According to the latest Roy Morgan Young Australian Survey (YAS), 2.5 million Australian kids aged 6-13 have their eyes glued to YouTube.
Based on 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census data, there are approximately 2.5 to 2.6 million children aged 6-13 in Australia, which means an estimated 89 per cent of the age group are engaging with YouTube.
The research, which is part of an ongoing programme looking into Young Australian life experiences, preferences, priorities and opinions, has been operating since the early 2000’s. It includes the latest data collection on YouTube between April and December 2025 with a nationwide sample of 1,129 Young Australians aged 6-13.
Gaming and Animation are currently the leading video categories Australian kids are watching on YouTube, with a total of 1.33 million young viewers.
The Animation category has 930,000 kids watching, 900,000 watching Comedy, and 850,000 watching the Animals and Music categories.
The role gender plays in engagement
According to the research, boys are the primary drivers of the Gaming category (67 per cent of boys aged 6-13 watching YouTube c f. 39 per cent of girls aged 6-13 watching YouTube). Boys are also far more likely to watch the Sports category (36per cent cf. 17per cent).
In contrast, girls show a strong preference over boys for categories including Animals (44 per cent of girls aged 6-13 watching YouTube cf. 25 per cent of boys aged 6-13 watching YouTube), Music (41per cent cf. 27per cent), Fashion (31per cent cf. 5per cent), Unboxing (31per cent cf. 18per cent), DIY (25per cent cf. 11per cent), and Cooking (24per cent cf. 14per cent) reflecting girls’ more diverse lifestyle and creative preferences.
There are several categories with fairly even gender splits including Animation (38per cent of boys aged 6-13 watching YouTube cf. 36per cent of girls aged 6-13 watching YouTube), Comedy (36per cent cf. 35per cent), and Challenges (32per cent cf. 34per cent), Educational (22per cent cf. 26per cent).
Does age play a big factor?
• YouTube viewing is near universal for ages 6-13 (89per cent), although to no surprise it’s marginally lower amongst kids aged 6-7 (84per cent), compared to those aged 8 and over (91per cent).
• Gaming is the #1 YouTube category for kids in every two-year age band, especially for kids aged 10-11 years old (nearly 60per cent of kids in this age group watching YouTube reported watching Gaming).
• Besides Gaming, popular categories for kids aged 6-9 that watch YouTube include Animation (40per cent), Animals (35per cent), and Challenges (32per cent), whereas for kids aged 10-13 watching YouTube favour Comedy (41per cent), ahead of Animation (35per cent), and Animals (33per cent).
YouTube watchers vs non-watchers
Among 10-13 year olds, those who watch YouTube are more likely than those who don’t watch YouTube to prefer computer game than play outside, and to worry about war and terrorism to agree with the following attitudes:
• “I would rather play computer games than play outside” (55per cent cf. 36per cent);
¸• “I worry about wars” (67per cent cf. 45per cent);
• “I worry about terrorism” (33per cent cf. 23per cent).
In contrast, kids who don’t watch YouTube are more likely to enjoy reading and eating healthy food:
• “I enjoy reading” (85per cent cf. 65per cent);
• “I like to eat healthy foods” (83per cent cf. 71per cent).
MrBeast most popular channel with kids
When asked to nominate a single favourite channel, 15.2per cent of children aged 6-13 mentioned MrBeast.
Although Australia’s minimum-age restrictions now require YouTube to take reasonable steps to prevent under-16s from holding accounts, the safeguards do not extend to use of a parent’s standard account, or a public viewing account.
Several of the creators named as children’s number one favourites are not available within the YouTube Kids environment at all for example: Ben Azelart, IShowSpeed, Salish, Ryan Trahan, and FaZe.
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says YouTube is used by the vast majority of Australian kids aged 6-13 (89per cent) – and the new social media ban deprives many kids in this age group of their favourite YouTube channels – at least until they turn 16:
“Australia’s world-first social-media ban for under 16 year olds came into force in mid-December and the latest Roy Morgan data shows 89per cent, an estimated 2.5 million Australians aged 6-13, who watch YouTube are potentially impacted by the ban – despite the availability of YouTube Kids for children aged under 13.
“Roy Morgan data from the Young Australians Survey (YAS) shows the most popular YouTube video categories for young YouTube watchers are Gaming (1.33 million watchers), Animation (930,000 watchers), Comedy (900,000 watchers), Music & Animals (850,000 watchers each).
“Boys in this age group are far more likely than girls to watch video categories such as Gaming and Sports, whereas girls drive viewership of a more diverse range of categories including Animals, Music, Fashion, DIY, Unboxing, and Cooking.
“For young YouTube watchers there is a clear stand-out channel with 15.2per cent watching the MrBeast channel – known for the challenges of the channel’s creator Jimmy Donaldson. The popularity of the channel is perhaps not surprising with the Challenges video category, one of the more gender balanced categories and watched by an estimated 820,000 kids aged 6-13.
“An interesting factor to emerge from the research is how YouTube watchers aged 10-13 have significantly different views on key statements than their counterparts who don’t watch YouTube
“Watchers of YouTube are far more likely than non-watchers to agree with the statements that ‘I worry about wars’ (67per cent cf. 45per cent), ‘I worry about terrorism’ (33per cent cf. 23per cent), and ‘I would rather play computer games than play outside’ (55per cent cf. 36per cent).
