As seen through YouTube analytics the trend in the food vertical has become increasingly popular. More specifically, views on videos related to comfort foods, desserts, and other make-at-home treats are reaching new heights. Furthermore, this has been a global trend due to the pandemic because more people around the world have been spending more time in their homes. Videos that have “cook with me” in the title have globally had an increase in average daily views by over 100% since March 15th. Similarly, videos that relate to baking have also increased recently. For example, in the UK in particular baking, related videos have more than tripled since March 21st compared to the rest of the year. Thus, overall there has been a global shift in people consuming more content related to cooking. 

Millennials are the main target market for consuming food-related content. According to Google, nearly half of all adults watch food videos on YouTube, millennials (ages 18 to 34) view the most food content, watching 30% more food content on YouTube, on average than other demographics. Furthermore, these millennials are loyal viewers as there has been a 280% growth in food channel subscriptions over the past year. Below Google provides a detailed breakdown of the millennial demographic and the types of food content they consume on YouTube. 

Baking bread quickly became popular during the quarantine in recent months, and sourdough especially was a popular recipe.

As shown through the graph, dessert related views really began skyrocketing in March as the lockdown began in the United States. Desserts in particular have become increasingly popular as they can be seen as comfort food for many people in these uncertain times of a global pandemic.

Increase in the percentage of views on videos relating to cooking/baking

• 330% increase in average daily views of banana bread recipe videos 

• 200% increase in average daily views of bubble tea recipe videos 

• 120% increase in French Fry video recipes 

Increase in overall views on videos relating to cooking/baking

• Pizza recipe videos earned 700M views since March 15

• Videos titled quarantine have earned over 400k views globally