By The very first GTA 6 trailer has passed 300 million views on YouTube. It came out on December 5, 2023, almost three years ago, and it’s still collecting views every day as the release gets closer. For scale: the first trailer for GTA 5, released in 2011, has gathered about 136 million views in all the years since. GTA 6’s debut has more than doubled that.
Trailer 1 in numbers
| What | Details |
|---|---|
| Released | December 5, 2023 |
| Views now | Over 300 million on YouTube |
| GTA 5’s first trailer | About 136 million, all time |
| Record | The most-viewed game trailer on YouTube; it passed Avengers: Infinity War as the most-viewed trailer of any kind |
| Song | Love Is a Long Road by Tom Petty |
Why it keeps growing
Most trailers get the bulk of their views in the first week and then flatten out. Trailer 1 didn’t, for a simple reason: for a year and a half it was the only proper look at the game. Every time a date moved, a rumour spread or a new trailer came out, people went back to the first one to compare. It became the reference video for the whole project, and our Trailer 1 breakdown is still one of the most-read pages on this site for the same reason.
The record itself was set early. Within 24 hours Trailer 1 became the most-watched non-music video debut on YouTube, and later, at around 268 million views, it passed Avengers: Infinity War and became the most-viewed trailer on the platform. The climb from there to 300 million took longer, but the last few months, with the Launch Trailer and the release date close, sped it up again.
The GTA 5 comparison
The 136 million figure for GTA 5’s first trailer looks small next to this, but it’s not a fair fight. That trailer came out in 2011, when YouTube had a fraction of today’s audience and phones were a much smaller part of it. Still, the gap shows how much bigger the anticipation is this time. GTA 5 went on to become one of the best-selling games ever made, and its sequel’s first trailer is already more than twice as popular.
What it says about launch
Views aren’t sales, but they’re a decent thermometer. Pre-orders are tracking close to the all-time record, the trailer that started it all keeps growing three years later, and the game is eleven days away. As a technical artist, I find it funny to rewatch Trailer 1 now: it was made from in-engine footage almost three years before release, and it still holds up next to the Launch Trailer. That says a lot about how far along the game already was in 2023.
FAQ
How many views does GTA 6 Trailer 1 have?
Over 300 million on YouTube, almost three years after it was released on December 5, 2023.
How many views did GTA 5’s first trailer get?
About 136 million across all the years since its release in 2011.
Is GTA 6 Trailer 1 the most-viewed trailer on YouTube?
Yes. It passed Avengers: Infinity War at around 268 million views and has kept climbing since.