YouTube usage time has decreased to 67% in Russia since its slowdown

YouTube users' consumption time has decreased by almost 70% since its slowdown, and it has been redistributed, among other things, to the social media category - TikTok, Rutube, and online cinemas. Irina Suanova, Head of the Customer Relations and Data Analytics Department at Mediascope, told about this on November 21.

In Russia, the slowdown and some disruptions in YouTube began in the second half of July 2024, and since August 8, there has been a sharp collapse in traffic.

"In total, during the 15 months (from July 2024 to October 2025) of the YouTube slowdown, the time of its consumption by the population decreased by almost 70% — very, very much. Today it is only 17 minutes for the average citizen of the country, while it was 50 minutes earlier," Irina Suanova said at the annual Mediascope conference.

According to her, YouTube was the number one platform in the budget of the population's time, but now a considerable part of the time has moved into the social media category: over the same period, user time on VKontakte increased by 34%, on Telegram by 8%, on TikTok by 35%, and on Rutube by four times (by 380%).

Irina Suanova also said that online cinemas were among the first to notice the outflow of the audience from YouTube, children's content came to the top: animated series like "Three Cats", "Masha and the Bear", "Lady Bug and Super Cat" and others.

In addition, throughout 2025, the company recorded that, contrary to the trend of previous years, the volume of television viewing in 2025 did not decrease, while among the children's audience (4-17 years old) in 2025, TV viewing increased by 7%.

Some kind of stream: YouTube audience in Russia has almost halved since its slowdown

What awaits the platform next and how the rating of popular services in Russia has changed

Anton Gorelkin, deputy head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, announced on November 19 that Russian platforms will completely replace YouTube video hosting in the domestic market in the medium term. The MP stressed that digital sovereignty requires significant investments and qualified personnel.

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