Russians spend more time on YouTube despite restrictions

Russians are spending more time watching online video, with YouTube accounting for almost all of the growth despite the platform being effectively blocked in the country.

Average daily viewing time per user across Russia’s largest video platforms increased by 6% in the first half of 2026, reaching 87.7 minutes, Kommersant reported, citing a study by Future Lab.

Excluding YouTube, however, the figure declined by 5%. As a result, almost all of the overall increase in video consumption in Russia was driven by YouTube.

Average daily viewing time on YouTube rose by 24% in the first six months of the year to 99 minutes per user. During the same period last year, YouTube viewing time had fallen by 28.6%.

Experts said that in 2024 and 2025, Russian users were moving away from the blocked platform and experimenting with a wide range of alternative services. The current increase in YouTube usage, alongside declining viewing figures for other platforms, is attributed by analysts to the availability of a larger volume of high-quality content on YouTube as well as the platform’s more effective recommendation algorithms.

“Russian video platforms do not meet users’ expectations and lag behind the leading foreign platform,” said Alexander Tunik, head of the product division at the Rating Runeta project.

By Tamilla Hasanova