's data, counted about 2 million cat videos posted to YouTube over all time, not in 2014 ReelSEO, with 24.6 billion views between them ReelSEO. Jessica Gall Myrick's 2015 Indiana University study rounded that to "nearly 26 billion" Computers in Human Behavior, and the university's press release turned it into 26 billion views for videos "posted on YouTube in 2014" Indiana University via ScienceDaily, the version still repeated today, 26 billionAOL. The same ReelSEO post said cat videos averaged 12,000 views each ReelSEO. Use instead: "about 2 million cat videos had been posted to YouTube by October 2014, with 24.6 billion views (ReelSEO/Tubular)", or YouTube's 2022 figures.
"Pet content gets 2x the engagement"
The multiples come from small, one-brand or unsourced claims. A growth agency's 2024 post says pet accounts beat average engagement by 2x-3x with no source given Top Growth Marketing. The "up to 63% higher" line repeated by Sortlist in 2021 Sortlist traces to a consultancy's write-up of one campaign, U.S. Bank's "Dogs of US Bank" contest, which drove engagement 63.2% above that bank's average post Nichefire. The only multi-brand measurement we found is NewsWhip's 2016 look at 15 brands that post pets on Instagram: their pet posts drew 89% more comments NewsWhip but only 19% more likes than their other posts NewsWhip. Use instead: the NewsWhip figures with their scope, and do not quote a general multiple.
"Americans spend $150 billion on pets"
It depends on the edition, and the latest is $158 billion. APPA's 2026 release reports 158 billion dollars of U.S. pet industry spending in 2025, an actual figure APPA, split into 68.3 billion for food and treats, $41.0 billion for vet care and product sales, $34.4 billion for supplies, live animals and medicine and $14.3 billion for other services APPA. Earlier editions reported 152 billion for 2024 APPA, 147 billion for 2023 APPA and 136.8 billion for 2022 APPA. APPA's own back series moves: its 2025 table lists 2024 at 151.9 billion APPA, while its 2023 page put 2020 at 108.9 billion, later revised to $103.6 billion APPA. Projections are often quoted as actuals: APPA projected 157 billion for 2025 APPA and projects 165 billion for 2026 APPA. The "by 2030" figures are forecasts by different firms with different scopes: APPA's then-CEO said U.S. spending would top 250 billionAPPA, Morgan Stanley 275 billion for the U.S. Morgan Stanley and Bloomberg Intelligence almost 500 billion for the world Bloomberg Intelligence. Use instead: APPA's $158 billion for 2025, labelled as the trade association's estimate, alongside the BLS household figure of $137.3 billion.
"66% (or 70%) of U.S. households own a pet"
Both are APPA figures from different editions of its National Pet Owners Survey. 70% (90.5 million homes) is the 2021-2022 edition APPA, 66% (86.9 million) the 2023-2024 edition APPA, and 68% the 2017-2018 edition APPA. A statistics site still calls the 66% "the highest share in more than three decades", 66%Gitnux, when APPA's own earlier editions were higher. APPA's 2025 release also restated 2023 as 82 million households APPA, not the 86.9 million it had published. Morgan Stanley's own survey put ownership at two-thirds of households in 2021 Morgan Stanley. Use instead: APPA's 95 million households for 2025, labelled as APPA's, or AVMA's species counts.
"Jiffpom earns $32,906 a post"
No owner, agency or brand has disclosed a fee for the famous pet accounts in any source we found; the numbers are calculator outputs. In January 2022 cats.com put Jiffpom at up to 32,906 dollars a post cats.com and Nala Cat at up to 14,419cats.com, using a free online money calculator's upper bound. A pet supplement seller's "study", reported in January 2024, put Jiffpom at up to £42,200Chorley Guardian. HypeAuditor's 2020 model priced Nala Cat at $2,669 to $4,804 HypeAuditor and Doug the Pug at $11,696 to $21,054 HypeAuditor, and gave no estimate for Jiffpom at all. Use instead: say these are estimates and give the range.
Do dogs or cats win online?
Where it has been counted, dogs. NewsWhip found dog stories earned almost twice the Facebook shares of cat stories in 2014 NewsWhip, and a YouTube search for "dogs" returned about 2 million results, half a million more than "cats" NewsWhip. In HypeAuditor's 2020 top 100 Instagram pet accounts, dogs had 14.9 million more followers than cats HypeAuditor, and a 2016 Brandwatch sample found over 3x as many #dogsofinstagram posts as #catsofinstagram Ignite Social Media.
We started from the questions people search for about pet video statistics and looked for the organization that actually produced each answer. Every figure on this page sits in an evidence ledger with its source, the exact table or paragraph it came from, the measurement period, the population measured, and the date we checked it. This edition holds 312 figures from 57 publishers.
On October 31, 2026, each of the sourced figures on this page was re-fetched with the fetch cache cleared and matched against the recorded wording: BLS data series (Consumer Expenditure Survey, CPI, QCEW, OEWS, Current Employment Statistics) and Employment Projections pages, Census Bureau datasets (County Business Patterns, Nonemployer Statistics, Economic Census), pet companies' 10-K filings on SEC EDGAR, the AVMA's sourcebooks (through Internet Archive captures, because avma.org blocks scripted requests), APPA's own press releases, Pew Research Center, Gallup, Shelter Animals Count, PDSA, UK Pet Food, the UK Competition and Markets Authority, platform pages from YouTube and TikTok, and the peer-reviewed studies cited. Our own figures come from a YouTube Data API read of channel statistics on October 31, 2026; per-channel data is in channels.csv. We left out APPA's paywalled National Pet Owners Survey tables, AVMA's 2023 pet owner attitude survey (no readable copy), Vetstoria's survey (no field dates) and upload-level YouTube figures (the API's daily quota ran out before the read).
