Short-form video by the numbers
Short-form video is the fastest-growing part of social media: YouTube Shorts averages over 200 billion daily views, Meta says Instagram video time rose more than 30% in a year, and 36% of US teens say they're on at least one major platform almost constantly. StillTabs answers with 43 separate filter rules across five platforms.
The headline numbers
| Statistic | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube Shorts daily views | Over 200 billion | YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, 18 June 2025 |
| Growth in video time on Instagram | More than 30% year on year | Meta Q3 2025 earnings call, 29 October 2025 |
| Reels annual revenue run rate | Over $50 billion | Meta Q3 2025 earnings call |
| US teens on at least one of five big platforms "almost constantly" | 36% | Pew Research Center, 9 December 2025 |
| US teens online "almost constantly" | About 4 in 10 | Pew Research Center, 2025 |
| US teens using YouTube daily | About three-quarters | Pew Research Center, 2025 |
| US teens using Instagram daily | 55% | Pew Research Center, 2025 |
What these numbers mean
Short-form video is where the platforms' growth and revenue are, so it's where their design effort goes. A Reel or a Short is short enough that stopping never feels necessary, and the next one is already loaded. YouTube counts a Shorts view every time one starts or replays, which is how a single format reaches 200 billion views a day.
That's why turning short-form video off is hard to do from inside the apps: Instagram has no switch for Reels, and YouTube's Shorts limit can be dismissed by adults. See what each platform allows.
How StillTabs filters short-form video, in numbers
These come from StillTabs' own filter rules, not from user data.
| StillTabs | |
|---|---|
| Separate rules that hide, stop or redirect something | 43 across Instagram, YouTube, X, Facebook and Reddit |
| Rules on in Standard mode | 34 |
| Instagram rules | 16, including the Reels tab, Explore, suggested posts, feed autoplay and endless Reels scrolling |
| YouTube rules | 9, including the Shorts tab, Shorts shelves, endless Shorts, Shorts in search, and autoplaying previews |
| X rules | 8, including the "For you" tab, suggested accounts, trends and autoplay |
| Facebook rules | 6, including the Reels tab, suggested Reels and endless Reels scrolling |
| Changes to the filters since March 2026 | 46, as the platforms changed their pages |
| Modes | 4: Off, Standard, Strict, Blackout |
Why the rule count matters
Platforms redesign their pages constantly. A filter that isn't maintained quietly stops working, and the Reels come back. StillTabs' filters were changed 46 times between 18 March and 22 October 2026, which is what keeps them working. It also records, if you opt in to analytics, whether each filter still matches, so a platform redesign gets noticed and fixed quickly.
StillTabs is free on the App Store, for iPhone. No subscription, no in-app purchases, no account. iOS 16 or later.
Sources
- YouTube, 18 June 2025: Neal Mohan at Cannes (Shorts daily views): https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/neal-mohan-cannes-2025/
- Meta Q3 2025 earnings call transcript: https://s21.q4cdn.com/399680738/files/doc_financials/2025/q3/META-Q3-2025-Earnings-Call-Transcript.pdf
- Pew Research Center, 9 December 2025: Teens, social media and AI chatbots: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/12/09/teens-social-media-and-ai-chatbots-2025/
- StillTabs on the App Store (price, privacy label): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stilltabs-block-reels-shorts/id6761367777