How much of kids' YouTube is Shorts?

The honest answer and the method

YouTube's public Data API does not tell us which videos are Shorts. It returns duration, but it does not return a Shorts flag or the public video aspect ratio. We cannot publish an exact Shorts share from that API.

We can set an upper bound. YouTube says current Shorts must be square or vertical and no longer than three minutes. In our August 10, 2026 snapshot, we measured every public upload from the prior 90 days across the 80 channels in Vidward's checked registry. We found 3,832 videos after excluding 9 live or upcoming items, whatever length the API reported for them.

This is a curated sample of channels children watch, not a census of YouTube. It measures supply from those channels. It does not measure views, watch time, recommendations, subscriptions, or any one child's feed.

Source: YouTube's current Shorts rule and the YouTube Data API video resource. YouTube is the data source. YouTube did not sponsor or endorse this report.

At most 48.8% of the uploads could be Shorts

Of the 3,832 measured uploads:

• 1,540, or 40.2%, ran 60 seconds or less.
• 329, or 8.6%, ran from 61 seconds through 3 minutes.
• 1,869, or 48.8%, ran 3 minutes or less in total.

That last number is a ceiling, not a Shorts count. A regular horizontal video can run under three minutes. Duration tells us that a video could fit the Shorts length rule. It cannot tell us whether the upload is square or vertical, or whether YouTube put it in the Shorts feed.

The short video share changes by channel group

The same three minute ceiling varies across the six groups in our registry:

• Family vlogs: 5 channels, 30 measured uploads, 23.3% at or under 3 minutes.
• Gaming: 21 channels, 1,358 measured uploads, 43.3% at or under 3 minutes.
• Kids entertainment: 13 channels, 893 measured uploads, 58% at or under 3 minutes.
• Pranks and challenges: 15 channels, 466 measured uploads, 65.5% at or under 3 minutes.
• Series and animation: 10 channels, 361 measured uploads, 59% at or under 3 minutes.
• Streamers and influencers: 16 channels, 724 measured uploads, 32.9% at or under 3 minutes.

These are duration shares, not confirmed Shorts shares. The table shows why one site wide number cannot describe every child's mix. A subscription list heavy on pranks and challenges gets a different supply from one built around family vlogs or streamers.

Channels also differ from one another

In the 90 day window, 7 registry channels had no measured upload. Among the rest, the share at or under three minutes broke down like this:

• 17 channels had no upload at or under three minutes.
• 9 channels had more than 0% but less than 25%.
• 14 channels had 25% to less than 50%.
• 15 channels had 50% to less than 75%.
• 18 channels had 75% to 100%.

Short video supply is not spread evenly. Blocking one high volume channel can change a feed more than blocking several channels that post long videos once a week.

What parents can do with this finding

Use the number as a map of the supply, not as a claim about what a child saw. Check watch history to learn the actual mix. If the format is the problem, our guide to blocking YouTube Shorts covers the browser options. A supervised account can also set the daily Shorts feed limit to zero.

Vidward removes Shorts and can set video length rules in a child's desktop browser. It does not filter the YouTube app, phones, tablets, TVs, consoles or the network. Read the full channel study for upload pace, the full length split and made for kids status.