Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Gen Z and Gen Alpha see YouTube as a top storytelling platform

2026 was the year that Hollywood fully embraced the wealth of creative talent that has been incubated on YouTube. In response to that trend, Gen Z and Gen Alpha are saying “what took you so long?”

The cohorts that make up today’s teens and twentysomethings were the test subjects for the Teens and Screens Report, a survey published by the Center for Scholars and Storytellers at UCLA. After talking to 1,500 respondents between the ages of 10 and 24, the researchers found that YouTube is the top storytelling platform for consumers in that age range.

Nearly 73% of the respondents cited YouTube as the medium that can best convey a story, even when weighed against more traditional options like movies, TV, and video games. All of those mediums were dubbed viable storytelling devices by at least two-thirds of the surveyed youths.

“The gatekeepers have changed and young people themselves are deciding what they want to watch and what they want to see more of in the content they choose,” said Yalda T. Uhls

, the Founder and CEO of the Center for Scholars and Storytellers. “Industry leaders need to ‘tune-in’ to young people themselves as well as the experts who have positive youth development and their well-being in mind.”

The success of movies like Obsession and Backrooms — as well as Sony’s recent hires of YouTube vets Fede Goldenberg and Lauren Glaubach — shows that mainstream entertainment studios are heeding Uhls’ advice. Even as Hollywood’s creator feeding frenzy continues, caution is warranted. According to the Teens and Screens Report, Gen Z and Gen Alpha love the storytellers they find on YouTube, but they don’t necessarily want to see those storytellers cast in blockbuster productions.

Only 16.8% of the respondents said they would cast an influencer in a movie or TV show. Nearly 40% said they would rather cast an unknown actor. So while U.S. teens want to see their favorite creators thrive, they’re happy to keep that talent concentrated on YouTube for now.