Twenty years ago, no one thought that a short movie from the zoo would initiate a revolution in the media world. YouTube has become an integral part of the everyday life of millions of people and one of the most important players in the entertainment industry. How did such a spectacular success occur?
When Jawed Karim published a 19-second clip entitled “Me at the zoo” on a new platform called YouTube, a new video era has begun on the Internet.
The video showing Karim visiting the Zoo in San Diego was the first material sent on YouTube – the platform created by him and Steve Chen and Chada Hurley. Three founders sold Google to the Google in 2006 for $ 1.65 billion. For almost two decades, YouTube has evolved from a simple website to share movies into a global media giant.
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Without your own content, but with viewership records. YouTube phenomenon by analysts
CNBC, citing the estimates of Moffettnathanson analysts, informs that if YouTube operated as an independent company, it would be worth up to $ 475 to $ 550 billion. In turn, according to Similarweb, YouTube is the second (right after Google) the most visited website in the world. From April, over 20 billion films have been sent to the platform, including music, shorts, podcasts and many other content.
Mikhael Nathanson from Moffettnathanson, quoted by CNBC, said: “He is a winner in a streaming race. They do not have to invest in content. It is enough that the creators' community will come to them and build a business.”
YouTube on the road to becoming the largest media company in the world
Nathanson claims that in 2025 YouTube will become the largest media company in the world in terms of revenues, ahead of Disney. According to the latest statement of Media Distributor Gauge Nielsen, YouTube takes first place in terms of total watching of television, reaching 12% share – before Disney, Fox and Netflix.
Brad Erickson, a senior analyst of internet services at the RBC Capital Markets, in an interview with CNBC agrees with Nathanson's valuation: “YouTube uses that it is part of Google's business. The company has access to contextual data about users from other services, which significantly increases the effectiveness of targeting and creating value in advertising.”
When the Google search engine loses impetus, YouTube and the cloud pull Alphabet up
YouTube remains a key pillar of Google's activity when its main earning machine – search engine – is under the pressure of the growing popularity of AI chatbots, such as chatgpt from Opeli or Claude from Anthropic. In addition, the company must face antitrust proceedings conducted by American regulatory bodies.
YouTube, next to Google Cloud, is the main driving force of the company's growth in a short and medium period, and according to Nathanson it can act as security in the event of a slowdown in the search engine. Together, they are already responsible for over 30% of the total Alphabet revenues and are the fastest growing segments of the company's business.
YouTube's growth is driven primarily by subscriptions of premium, music and YouTube TV. Nathanson estimates that YouTube Premium and Music have a total of about 107 million paying subscribers, and by the end of 2027 this number will increase to 145 million. YouTube TV is to reach about 11.5 million subscribers by the same year.
Fighting with a thicket costs. YouTube shorts are involved, but they don't earn
One of YouTube's main competitors is Tiktok, which gained popularity in the US during lockdown in 2020. In response, Google has invested in the development of YouTube Shorts – a short, vertical video format. Shorts competes with Tiktok and offers creators participation in advertising revenues.
Although shorts helped Google to keep competitive in the short films segment, Nathanson believes that this format reduces YouTube's overall revenues due to difficulties with its monetization. He assessed: “Shorts probably increase their commitment, but they do not bring real financial benefits.”
Despite the success of Tiktok, YouTube still plays a key role in the so -called creators' economy. Between 2021 and 2024, the platform paid the creators $ 70 billion – and these amounts are growing every year, according to YouTube CEO, Neal Mohan.
Alphabet under pressure. The federal sentence may cost Google YouTube
One of the main challenges for YouTube remains, like a-mother-Alphabet-will cope in a federal court.
Last week, the federal judge ruled that Google illegally maintains a monopoly on the online advertising market. It is not yet known what repair actions will be required by the Justice Department, but YouTube is one of the key assets that Google may be forced to get rid of.
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