YouTube Close to Surpassing Netflix as Biggest Streaming Service

YouTube is apparently about to surpass Netflix as the biggest streaming service in the industry – in terms of revenue. YouTube already holds the title for being the biggest in terms of users, but Netflix’s earnings have kept it the leader in the revenue category… until now. A graph breaking down YouTube and Netflix’s quarterly sales numbers clearly show that YouTube’s earnings are quickly careening toward Netflix’s earnings. It looks like soon YouTube will wear the crown all around, with little hint that it will be snatched anytime soon. Given how society has changed in the last year, this isn’t all that surprising.

The COVID-19 Pandemic changed the game for YouTube, Netflix, and the entire streaming industry. As people were forced into their homes, streaming became the primary outlet for entertainment and connectivity. YouTube has become the go-to site for everything from all the new major entertainment media (trailers, etc.), to the video record of every major societal event, to the sea of personalities and programming that YouTube has housed under its roof through partnership and licensing deals.

According to Bloomberg YouTube generated around $7 billion in ad sales during the most recent quarter – which is an increase of 84% over last year, and nearly double the earnings of this time in 2019, before the pandemic. It’s estimated that YouTube’s ad sales model will finally outpace Netflix’s subscription model in the next year.

Netflix remains the biggest of the TV/Movie entertainment streaming services, as 2020 and the pandemic helped it jump in service and subscriptions. That said, Disney has done well capturing some of the markets with its Disney+ service as well as Hulu; Warner Bros. has gained much better traction with its HBO Max service; while Amazon has been quietly but steadily creeping up and building big brands through Prime Video.

Meanwhile, Netflix has reported a subscriber loss in the US Market in 2021 – the first dip in the streaming services users since before the pandemic. In order to gain new pieces of the market, Netflix has announced plans to start offering video games to users. In terms of its overall business logic for the immediate future, Netflix has stated the following.

“Our belief is that as we steadily improve our service to better please our members, this will lead to continued growth in our membership base, ARM, revenue, operating margin and profit dollars.”

How do you feel about YouTube becoming the biggest streaming service?