4 YouTube Stats that Matter for Churches

Is your Church or ministry on YouTube yet? If not, now is the perfect place for your Church to start investing time and energy into it.. In fact, because YouTube is a very powerful search engine, it can be an amazing tool to help your Church reach people for Christ.

But why invest in YouTube? Your Church is already invested in other platforms like Facebook, why should you start using YouTube more? Here are 4 stats that should help you see the opportunities that YouTube presents your Church or ministry.

This is 1.7 BILLION not million. Not only are these stats impressing, in total, YouTube gets 14.3 billion visits per month. And, of those in the U.S., 62% of those users access YouTube daily. That is more than Facebook and Instagram. Think about the ministry implications and opportunities there are here. While Meta is limiting your reach to more of a pay to play model, YouTube still has tremendous organic reach potential. That means you have a far greater chance of reaching people not subscribed to your YouTube Channell than you do on Facebook or Instagram.  

Google is the world's biggest search engine. Google also owns YouTube. That means that whenever you search something on Google, they not only share websites that will help you find the answer, but they will highlight YouTube videos that help you as well. This provides Churches and ministries a great opportunity to create and share videos on YouTube that answers people questions about life, faith and God. If you create the video that answers questions people are asking, there is a good chance Google and YouTube will help people find your video. 

YouTube isn't just for kids. It is for children and teens as well. And, of those 80% of parents who let their kids watch YouTube, 53% of them say their child watches videos on YouTube at least once a day. This is also in stark contrast to the other social networks. YouTube is extremely popular amongst children and teens. That means, that Churches and ministries can use YouTube to create content and engage with children and teens in a way unlike any other social media platform. What an amazing opportunity to engage the younger generations. 

YouTube launched a new “Shorts” format in 2020 — videos that max out at 60 seconds. This was their chance to compete against TikTok and it's popularity. Because of this, YouTube has been highlighting this a lot. In fact, today Shorts has 15 BILLION views a day. That gives Churches and ministries an opportunity to reach a new group of people on YouTube. Some ideas you can share are devotionals, sermon clips, music and worship clips and fun videos. Experiment and try different formats for these Shorts and sees what works for your Church. 

The opportunities for Churches and ministries to start using YouTube are very clear. Whether you are creating long form or short form video, it is the perfect place to share different encouragement to people who are searching for answers. While you see more and more people dissatisfied with other social media platforms from Meta and on Twitter, YouTube continues to be a go-to place for both younger and older generations. Start exploring and experimenting today so that more people can be encouraged in life, faith and come to know Jesus as savior. 

What do you think? What other YouTube stats strike you as a reason to start investing i?  Share your ideas below or on social media.

Through the Digital Church Network we are helping physical and digital churches better understand the discipleship process, and helping churches and church planters understand this and other decentralized mindset shifts. Joining the DCN is free and be encouraged! 

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