"YouTube offers, among other things, user-generated content that is usually free. It has hundreds of millions of people and companies creating content. It is like Joe Rogan on steroids. Any of the creators may have a breakout show. And, YouTube sells ads against this content. This revenue keeps the creators coming, and coming. The supply of this content moves toward infinity."
"YouTube regularly leads the sector in total television viewing time in the U.S. Nielsen's Media Distributor Gauge data from early 2025 to early 2026 demonstrates this. YouTube accounted for approximately 13% of all TV viewing time in recent months, typically ranking as the leading media distributor overall. Netflix was behind at 9%. Netflix may have one advantage. It has an audience that is usually captive for an hour or two. It is unclear whether people watch creator-based shows for that long-even when they are long."
Netflix's stock weakness has drawn attention to its attempted acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery assets, but the more fundamental pressure comes from YouTube's dominant position. YouTube combines vast free, user-generated content with ad monetization that sustains an expanding creator base and nearly limitless content supply. Nielsen data from early 2025–early 2026 shows YouTube capturing roughly 13% of U.S. TV viewing time versus Netflix's 9%. YouTube reaches over 2.7 billion monthly users globally while Netflix reports about 325 million paid subscribers. YouTube generated over $60 billion in revenue last year compared with Netflix's just above $45 billion, and content costs are lower for user-generated formats.
Read at 24/7 Wall St.
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