We only cite the producer: government agencies, regulators, company filings and official posts, and the survey owner's own report. We do not cite statistics roundups, Statista-style aggregators, or salary sites without a public method. We did not bypass paywalls or sign-up forms; where a full report was gated, we used only the figures its publisher states publicly.
Figures marked "our calculation" are arithmetic on the cited numbers, and anyone can reproduce them:
This edition contains no Mark Studios customer data.
Limitations
Our channel read compares two frames, not creators and brands in general. The creator group is Feedspot's ranked lists of prominent pet channels; the brand group is every channel we could tie to a pet store, food brand or listed pet company. It covers channel totals only: the API quota ran out before we could read individual uploads, so there are no figures here on Shorts share, length or upload frequency.
Pet ownership counts disagree. AVMA and APPA run different surveys for different members, and APPA does not publish its sample size. We show both rather than pick one.
Industry spending totals are estimates. APPA's and Packaged Facts' totals are not household-reported, and the full reports are paywalled; we cite the figures as the companies' 10-Ks and APPA's releases print them.
Many figures come from parties with a stake. APPA's members sell pet products, the 10-K figures are company-reported, YouTube and TikTok report on their own platforms, and Rover and Vetsource sell into the market. Each is labelled where it appears.
Some platform figures are old or snapshots. YouTube's latest public count of cat uploads is from 2022, and subscriber and view counts are as read on October 31, 2026.
How to cite this page
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Mark Studios. "Pet Video Statistics." Last verified Oct 31, 2026. https://www.markstudios.com/research/pet-video-statistics
APA
Mark Studios. (2026, October 31). Pet video statistics. https://www.markstudios.com/research/pet-video-statistics
MLA
“Pet Video Statistics.” Mark Studios, 31 Oct. 2026, www.markstudios.com/research/pet-video-statistics.
Chicago
Mark Studios. “Pet Video Statistics.” Last modified October 31, 2026. https://www.markstudios.com/research/pet-video-statistics.
BibTeX
@misc{markstudios_pet_video_statistics_2026,
author = {{Mark Studios}},
title = {{Pet Video Statistics}},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
url = {https://www.markstudios.com/research/pet-video-statistics},
note = {Last verified 2026-10-31}
}
Our calculations and the evidence table are free to reuse with attribution and a link to this page. Each underlying figure remains the claim of its original publisher, and some publishers ask for a link when their figures are reused.
American Pet Products Association (APPA), an industry trade association whose members sell pet products, Industry Trends and Stats (2026-03). Accessed 2026-10-31.
We re-verify every figure quarterly and when a major source publishes a new edition. The next scheduled review is January 2027. Corrections go to contact@markstudios.com.
Oct 31, 2026: First published with 312 figures from 57 publishers, each checked against its original source.
Oct 31, 2026: Corrected several descriptions after a source-by-source check. Trupanion's 1,096,173 pets include brokered policies in Continental Europe as well as the U.S. and Canada, and its $288 is the cost of each new pet. The CMA's vet-choice shares are for owners who had been with their practice for less than 10 years. The Hannover survey's 98.5% is of participants who use social media, and the Korean study's 6.64-point anxiety drop is for workers with normal blood pressure; its lead author heads Happy Dog TV. Dog-owning homes run from about 44%, not 45%, to 53%, and the growth in household pet spending and business receipts is before inflation.
Frequently asked questions
How many U.S. households have a pet?
APPA, the pet products trade association, reports 95 million households in 2025. Pew Research Center found 62% of U.S. adults own a pet (2023). AVMA's veterinary survey counts fewer dog homes than APPA: 58.9m in 2026.
How much do Americans spend on pets?
U.S. households reported spending $137,336 million on pets in 2025 in the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey, or $997 per household. APPA estimates the market at $158 billion.
Do pet brands or pet creators have bigger YouTube audiences?
Creators, by far. In our October 31, 2026 read, the median pet creator channel on Feedspot's lists had 218,000 subscribers and the median pet brand channel 5,860: about 37 times as many for the creators.
How many cat videos are on YouTube?
YouTube said more than 18 million cat-related videos had been uploaded in 2022 by early August, over 90,000 a day. The often-quoted 2 million is an all-time count to October 2014 by ReelSEO and Tubular.
Are vet prices rising faster than inflation?
Yes. Veterinarian services prices in the U.S. CPI were 4.6% higher in September 2026 than a year earlier, against 3.7% for all items, and rose 6.3% in 2025.
How many people work in pet care?
Animal caretakers held about 365,300 U.S. jobs in 2025, and BLS projects animal care and service jobs to grow 11% from 2025 to 2035. Census counted 162,773 pet care businesses with no employees in 2024.
Are cats really 15% of internet traffic?
No measurement supports it. The figure first appears in a 2013 CBS segment with no source; a 2015 museum exhibition put all pet content at less than 1 percent of YouTube traffic.
