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YouTube Long-Form Daily Watch Time for 16–24-Year-Olds in Germany — 2025

Results as of

Review Full Year 2025: 16–24-year-olds in Germany spend a median ~30 minutes per day on long-form YouTube videos when they watch them

YouTube Long-Form Daily Watch Time for 16–24-Year-Olds in Germany — 2025Bar chart showing the median minutes of YouTube watch time per active user-day for German users aged 16–24 in 2025, broken down by video length category: Shorts (under 1 minute), mid-form (1–10 minutes), and long-form (over 10 minutes). Long-form leads at approximately 30 minutes, mid-form at around 15 minutes, and Shorts at approximately 7–8 minutes.
Bar chart showing the median minutes of YouTube watch time per active user-day for German users aged 16–24 in 2025, broken down by video length category: Shorts (under 1 minute), mid-form (1–10 minutes), and long-form (over 10 minutes). Long-form leads at approximately 30 minutes, mid-form at around 15 minutes, and Shorts at approximately 7–8 minutes.
Info
Sample size
n = 24,550
Data date
Full Year 2025
Segment
All segments
Platform
YouTube
Market
Germany

Analysis

When 16–24-year-olds in Germany sit down with long-form YouTube content, they commit deeply: the median session runs ~30 minutes per active viewing day — roughly double what mid-form pulls (around 15 min) and four times the typical Shorts session (~7–8 min). This is the youngest, supposedly most Shorts-native cohort, and yet long videos absorb the most concentrated attention on days they are watched.

Gen Z's deep-dive habit that Shorts statistics miss

The conventional narrative positions Gen Z as a generation rewired for short attention spans, yet German YouTube Nutzungsverhalten Gen Z tells a more nuanced story. YouTube remains the second most-used platform, engaging 78% of Gen Z daily, especially for long-form content. The 30-minute median for 16–24-year-olds in Germany suggests that Shorts serve as an entry point — a scroll-mode discovery format — while long-form is where deep engagement actually happens. For content planners and advertisers, the implication is clear: Shorts reach Gen Z, but long-form holds them. The monthly Shorts share trend for this age group shows that even across a full year, Shorts never exceeded 16.3% of 16–24-year-old watch time in Germany.

This analysis is based on public segment data. For deeper cuts, use our Enterprise interface.

Methodology

Figures represent the median minutes of YouTube watch time per active user-day, measured only on days when at least one video of the relevant length category was watched (a conditional median). The population is German YouTube users aged 16–24 with at least one active YouTube day in 2025. Watch sessions are capped to exclude idle outliers. Video length categories: Shorts (under 60 seconds), mid-form (1–10 minutes), long-form (over 10 minutes). The full-year cohort covers 4,646 unique users.

These insights are based on the Datapods Panel. Our data comes exclusively from users who are compensated for their anonymity. Become part of the panel & earn from your data