1x or 2x? Google CEO Sundar Pichai Reveals He Watches YouTube Videos at This Speed

If you are reading this, the chances are that you frequently use YouTube to watch videos—be it for entertainment or work. In that case, you must be likely familiar with YouTube’s playback speed feature. People have varying preferences when it comes to allocating time for leisure or work. But keeping that in mind, have you ever wondered how someone as busy as Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, manages to watch videos on the platform?

Well, we finally have an answer. Sundar Pichai, quoting popular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, also known as MKBHD, revealed that he typically uses 1X playback for the content he enjoys, but for everything else, he resorts to faster options. “Very curious to see, I normally do 1x for things I enjoy and/or need to process deeply but otherwise do go faster,” Pichai posted on X, quoting Brownlee’s poll asking users what speed they prefer.

For those uninitiated, YouTube gives you the ability to playback content at 0.25x, 0.5X, 0.75x, 1X, 1.25x, 1.5x, and even 2x speed. Depending on the content on offer, playback speeds can differ from one piece of content to another.

YouTube itself has revealed in the past that people watching content on larger screens such as TVs and gaming consoles spend the most time watching it at 1X, which is normal speed. On mobile devices, they spend the longest time watching content at 2x and 1.5x speed. This does make sense considering when you are watching on your mobile device, the chances of you being out and about, or being a hurry are more, compared to when you are relaxing and watching content on a bigger screen such as TV.