Qustodio: kids aged 4 to 18 used TikTok for 107 minutes per day on average in 2022, up from 82 minutes in 2020, and 60% longer than YouTube's 67 minutes per day
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch : See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Qustodio's 2022 numbers complete a crossover the firm has tracked for years: its 2020 study of kids in the US, UK, and Spain had YouTube still ahead at 85 minutes a day versus TikTok's 80, and by the end of 2021 its analysis of 400K families showed TikTok pulling decisively in front at 91 minutes versus 56. The 2022 figures — 107 minutes on TikTok against YouTube's 67 — confirm the gap is widening, not stabilizing.
The lead extends beyond teens: Ofcom's UK regulator data already showed roughly a third of five-to-seven-year-olds viewing TikTok content, so the audience shift reaches the youngest cohorts. And this isn't only a kids' story — App Annie had found US Android adults spending more time on TikTok than YouTube as far back as May 2021, meaning the under-18 trend mirrors the broader market.
First-order effects
- TikTok now holds a 60% watch-time advantage over YouTube among 4-to-18-year-olds, and advertisers chasing that cohort's attention face a platform where the daily minutes keep climbing (82 in 2020, 91 in 2021, 107 in 2022).
- YouTube's position as the default video service for minors — the audience its family-friendly brand and Kids product are built around — is now the smaller share of kids' video time by a wide margin.
Second-order effects
- YouTube faces mounting pressure to defend young-user watch time against a short-video format that Qustodio's data shows compounding year over year, while App Annie's adult figures suggest the competitive gap is not confined to minors.
- Regulators already tracking TikTok's youngest users — Ofcom found content viewing among three-to-four-year-olds — gain a fresh datapoint showing engagement deepening, strengthening the case for age-appropriate design scrutiny of the platform's recommendation feed.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, kids' video attention consolidates around algorithmic short-form feeds rather than subscription or channel-based video, forcing both platforms' family products — and the ad market priced on minors' watch time — to reorganize around recommendation-driven consumption.
- Sustained multi-year growth in minors' TikTok engagement, documented independently by a parental-control firm's family data, positions children's screen-time and recommendation-feed safety as recurring regulatory territory rather than a one-off controversy.
The trend: Short-form algorithmic video is displacing traditional video platforms in children's daily attention, with Qustodio's family-level data turning the shift into a measurable, year-over-year industry benchmark.