YouTube “How To” Video Searches Up 70%, With Over 100 Million Hours Watched In 2015

People trying to figure out how to accomplish a home improvement project, fix their hair or prepare a recipe have helped grow YouTube’s “how-to” searches by 70 percent year-over-year.

According to new data released by Google today, not only are searches for how-to videos up, but the amount of how-to content viewed has grown as well, with more than 100 million hours of how-to videos viewed by North American users since January.

YouTube found its most popular “how-to” searches are related to home-improvement, beauty and cooking videos.

The top how-to home improvement video searches include “how to unclog a toilet,” “how to remove wallpaper” and “how to decorate your bedroom.” For beauty, users are most often searching for how-to videos related to “prom hair,” “balayage” (a hair coloring technique) and “man bun.”

YouTube accounts much of its search growth to mobile, noting 91 percent of smartphone owners turn to their phones to complete a given task.

“Being constantly connected has trained us to expect immediacy and relevance in moments of intent – the I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-do and I-want-to-buy moments,” reports Google, “These micro-moments are the new battlegrounds for people’s hearts, minds, and dollars.”

Google says Millennials have also played an integral role in driving YouTube’s search numbers. Citing its consumer study from last month, Google reports 67 percent of Millennials agreed they can find a YouTube video on anything they want to learn.

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Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.