YouTube research puts creators two points behind Hollywood names

YouTube research published on 10 September 2026 found that 77 percent of American viewers call YouTube creators widely known, against 79 percent for Hollywood celebrities. The study was run with the research firm NRG.

Creators score 77 percent, Hollywood names 79 percent

The report is called “In Search of Mainstream” and it asked people in the United States which figures and events most people know about. The Super Bowl came top on 83 percent. Memes followed on 78 percent, just above Hollywood celebrities on 79 percent and creators on 77 percent. YouTube surveyed 496 people aged 14 to 29 and 939 people aged 14 to 44, in April 2026. The figures come from the platform’s own research, so they should be read as YouTube’s account of its position.

Shared interests make 63 percent feel part of something bigger

Among 14 to 29 year olds, 63 percent agreed that liking the same things as other people makes them feel part of something bigger. Almost seven in ten had watched content from a small community, and 71 percent had watched a video explaining a story that only fans of something would follow. Two thirds said a piece of content feels more real to them once it turns up on YouTube. That last number is the one advertisers tend to underrate when they move most of a working media budget to social and creators.

The Backrooms went from 90 million views to a 118 million dollar film

YouTube uses one example to show the route. The Backrooms began as a series on the platform, passed 90 million views, and then became an A24 cinema release that took 118 million dollars worldwide. The report also says 73 percent treat YouTube as the best place to go deep into a personal interest, and 72 percent stay interested in a subject longer because of it.

Reach is no longer what separates the two lists

Two points is not a gap a media planner can build a rule on. If viewers put creators and film stars on roughly the same shelf, the argument for paying much more for one of them has to rest on something else: the licence, the control over the script, the safety of the context. Fan loyalty cuts both ways here. The study says 63 percent of fans feel successful when a favourite succeeds and 60 percent feel proud of having helped. An audience like that reacts to a brand deal as if it were a decision made in their own group, which is why a deal with a very large creator carries a risk a film star does not. Planners should ask what a creator’s audience will say about the brand, not only how many of them there are, and pair that with hard numbers such as the Views (Co-Viewed) metric on television screens.