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Online video is not one audience or one platform. The useful trends are a fragmented live-streaming landscape, businesses treating social video as a core distribution channel, continued investment in several video formats, and AI becoming part of production workflows. For creators and businesses, the practical response is to choose formats and channels for a specific audience and outcome—not to chase a single growth statistic.
What are the latest video trends for businesses and creators?
Several distinct changes are happening at once: live-viewing activity is spread across platforms; businesses are sharing more video socially; teams are combining short, educational, product, and webinar content; and AI is appearing in planning and production. These findings come from different sources and populations, so they should not be combined into a single estimate of the worldwide online-video market.
- Live streaming: Streamlabs and Stream Hatchet measured 21.49 billion hours watched across tracked live-streaming platforms in Q1 2026, up 2.83% from 20.90 billion in Q4 2025. Platform trajectories differed.
- Business distribution: In Wistia’s 2026 State of Video survey, 8 in 10 surveyed teams named LinkedIn as their primary B2B video-sharing channel. This describes those surveyed teams, not all businesses.
- Format mix: Wistia’s 2026 report identifies educational, product, social, and webinar videos among the formats companies are emphasizing. It reports that on-demand webinars can continue receiving plays for up to 12 months after a live event.
- AI: Wistia reports that more than one-third of surveyed teams already use AI in video workflows, with pre-production the most common use area. Nearly a quarter more said they planned to start soon.
- Production choices: Wistia reports that vertical HD uploads increased 24% year over year on its platform, while 90% of surveyed teams were taking steps to make video accessible.
These figures describe different things: tracked live-platform viewing, a survey of professionals, and activity on Wistia’s hosting platform. They are signals to consider, not universal predictions of reach or performance.
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Tracked live-stream viewing increased quarter over quarter in the Streamlabs and Stream Hatchet Q1 2026 report, but the overall rise hides meaningful differences between platforms. The report’s platform figures are estimates for tracked services and the stated period; they are not a forecast or a measure of every kind of online video.
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| Measure | Reported result | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Hours watched across tracked platforms | 20.90 billion in Q4 2025; 21.49 billion in Q1 2026, up 2.83% quarter over quarter | Aggregate tracked-platform viewing rose over that quarter; it does not establish growth for every service or creator. |
| Kick hours watched | Up 65.35% year over year in the Q1 2026 report | A large reported increase, not proof that Kick is the best fit for a particular audience. |
| Twitch hours watched | Rebounded quarter over quarter, but remained down 13.68% year over year | The comparison period matters: a quarterly recovery and an annual decline can both be true. |
| YouTube Gaming hours watched | Up 14.63% year over year in the Q1 2026 report | A report-specific measure of YouTube Gaming viewing, not all YouTube video activity. |
The same report says Just Chatting led hours watched across platforms and remained prominent on Twitch and Kick. That shows conversational, personality-led streams can sit alongside game-focused content; it is not a reason every creator should adopt that format.
Choose a platform for audience fit, not a single quarter
Before changing platforms, consider where the intended viewers already spend time, whether the service supports the format you can sustain, and what you need to measure. A platform’s short-term growth statistic does not tell you how discoverable your particular content will be, how much production work it will require, or whether its audience matches yours.
Which platforms should a business use to share video?
Start with the audience, geography, and business goal rather than assuming one service is best everywhere. Wistia’s 2026 State of Video survey found that 8 in 10 surveyed teams named LinkedIn as their primary B2B video-sharing channel, and it reports increased attention to social engagement as a success metric. These are survey findings about the teams Wistia surveyed, not a platform-neutral census.
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Geography can change the picture. Germany’s 2025 Online-Video-Monitor, commissioned by LFK and BLM, surveyed 194 providers in one module. German providers named YouTube (25%), TikTok (24%), and Instagram (23%) among their leading video distribution channels. Among providers with their own web presence, 43% named their website as their most important distribution channel. These results concern German online-video providers; they should not be read as global usage or audience-share figures.
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Use distribution channels for different jobs
- Social platforms: Useful options for putting short clips and repeatable messages in front of audiences who use those platforms. Measure the engagement and discovery outcomes that matter to the business.
- An owned website: A practical place to organize durable resources, product information, and lead-generation paths. Whether it performs well depends on the site, audience, and distribution plan.
- Email, CRM, and analytics: Where these are part of the business workflow, they can help connect video activity to follow-up and business outcomes rather than relying on platform views alone.
A business can distribute clips socially while maintaining more complete resources on its own site. The right mix depends on where its audience is and whether the goal is discovery, engagement, conversion assistance, leads, or sustained on-demand viewing.
Should a business make short videos, webinars, or product videos?
