Social Rocket
YouTube is increasingly becoming a TV and Connected TV channel for brands – not just a platform for mobile video. At the YouTube Festival in Berlin, the platform reported 4 September 2026 57,5 million monthly users in Germany. At the same time, Google is expanding advertising for large screens and bringing its conversational YouTube AI directly to smart TVs.
For social and content teams, this changes production logic: videos no longer only need to work in the vertical feed. A growing share of use happens on the television – with a larger screen, a different usage context and additional options for advertising and commerce.
57,5 million monthly YouTube users in Germany
YouTube cites 57,5 million monthly users in Germany aged 16 and over, based on Gemius data from January 2026. The platform additionally states that 39 percent of German YouTube Shorts users use neither TikTok nor Instagram Reels. The second figure is based on GWI data and mainly shows that the audiences of the large video platforms are not fully interchangeable.
YouTube's current ROI figures are also relevant for advertisers. According to an analysis of 126 German marketing mix modelling studies by Nielsen and Ekimetrics from the years 2023 to 2025, creator advertising on YouTube achieved on weighted average 90 percent more ROI than classic TV and 70 percent more than paid social. YouTube itself cites this data to market the platform and should therefore not be read as a neutral platform comparison study. The methodology does, however, explicitly include campaigns with YouTube and comparison spend in Germany.
The development fits with publishers and media brands increasingly focusing their video strategy on YouTube. Recently, for example, the Telegraph has expanded its video podcasts and possible YouTube memberships.
The television is becoming an important surface for YouTube
That the TV screen is not just a peripheral channel is shown by further platform data. At the 2026 Winter Olympics, according to internal YouTube data, more than 70 percent of global watch time took place in the "living room". Overall, Olympics content reached more than 20 billion minutes of watch time.
At the end of 2025, YouTube had already stated that the TV was the platform's fastest-growing surface. The number of channels generating at least six-figure US dollar revenue via TV screens rose by more than 45 percent within one year. At the same time, YouTube increased the permitted thumbnail file size from 2 to 50 MB to enable 4K thumbnails for large displays.
For brands, this means: YouTube content should be tested on the television. Small text, complex thumbnails or UI-oriented calls to action that work on a smartphone can become unusable from several metres away. Episodic formats, video podcasts and longer series, on the other hand, gain appeal because they suit lean-back consumption on large displays.
CTV advertising is becoming more tightly integrated into Google Ads
On the media side too, Google is expanding TV logic. Since 2 March 2026, so-called VRC Non-Skip Ads have been available globally in Google Ads and Display & Video 360. Google combines 6-second bumpers, 15-second spots and 30-second CTV formats and lets Google AI optimise delivery between the variants.
YouTube is thus functionally approaching classic TV media plans while retaining digital targeting and measurement. For brands that have so far planned video exclusively as a social feed format, the separation between "social video" and "TV" is becoming less meaningful.
This is also relevant for creator monetisation. Our comparison of creator monetisation on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram & Co. gives an overview of how the platforms currently differ.
YouTube's AI comes directly to the television
Since 31 March 2026, YouTube's conversational AI tool has also been available on smart TVs. While watching a video, viewers can ask questions via the "Ask" button and the remote control's microphone, for example about further videos by a creator or about content within the video currently playing.
This also changes discovery. When viewers interact with videos by voice, clear spoken answers, understandable chapters and easily recognisable information on screen become more important. Social Media Examiner therefore recommends, among other things, answering core questions early in the video and not hiding important URLs or handles only in the description.
For marketers, this is less classic SEO than content structure for multimodal search: the Gemini-based system can use spoken and visual information in videos for its answers. Those who present expertise, proprietary data or concrete experience visibly and clearly in videos give the platform better signals than generic content.
Shopping is also moving into the living room
YouTube is also working to connect the TV screen more closely with commerce. Already 2025 the platform reported 35 billion hours of watch time for shopping-related videos within twelve months and began expanding product presentation and shopping interactions on the television. In Germany, the YouTube Shopping affiliate programme has now launched.
This creates a funnel that increasingly doesn't have to start on the smartphone: discovery on the television, creator recommendation in the video, and subsequent purchase via linked shopping features or a second device.
What brands should practically change now
For brands, this doesn't have to lead to an immediate leap to TV studio quality. The most important consequence is initially to stop treating YouTube merely as a side channel for Reels or TikTok recycling. Thumbnails should be legible on large displays, longer formats need clear dramaturgy and re-hooks, and important brand information should also be spoken or visible on screen.
At the same time, it is worth monitoring analytics by device type and evaluating CTV separately. If a relevant share of watch time already happens in the living room, different KPIs make sense than for a 20-second clip in the mobile feed.
Sources: YouTube Festival Germany 2026, YouTube: Conversational AI on smart TVs, Google: VRC Non-Skip Ads on CTV, YouTube: new TV features for creators, YouTube: Olympics watch time 2026, Social Media Examiner.