YouTube recorded advertising revenue for the first time in history above the level of USD 40 billion. This is an increase of as much as 10%. compared to the previous yearand when we compare it with the results from two years ago – we are talking about an increase of over 30%.
This is a result that is also impressive in another respect – for the first time in history, YouTube has overtaken the combined advertising revenues of Disney, NBC, Paramount and Warner Bros. in this category. The four entities combined generated USD 37.8 billion. and although in recent years they had an advantage over YouTube, the Google platform surpassed their performance by changing its strategy.
This is largely a spectacular result the effect of two changeswhich paradoxically was not received very well by users. The first is to increase the use of artificial intelligence on the platform – AI automatically translates the titles and content of materials, and creators also use this tool en masse to produce much more films.
According to various estimates, as many as 20 million clips are currently published every day. In 2024 it was 10 times less. Although they are usually of much lower quality, they are very popular, especially among vertical content recipients. In 2025, YouTube Shorts generated approximately 200 billion views every day, while last year it was “only” 70 billion.
The significantly larger volume of materials and views that can display ads is, of course, one factor. The second, but equally important, is Google's declaration of war on ad-blocking software. The so-called adblocks, i.e. popular browser plug-ins that prevented advertising scripts from running, have been almost entirely kicked out of the Google ecosystem.
We will no longer install any of the most popular solutions over the years in the Google Chrome browser, and although it is still possible in theory, it requires knowledge and skills that the average user does not have. Therefore, he has to come to terms with a larger number of displayed ads, from which YouTube simply makes money.
Among the less important but noticeable factors influencing the growing advertising revenues on YouTube, it is worth mentioning the ongoing generational changes and the spread of viewing Internet content not only on computers and smartphones, but also on TV sets. YouTube is clearly taking over TV time from other traditional broadcasters it is visible throughout the world and will only continue.
It is also worth remembering that YouTube also adds profits from YouTube Premium subscriptions to its advertising revenues. It already has over 125 million active subscribers, and a large part of them – paying for the cheapest Lite package, recently also available in Poland – is also forced to watch advertisements before and during the broadcast of the materials.
