YouTube tightens grip on Australian kids as gaming and MrBeast dominate
Roy Morgan says 89 per cent of 6–13-year-olds watch the platform.
How many Australian kids watch YouTube, and what are they watching?
New data from Roy Morgan’s Young Australian Survey (YAS) suggests YouTube viewing is close to universal among children aged six to 13. Roy Morgan estimates 89 per cent of the age group, around 2.5 million children, watched YouTube between April and December 2025.
The research is based on a nationwide sample of 1,129 young Australians aged 6 to 13, collected over a nine-month period.
Gaming leads kids’ YouTube viewing
Roy Morgan reports that gaming is the leading video category among children in this age bracket who watch YouTube. It estimates that 1.33 million children watched gaming content, representing 53 per cent of YouTube viewers aged 6 to 13.
Other high-ranking categories included animation (930,000; 37 per cent), comedy (900,000; 36 per cent), and animals and music (850,000 each; 34 per cent).
- Gaming: 1.33 million (53%)
- Animation: 930,000 (37%)
- Comedy: 900,000 (36%)
- Animals: 850,000 (34%)
- Music: 850,000 (34%)
Big gender split in what kids watch
Roy Morgan reports boys are much more likely to watch gaming content than girls (67 per cent vs 39 per cent among YouTube watchers). Boys also skew higher for sports content (36 per cent vs 17 per cent).
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Girls, meanwhile, are reported to lean more heavily into animals (44 per cent vs 25 per cent), music (41 per cent vs 27 per cent), fashion (31 per cent vs 5 per cent), unboxing (31 per cent vs 18 per cent), DIY (25 per cent vs 11 per cent), and cooking (24 per cent vs 14 per cent).
Some categories were closer between boys and girls, including animation, comedy, challenges, and educational content.
Age differences: 6–9 vs 10–13
YouTube viewing is high across all ages 6 to 13, though Roy Morgan reports it is slightly lower among 6- to 7-year-olds (84 per cent) than among 8- to 13-year-olds (91 per cent).
Roy Morgan also reports that gaming is the number one category across every two-year age band, with particularly strong viewing among 10- to 11-year-olds (nearly 60 per cent of YouTube viewers in that group).
Outside gaming, Roy Morgan reports that children aged six to nine who watch YouTube tend to favour animation (40 per cent), animals (35 per cent), and challenges (32 per cent). For 10 to 13-year-olds, it reports comedy is next (41 per cent), ahead of animation (35 per cent) and animals (33 per cent).
MrBeast dominates “favourite channel” nominations
When asked to nominate a single favourite channel, Roy Morgan says 15.2 per cent of children aged six to 13 chose MrBeast. It reports the next nine channels received around one per cent of mentions each.
Roy Morgan notes that several creators named as favourites by children are not available on YouTube Kids.
MrBeast "...he’s got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eyes."
Roy Morgan links findings to under-16 restrictions
Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan, said the figures suggest many children could be affected by Australia’s under-16 restrictions introduced in December 2025.
“Australia’s world-first social-media ban for under 16-year-olds came into force in mid-December,” Levine said. She added that the latest Roy Morgan data shows “89 per cent, an estimated 2.5 million Australians aged 6–13, who watch YouTube are potentially impacted by the ban”.
Michele Levine
Roy Morgan also reported differences in attitudes among 10 to 13-year-olds who watch YouTube versus those who don’t, including higher agreement with statements about preferring computer games to playing outside and worrying about war and terrorism.
