Netflix’s meteoric rise in recent quarters largely ended the streaming wars as the company ascended to unipolar dominance. That’s not to say other major streamers – especially Disney’s powerful ESPN-Hulu-Disney+ combo – can’t compete and sustain highly profitable direct-to-consumer businesses. But Netflix’s supremacy remains hard to deny. Still, it’s not just about rivalries with other “premium” streamers; Google’s YouTube offers an alternative path leveraging user-generated content and increasingly drawing viewers (and advertisers) away from Netflix and other streamers. In its annual letter released this week, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan celebrated the platform’s 20th birthday with a flex that more people watch YouTube on TV screens than any other device and claiming it will remain “the epicenter of culture” in 2025 as YouTube creators become “the startups of Hollywood.” He said people now watch 1 billion hours of YouTube daily, “but the ‘new’ television doesn’t look like the ‘old’ television. It’s interactive and includes things like Shorts (yes, people watch them on TVs), podcasts, and live streams, right alongside the sports, sitcoms and talk shows people already love.” Meanwhile, YouTube parent Alphabet’s aggressive moves into artificial intelligence are fueling new AI-driven features for creators to up their production and promo chops, which could make them increasingly competitive with Hollywood. Meanwhile, the YouTube TV virtual MVPD now claims “more than 8 million subscribers,” which puts it well ahead of other vMVPDs. Interestingly, YouTube TV worked out a short-term extension with Paramount Global this week, averting a potential blackout of its cable nets.
Next? The success of YouTube and Netflix obviously proves that streaming is now the dominant media platform. But they’re obviously not alone: this week Fox touted “the most-streamed Super Bowl in history” as its Tubi simulcast garnered a record 13.6 million average minute audience and 15.5 million peak concurrent viewers, reaching more than 24 million unique viewers across game time viewing. Meanwhile, Fox’s deal this week to buy podcast aggregator Red Seat Ventures also gives it plenty of new ways to leverage both Fox linear brands and Tubi (not to mention the news-and-sports streaming venture it plans to launch later this year). Interestingly, YouTube is now the top podcast destination, so Fox’s moves make sense as it carves out its own podcasting niche while continuing to capitalize on big events like the Super Bowl. It’s a streaming world, and we’re all living in it. And it seems there’s room for all.
