A lot of people think of Disney and Netflix when it comes to the “biggest” names in media, but what if I were to tell you that YouTube is poised to beat Disney as “The biggest media company in the world?”
According to Business Insider, this shift might even happen this year!
MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson predicts that YouTube will soon beat out Disney.
In 2024, YouTube was only $5.5 billion behind Disney, coming in at $54.2 billion to Disney’s $59.7 billion for the year.
They further predict that YouTube TV will soon beat out the competition to become the biggest provider in the country by 2026.
It’s also interesting to note that as far as total revenue, Disney media is ahead of Netflix, even though Netflix has more subscribers.
YouTube has been winning as far as reach
YouTube is estimated to have about 2.7 billion active monthly users. Meanwhile, Netflix comes in at 280 million viewers, and Disney’s services (Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN) come in at around 202 million combined.
Of course, Netflix and Disney get paid subscribers as well as ad support, but YouTube also has some paid subscribers and is the juggernaut in advertising as it’s owned by Google.
YouTube does this all without massive movies and shows like other streamers. It’s mostly user-generated content in exchange for ad rate sharing.
YouTube does have a good chance of winning.
Last year, YouTube beat Netflix and Disney, gaining almost 10% of the market share for streamed television content. This was for television only. It wasn’t counting YouTube on phones, computers, and other devices.
It’s gotten so big that rumors suggest Disney is considering user generated content for Disney+.
“Disney leaders discuss YouTube “every day” in strategic meetings and have considered adding user-generated content to Disney+, though it’s not on the immediate roadmap, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.”
If YouTube can keep its audience and not lose focus, it could come out on top. A word of warning, though. YouTube has recently been going after celebrities and Hollywood. This is a mistake. The reason YouTube is so big is simple. People don’t want the Hollywood celebrities and content. People want the user generated content. The every man/ woman that they feel connected to. If YouTube throws away what makes it special, it will fail.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
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