Choose the format by the question it needs to answer. Wistia’s 2026 report draws on more than 13 million videos analyzed and 79 million hours of viewing data, alongside survey findings. Its platform data suggests short videos tend to have higher engagement rates, while longer videos can accumulate more total watch time; long educational videos and webinars can also hold attention. Industry and viewing intent matter, so this is not a rule that short videos always perform better.
| Format | Best-fit job | Practical use |
|---|---|---|
| Short social video | Discovery and repeatable messaging | Make one point clearly, then adapt the clip to the platforms and viewing contexts you target. |
| Educational video | Answering a defined question or teaching a process | Organize the material around the viewer’s task; a longer runtime can make sense when the subject needs depth. |
| Product video | Explaining a product, feature, or use case | Show the relevant task or benefit rather than treating views as the only measure of success. |
| Webinar or live session | Interaction and deeper subject coverage | Plan for questions and follow-up. An on-demand replay can keep receiving plays after the live event. |
| Replay clips | Follow-up distribution from a longer event | Extract self-contained moments, add captions, and distribute them where they fit. |
Wistia reports that on-demand webinars can continue to receive plays for up to 12 months after a live event. Treat a webinar as a potential source of both a live experience and later viewing, but do not assume a replay will keep attracting viewers without a useful topic and distribution.
Measure the outcome, not just the format
Set the objective before choosing the success metric. Reach and views can help assess discovery; watch time and retention can help evaluate whether a video holds attention; engagement can indicate interaction; and lead or conversion data may matter when the video supports a business decision. These measures answer different questions and should not be treated as interchangeable.
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How are creators and businesses using AI in video production?
Wistia’s 2026 report says more than one-third of surveyed teams already use AI in their video workflow, and nearly a quarter more planned to start soon. Pre-production was the most common use area, including planning and scripting. The report also describes uses such as captioning and dubbing.
AI can assist with routine preparation, but the report does not establish that it automatically improves business results. Review generated material before publication, especially for factual accuracy, rights, tone, privacy, and accessibility. Wistia’s report also notes concerns among teams about reliability, job effects, ethics, privacy, and training.
- Use AI-generated outlines or scripts as drafts; check claims and adapt the language to the intended audience.
- Review captions for names, technical terms, and meaning, and check dubbed or translated audio for accuracy and tone.
- Use only material you have the right to use, and consider privacy before submitting sensitive footage or information to an AI tool.
- Keep human review in the workflow rather than assuming an automated result is ready to publish.
Why do vertical video and accessibility matter?
Wistia reports that vertical HD (1080×1920) uploads increased 24% year over year on its platform. It also reports a 16% rise in 4K uploads, while full HD 1080p remained the most common resolution among uploads. These are Wistia platform figures, not universal measures of video production across the internet.
Choose orientation and resolution for the destination and viewing context. Vertical framing may suit a mobile-first social placement; landscape can suit other viewing contexts. Neither orientation guarantees better performance. Decide how a video will be cropped or reframed before recording when it needs to work in more than one format.
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Wistia says 90% of surveyed teams were taking steps to make video accessible, with captions the most common starting point. Build accessibility into production: review captions for errors, make on-screen text readable, and ensure important information is not conveyed only through sound or color.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What equipment do you need to live stream?
The equipment depends on the stream. YouTube lists an external microphone, webcam, and headphones as common hardware for gaming and casual live streams. A professional setup may add multiple cameras and microphones, a mixer, and a hardware encoder. A small creator stream and a multi-camera production do not need the same kit.
- External microphone: Captures voice more deliberately than relying on a built-in computer mic; choose a setup appropriate to the room and stream format.
- Webcam: Provides a camera feed for a basic on-camera stream.
- Headphones: Let the streamer monitor audio and reduce the chance that speaker output feeds back into the microphone.
- For a larger production: Additional cameras and microphones, a mixer, and a hardware encoder can support more complex live workflows.
Before adding equipment, identify the stream’s format and what currently limits it: image, sound, scene switching, or encoding. A more complex setup adds production capability but also more devices and settings to manage.
Where does always-on prerecorded streaming fit?
Some YouTube creators want a channel to keep playing uploaded videos or a playlist as a continuous stream, rather than broadcasting a live camera or keeping a home computer running. That is a different production choice from an interactive live event. It is useful only when the programming, rights, and channel purpose make sense for continuous playback.
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How should you decide what to make next?
- Name the audience and market. Use the channels your intended viewers actually use; do not generalize German provider findings or a B2B survey to every region or audience.
- Choose one primary job for each video. Decide whether it is meant to attract discovery, teach, explain a product, support a live conversation, or generate follow-up.
- Match format and production effort. A concise social clip, a webinar, and a multi-camera production have different goals and operational demands.
- Plan reuse and accessibility. Decide whether to create a replay or clips, add and review captions, and adapt framing for the destinations you selected.
- Measure the intended outcome. Use a metric aligned to the objective, then use what you learn to refine the next video rather than treating one platform trend as a guarantee.
What the evidence does—and does not—show
The cited findings describe separate samples and measures: Streamlabs and Stream Hatchet report tracked live-platform activity for defined quarters; Wistia combines a survey of professionals with analysis of videos hosted on its platform; LFK and BLM studied German online-video providers; and Deloitte’s 2025 Digital Media Trends report is US consumer research. Deloitte says media and entertainment companies, including advertisers, compete for about six hours of daily media and entertainment time per person in its US research, spanning subscription video, social, user-generated content, gaming, music, and podcasts. That estimate is not a global average.
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