LinkedIn > YouTube

Marketing Against the Grain··1 min read
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AI Summary

Wistia's 2026 State of Video report reveals LinkedIn has surpassed YouTube as the top platform for B2B video sharing. Key findings include longer webinars (30-40 minutes) seeing 70% higher engagement, 48% of teams increasing distribution budgets, and overall video budget growth slowing with only 49% planning increases (down from 57% in 2024). The newsletter also links to content on YouTube subscriber count becoming a vanity metric and audience distribution strategies from MrBeast's content strategist.

Key Facts

LinkedIn has overtaken YouTube as the #1 platform for B2B video sharing, according to Wistia's 2026 State of Video report.
30–40 minute webinars generate ~70% higher engagement than shorter webinars under 30 minutes, per Wistia's analysis of 79 million hours of viewing data.
Video budget growth is cooling — only 49% of teams plan to increase spend in 2026, down from 57% in 2024, while 48% plan to increase distribution and promotion budgets.

Author Takes

BearishMarketing Against the Grain

YouTube subscriber count as a metric

Subscriber count is now a vanity metric for YouTube, implying other engagement signals matter more for video strategy.

BearishMarketing Against the Grain

Video budget growth

Video budgets are cooling, with the share of teams planning spend increases dropping significantly from 57% in 2024 to 49% in 2026.

Contrarian Angle

Longer Webinars Outperform Shorter Ones

Wistia's data shows 30-40 minute webinars see ~70% higher engagement than webinars under 30 minutes, contradicting the common advice to keep content short for better retention.

Conventional wisdom says shorter content performs better, but longer webinars (30-40 min) significantly outperform shorter ones in on-demand engagement.

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