YouTube Shorts Benchmarks In 2026

What Engagement Rate Do Studies Report For Shorts, TikTok And Reels?

According to Socialinsider's 2026 study of brand accounts, the average engagement rate for YouTube Shorts was 0.27% in 2025 and 0.30% in 2026.¹

Socialinsider calculates a Short's engagement rate as the sum of a post's likes and comments divided by the total number of followers the profile has, multiplied by 100.¹

Its sample for YouTube Shorts was 7,516,673 videos from brands with 1K to 1M followers, covering January 2025 to June 2026.¹

Buffer's report treats views, not an engagement rate, as the primary metric for YouTube Shorts.²

Buffer says views, interactions and engagement rate are different metrics describing different things, and comparing them side by side leads to misleading rankings.²

Because the studies define engagement differently, an engagement rate from one study should not be set against a figure from another.

How Many Views Do Shorts Get At Different Account Sizes?

Socialinsider reports that YouTube Shorts had the highest average views across every follower bracket it measured.¹

Socialinsider's average views per video, by follower bracket, are repeated in the table below.¹

Metricool analysed 375,462 accounts across Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts, and reports that TikTok leads in average views for tiny, small, medium and big accounts, while Instagram leads among huge accounts.³

Metricool defines tiny accounts as fewer than 2,000 followers, small as 2,000 to 10,000, medium as 10,000 to 100,000, big as 100,000 to 1 million and huge as more than 1 million.³

The two studies use different samples and different follower bands, so read each as that study's finding and not as a ranking of platforms.

Buffer reports that median views for YouTube Shorts published through Buffer rose from about 86 in 2024 to about 268 in 2025.²

Buffer says that as the mix of accounts publishing through Buffer shifts, typical view counts move even if the underlying distribution on YouTube is stable.²

How Big Is The Shorts Feed, And What Happened To Watch Time?

In his 2026 letter, YouTube's CEO says Shorts now averages 200 billion daily views.⁴

Metricool's 2026 YouTube Study analysed 799,718 videos from 71,177 accounts, comparing February 2025 with February 2026.⁵

That study found Shorts views rose 127% year over year, but viewers spent three times less time watching each Short.⁵

It also found that the Shorts feed generated 61% of YouTube views.⁵

Metricool reads this as brands having more opportunities to be discovered but less time to capture attention.⁵

For a channel with no face on camera, the opening seconds and the pace of the edit are the first things to check in your own analytics.

Why Can't You Add These Studies Together?

Each study below measured a different group of accounts over a different period, so their figures describe different things.

Buffer says its medians represent typical performance in its own dataset, rather than universal benchmarks.²

Buffer says year-over-year changes can reflect real platform changes but also changes in who is posting, so it treats them as a directional signal, not a final verdict.²

YouTube's help page says that starting 3/31/2025, Shorts views count the number of times a Short starts to play or replay, with no minimum watch time requirement.⁶

The same page says YouTube keeps the earlier Shorts view metric, now called Engaged views, in YouTube Analytics.⁶

YouTube's help page also says that beginning August 24, 2026, views are counted the moment a video starts to play across all formats, including Shorts.⁷

When you read a study, check whether its dates fall before or after YouTube changed how a Short view is counted, because a view was counted differently on each side of that change.

How Should A Channel Without A Face Use These Benchmarks?

Metricool says there is no magic number for short-form video views and that a good benchmark depends on account size, platform and audience.³

Metricool suggests comparing your performance with accounts of similar size instead of chasing viral numbers.³

Metricool suggests reviewing your last 10-20 videos on each platform and calculating your average views, comments and shares.³

Metricool notes that a Short can continue attracting views after you publish it, so look beyond its first-day performance.³

Buffer notes that views are the first gate to pass on YouTube, and that likes, comments, subscriptions and shares are often sparse relative to view volume.²

YouTube says you can use Engaged views in YouTube Analytics to compare the performance across all of your Shorts.⁶

Start from your own last batch of Shorts as the benchmark. Use a published figure only to get a loose sense of scale, and write down which definition of views or engagement the study used before you compare.

The studies describe accounts in general, so let your own analytics decide what counts as good for your channel.

What Should You Check When A Post Quotes A Shorts Benchmark Without A Source?

A benchmark is only as useful as the method behind it. Before you repeat or rely on a Shorts figure, look for these four things.

• The name of the study and who ran it, so you can open the original.
• The sample: how many videos or accounts, and what kind of accounts.
• The dates it covers, checked against the dates YouTube changed how views are counted.
• The definition: whether engagement is measured against followers or against views, and which actions it includes.

If a post gives a figure with none of these, treat it as unverified and leave it out of your plans.