YouTube has driven the main growth in video consumption in Russia. In the first half of 2026, users of the largest platforms watched videos for an average of 87.7 minutes per day — 6% more than a year ago. But all this growth was actually provided by YouTube alone: without it, the indicator would have, on the contrary, decreased by 5%.

Over the year, the indicators changed in the opposite direction. In the first half of 2025, the total viewing time fell by 27%, while without YouTube, other services grew by 32%. Now the time spent on the platform itself has increased by 24% — from 80 to 99 minutes per day. In the first half of 2024, the figure was 112 minutes per day, so the current 99 minutes remain below the previous level.

Experts link the increase in viewing time, in particular, to the spread of circumvention tools. Users who installed them for other services gained the ability to access YouTube again. Familiar recommendation algorithms also play a role, as does the large volume of blogger and niche content, for which a full-fledged replacement is not always found on Russian platforms.

The gap with some competitors remains significant. Rutube scored about 41 minutes of viewing per day in the study, including embedded videos. There is no separate comparable statistics for VK Video, as Mediascope considers VK services together, although the company itself reported an increase in viewing time for the separate application to almost 100 minutes per day.

There is also an important caveat: the study takes into account computers and smartphones, but not Smart TVs. Nevertheless, the main turnaround is visible even without it — YouTube, which a year ago worsened the overall statistics of the video market, has now pulled it into positive territory itself.