I still remember the first time I ever uncovered YouTube back in 2005, my elder brother said he found a good site to watch football (soccer) highlights of a young player bursting onto the scene. In those days, it was hard enough to watch a short clip without buffering, so my 10-year-old brain was blown away by the concept of being able to find not only sports highlights but also just random home videos that people were uploading onto the internet.
At the age of 11, I made my first YouTube channel, speaking to a camera about WWE and reviewing matches to a tiny audience. It was because of YouTube that I ultimately became fascinated with technology, I’d watch countless hours of tweaking and tinkering videos of products I couldn’t afford as a young kid, unboxing videos, and everything in between. Over the years the platform has evolved, the YouTubers I watched as a kid have grown up on camera and had kids of their own, I’ve stopped making videos, and that young player became Lionel Messi, the greatest footballer of all time.
It’s been 20 years since YouTube went live, and it has stuck with me throughout my whole life as the one place where I can invest in my hobbies through short-form videos. I’ve seen it evolve over the years in good ways and bad, but ultimately it’s still the first place I go to watch entertainment.
Since my time at university, scarily about a decade ago now, I’ve primarily watched YouTube on my television. In the past, when I’d tell my friends that, they’d often look confused because, of course, YouTube is a website best experienced on a laptop or in a smartphone app. And because of their reactions, I’ve always thought I was an outlier, but it turns out I’m not.
Just this week, YouTube CEO, Neal Mohan, revealed that TV has surpassed mobile as the primary way to view YouTube in the US (by watch time) – last year, it had broken another milestone by becoming more popular than Netflix and Disney Plus on smart TVs. Even more impressively, YouTube has become the number one most-watched streaming platform (by watch time) in the US over the last two years. So not only am I not an outlier anymore, but it seems like the world has become as addicted to YouTube as I have been for the last two decades.
If you’re not convinced by watching YouTube on your TV yet, I’ve come up with three reasons why YouTube on a smart TV is worth it, trust me I’ve spent far too much time watching random online videos.
1. YouTube videos are more impressive nowadays
Back when YouTube started it was as amateur as a video could be, viral videos like 'Charlie Bit My Finger' ruled the roost and it wasn’t a potential career. Fast forward to today and the best YouTube channels have full production companies behind them creating movie-like content with high-end cameras and top-tier editing. While it might seem odd to watch short videos of dogs or cats doing funny things on your TV, watching 40-minute episodes of travel vlogs or in-depth reviews of the latest video game is so much more immersive on a TV instead of a smartphone.
The majority of YouTube videos I watch these days are either full-on episodes of content that in the past would’ve been shown on television, video game capture showcasing graphical fidelity, or highlights of sport that’s filmed in 4K, perfect for the big screen. There’s never a time where I think I’d rather opt for a smaller screen when it comes to consuming YouTube content these days and while I have my gripes about using a remote (I know I can use my iPhone but for some reason I don’t), I really love YouTube’s smart TV app and the way it breaks down the YouTube algorithm. YouTube ultimately gets better the more you watch it, and I find viewing the platform on TV incentivizes watching top-tier content over quick amateur videos.
2. With YouTube Premium it’s ad-free and awesome
I pay for most streaming service subscriptions, Disney+, Netflix, Prime Video, you name it. But I can confidently say that YouTube Premium is the only subscription I pay for where I genuinely get my money’s worth. Even this week, where I’ve had a really busy time at work and I’ve been out most evenings with my partner or with friends, I’ve still somehow managed to spend 16 hours on YouTube. That might not sound like a lot, but that’s an average of over 3 hours a day since Monday, absolutely wild.
Now imagine watching that amount of video content and being plagued with ads, it would completely turn me away from the platform. Instead, paying $13.99 a month (£12.99 in the UK), gets me higher resolution videos, perfect for the TV, and no annoying ads can hinder my entertainment. Not only do you get those benefits for watching on TV, but YouTube Premium gives you loads of added features for the times where you’re away from your living room and watching on a smartphone or an iPad instead. Those features include downloading videos for offline viewing, YouTube Music, and background audio, which is perfect if you want to listen to a podcast while still using your phone.
YouTube Premium isn’t a reason to start watching YouTube on TV, but it does make your brain think differently about the content you consume and how you want to consume it. I’ve subscribed to YouTube Premium since I started watching YouTube on TV and it not only entices me to pick the YouTube app over other streaming services, but it makes the viewing experience that much more enjoyable.
3. It can save you money
Save you money? Okay, hear me out on this one. Consuming YouTube on TV makes you think about the platform differently, it becomes a subscription service in its own right, and like the statistics from above show, there’s so much to watch that you can spend endless hours consuming content on the platform. Watching YouTube on TV can quickly become your go-to evening entertainment, and there’s so much to choose from that you’ll inevitably find channels and series that you want to watch. Opting for the TV approach means you’ll spend less time on all the other streaming services, and in turn, you might even opt to cancel your subscriptions altogether.
What's even better is if you live in the US, then there's a great streaming deal available that lets you save more than 15% on the 'Base Plan' to access more than 100 live channels, making a great alternative to cable, too. This is a limited-time offer that expires at the end of March. See more about the YouTube TV deal available below.
I’m not lying when I say most evenings in my household where my partner and I are watching TV have some form of YouTube content involved. Gone are the days of quality content being limited to cable television, and nowadays depending on what you’re looking for YouTube is probably the best place to find it. I adore food content, basically, anything starring Anthony Bourdain is my gospel, and yet, in 2025 the best travel food content available isn’t on Netflix, it’s on YouTube. Whether you’re sitting down to watch a food vlog, or you’re watching a daily series like Ryan Trahan’s Penny Challenge, YouTube is far more compelling as a TV app than it ever was on your smartphone. So if you aren’t already on board with the YouTube TV app, give it a go, it might completely change your viewing habits.
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