85M viewers: Rutube overtakes YouTube
The Russian video hosting service Rutube has for the first time in its history surpassed YouTube in daily audience in Russia. An event that seemed unthinkable just a couple of years ago occurred on December 9, 2025: according to Mediascope, Rutube gathered 23.8 million users in one day, while YouTube had 22.3 million. And by the end of the first quarter of 2026, the platform solidified its success, reaching 85 million unique monthly viewers and 26 million daily viewers.
Does this mean that the American giant has been defeated in the Russian market? And by what factors did Rutube manage to make such a leap? We analyze the numbers, reasons, and prospects.
85 million: where did this number come from?
85 million monthly audience is official data that Rutube presented based on the results of winter 2026. The indicator is based on research by Mediascope, a leading Russian media statistics measurement company.
However, there is an important nuance: the counting methodology includes not only direct visits to the platform but also embed views – that is, views of videos embedded on external sites. If this traffic is excluded, the picture changes: according to Mediascope Cross Web (excluding SmartTV and embedded players), in January 2026, Rutube's daily audience was 8.3 million people, and YouTube's was 22 million.
Nevertheless, the very fact that Rutube managed to catch up with YouTube in the “broad” measurement is important as a marker. This shows that the Russian platform has ceased to be a niche product and has become a player with whom advertisers and creators must reckon.
December 9, 2025: the day Rutube surpassed YouTube
A landmark event took place on December 9, 2025. It was on this day, according to Mediascope, that Rutube's daily audience for the first time exceeded YouTube's figures: 23.8 million versus 22.3 million.
Alexander Zharov, head of Gazprom-Media Holding, called this date a "significant day" and set an ambitious goal – to increase the daily audience to 35 million people by the end of 2026.
This is not just marketing bravado. The platform has specific growth drivers that allow one to believe in the achievability of this goal.
Key breakthrough figures:
- Rutube December 9, 2025: 23.8 million daily users
- YouTube December 9, 2025: 22.3 million daily users
- Current goal for 2026: 35 million daily users
The platform intends to continue growing its audience. The key focus is on three factors: technological re-equipment, integration with other holding services, and attracting top creators.
Technological leap: how AI and integration changed the platform
Behind the growth figures are real technological changes. In 2025, the Rutube team focused on three areas: search development, improvement of recommendation algorithms, and strengthening marketing.
The result was immediate: views of recommended videos increased fivefold over the year. This means that the platform's algorithms have finally learned to retain viewers by offering them genuinely interesting content.
Integration with Yappy and Premier
A key strategic decision was the transformation of the short vertical video service Yappy into Rutube Shorts. Both platforms switched to a single engine and recommendation system. Full legal integration is expected in spring 2026. In addition, the Premier online cinema will be integrated into the ecosystem.
What does this give? Short video viewers now easily flow into long-form content, and vice versa. This way, Rutube covers several formats under one roof, increasing total watch time.
Content avalanche
The scale of content upload is impressive: every day, Rutube users upload over 1 million videos. Moderation, supported by artificial intelligence, takes from 20 minutes to two hours. As of February 2026, the platform's library already contained 437 million videos.
For comparison: a year earlier, these figures were noticeably more modest. Content growth attracts an audience, and an audience stimulates the creation of new content – the classic network effect has been launched.
Who is the real leader: VK Video vs Rutube vs YouTube
If you look at the situation more broadly, it turns out that the struggle is not only between Rutube and YouTube. According to Mediascope Cross Web (excluding SmartTV and embed players) for January 2026, VK Video remains the absolute leader of the Russian video hosting market with a monthly audience of 82.8 million and a daily audience of 42.2 million. YouTube takes second place with 65.9 million per month and 22 million per day. Rutube in this "hard" measurement shows 47.7 million per month and 8.3 million per day.
In the "broad" calculation (including embed+SmartTV), Rutube caught up with YouTube, but in the "pure" measurement, the gap still remains.
Nevertheless, even these figures show impressive growth for Rutube. In a year, its "pure" audience has increased manifold, and the trend continues.
What this means for creators and businesses
The growth of Rutube's audience and its victory over YouTube in the "broad" count are not just news for insiders. These are signals that should be reacted to.
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