Short videos are considered a format specifically for smartphones, but this trend is changing rapidly as more and more people watch YouTube Shorts on TV screens.
According to YouTube, users currently watch more than 2 billion hours of Shorts per month on TV devices, showing that vertical content is gradually taking an important place right in the living room.
YouTube Shorts is a short video format with a maximum duration of 3 minutes, designed to be displayed vertically on the phone.
However, the platform said that the number of viewers of Shorts on TV is increasing sharply, despite the fact that vertical content is not the optimal choice for large screens.
Kurt Wilms - Senior Director in charge of YouTube TV product management, said that the living room is currently YouTube's fastest growing area.
According to Mr. Kurt Wilms, audiences are increasingly wanting to watch all kinds of favorite content on the largest screen in the house, from long videos, podcasts to short videos.
In the US alone, users are watching more than 200 million hours of YouTube content per day on TV.
YouTube is also actively promoting this trend by displaying Shorts in search results on TVs, making it easier for viewers to access short videos even if they initially do not intend to watch this type of content.
Google TV (a platform belonging to the parent company Alphabet) recently added the "Short Video for You" content on the main interface. This move is expected to continue to extend the viewing time of Shorts on a large screen.
To optimize the vertical video viewing experience on TV, YouTube has updated the interface by displaying comments next to the video instead of below as on the phone.
According to Sarah Ali - YouTube Shorts Product Management Vice President, this change helps increase interaction between viewers and content creators, while expanding business opportunities for creators globally.
The trend of watching TV content also spreads to video podcasts. YouTube said users watched more than 700 million hours of podcasts per month on home devices in 2025, a sharp increase compared to 400 million hours in 2024.
Not only YouTube, many other streaming platforms are also stepping up investment in video podcasts.
Netflix recently signed deals with iHeartMedia, Barstool Sports and Spotify to exclusively own the video rights to several prominent podcasts.
