The latest Nielsen Gauge report confirms what many marketers and media consumers have sensed for years: YouTube is officially dominating the connected TV (CTV) landscape. According to the data, YouTube now claims the largest share of TV screen time among streaming platforms—surpassing even Netflix. This seismic shift redefines what we mean by “television,” especially as more viewers turn to YouTube not just for short clips but for long-form content, documentaries, livestreams, and even appointment-style programming.
For travel marketers and storytellers like us, this isn’t just a stat—it’s a call to rethink where and how we distribute content. YouTube’s broad reach, combined with its searchability and integration across smart TVs, gives destination marketing videos and original series the same visibility potential once reserved for network premieres. And as younger audiences grow up watching content creators as religiously as older generations watched primetime shows, the line between “influencer” and “TV host” continues to blur.
At Odyssey Studios, we’ve always treated YouTube as more than a dumping ground for video files. It’s a distribution hub. A channel. A front door. The Nielsen report just confirms what we’ve long believed: travel content that looks good, tells a story, and connects emotionally will always find its audience—and now, more than ever, that audience is on YouTube.