Need to replace the heating element in a clothing dryer or get a ’70s tape recorder playing again? Where are you going to turn? Yesterday’s appliance repair man is today’s YouTube video. Want to watch Al Stewart’s official music video for Year of the Cat or turn on Peppa Pig videos for the grandchildren? Again, YouTube is where you turn.
It’s been almost two decades since YouTube first appeared on the Internet. And after all this time media executives still don’t know how to grapple with it. What is clear is YouTube has been a major contributor to upending the media landscape as it has existed for the last many years.
Now comes word via American media analytics company Neilsen that in May 2024 YouTube comprised almost 10 per cent of all viewing on traditional and web-connected TV sets. According to Neilsen this is a new high. Netflix placed second, with 7.6 per cent.
Note that these are percentages of all viewing on such sets. When considering streamers only, YouTube’s portion stood at 25 per cent.
Here are some other YouTube metrics:
One billion hours of content viewed daily
150 million Americans watch YouTube at least once a month on connected TVs
2023 advertising revenue: $31.5 billion
Around 2.5 billion monthly average users (MAU)
YouTube was acquired by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion
YouTube’s estimated standalone value today is around $400 billion
Consider that last metric: a value of $400 billion. That’s more than the values of Disney and American telecom services provider Comcast combined.
Let’s note that Canadian mass media company Corus Entertainment, spun off from Shaw Communications in 1999, and with prominent holdings in radio and television, is nearing bankruptcy. As this column is written, Corus has a market valuation of just $42 million dollars. (Note: million, not billion!) A couple of weeks ago it shut down one of its Vancouver radio stations: the all-traffic AM730. Might some of its TV stations be next?
Also, consider that 2.5 billion MAU figure. This represents about half of the global internet user population. Yes, half! Only one other service has a higher figure, and that’s Meta’s Facebook.
YouTube is an international success story, with more than 100 locale-specific versions, and operating in more than 80 languages. India is by far the biggest single nation for YouTube, with around 460 million monthly average users. The United States comes a distant second with around 230 million (although this is a far bigger fraction of the population than is India’s MAU figure). It should be noted that YouTube is blocked from general use in China.
In terms of media consumption, YouTube has become the dominating elephant in the room. It is one of a number of reasons sometimes quoted by “cord-cutters” for abandoning a traditional cable TV subscription in favour of free or lower-priced streaming solutions. There is some evidence that traditional cable TV subscriptions have dropped below 50 per cent of all households in the United States; Canadian statistics are more difficult to come by.
To look at my Rogers-Shaw TV subscription is to clearly see the provider acknowledges YouTube is a typical household staple. A search for particular programming will return standard TV results, but it will also return YouTube programming. From the provider’s perspective at least the customer is still paying for a TV subscription package, and, more importantly, an Internet service subscription. Presumably the provider is hoping the customer won’t find too much programming on YouTube and drop the lucrative TV subscription.
Cable service providers and TV set manufacturers further acknowledge streaming services are here to stay by the design of their remote controls. For instance the remote that came with my Sony set has prominent buttons for YouTube, Netflix, Disney, and Prime Video. No doubt there is a financial agreement at play here, but more importantly these buttons are there because the end users want them.
YouTube also offers a premium subscriber level where payment leads to advertisements being dropped from videos. However uptake for this service is relatively low at around 80 million users, a tiny percentage of the overall YouTube user base.
So important is YouTube to the Alphabet/Google enterprise that it brings in around 10 per cent of overall revenues for the company. The $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube was considered a risky venture for Google back in 2006. Today YouTube produces around five times that purchase price in advertising revenue every quarter. Risky, yes, but what a return on the investment!
If additional YouTube statistics interest you, check out backlinko.com/youtube-users.
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