Ask YouTube usage jumps 500% since December, tops 140M
YouTube says use of Ask, its AI feature that answers viewer questions about the video on screen using a custom Gemini model, grew more than 500% from December to June, reaching over 140 million people in June alone. The figures come from remarks by a YouTube product VP at the company’s Made on YouTube 2026 event on Sept. 23, per PPC Land. YouTube did not disclose the December baseline, define what counts as a “user,” or explain its measurement method; a separate text-search version of Ask, limited to signed-in U.S. desktop viewers 13 and older, launched July 6.
Why it matters: It is the first hard adoption number for a video-native AI answer surface, at a scale that rivals standalone AI search products, though YouTube disclosed neither the December baseline nor how it defines a user.
Via PPC Land ↗
Posted to the wire September 27, 2026. Edited by Joe Balewski.