Less than 1% of views of YouTube videos come from Google search clicks, according to a member of Google’s legal team.
The quote. Here’s what Attorney John Schmidtlein said, according to Courthouse News Service:
- “Roughly less than 1% of views on YouTube come from people who click on [search] links,” Attorney John Schmidtlein of Williams & Connolly, who represented Google, said in court.
Why we care. This is the first time this statistic has been revealed publicly, as far as I know. It might be 100% true. The majority of people likely discover and view videos directly on YouTube, either via YouTube search or YouTube’s recommendation algorithm.
But. Google does seem to self-preference YouTube a lot. it’s hard to imagine that Google would show videos in prominent places in search results if the videos weren’t getting clicked on and watched.
Google vs. Rumble. The statistic was revealed in federal court last week, ahead of what would be yet another antitrust trial brought against Google – this time by Rumble, a rival video platform.
Rumble is arguing that “a rival cannot hope to compete” when Google gives preferential visibility to YouTube – especially on mobile, but especially when Google ranks YouTube videos over Rumble videos even when Rumble’s name appears in the search query.
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About the author
Danny Goodwin is Editorial Director of Search Engine Land & Search Marketing Expo – SMX. He joined Search Engine Land in 2022 as Senior Editor. In addition to reporting on the latest search marketing news, he manages Search Engine Land’s SME (Subject Matter Expert) program. He also helps program U.S. SMX events.
Goodwin has been editing and writing about the latest developments and trends in search and digital marketing since 2007. He previously was Executive Editor of Search Engine Journal (from 2017 to 2022), managing editor of Momentology (from 2014-2016) and editor of Search Engine Watch (from 2007 to 2014). He has spoken at many major search conferences and virtual events, and has been sourced for his expertise by a wide range of publications and podcasts.