YouTube has paid a whopping $70 billion to video publishers on its service in the last three years, reflecting how it has become a major piggy bank for both creators and media companies that reach a big enough audience.
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan announced the milestone on Tuesday in a letter to his service’s video community that also laid out YouTube’s priorities for this year. In it, he talked about a focus on artificial intelligence to make it easier to create videos, increasingly professional-quality videos, and a growing emphasis on subscriptions for consumers to watch videos ad-free while still paying dividends to content owners.
The letter comes after a strong fiscal 2023 for parent Alphabet, driven partly by YouTube’s quickly expanding ads and subscriptions businesses. The video giant, which generated over $9 billion for Alphabet last year, has become a huge source of potential growth for its parent as consumers increasingly shift their entertainment time from cable TV to streaming—in many cases on big-screen TVs in their living rooms.
“They’re watching YouTube the way we used to sit down together for traditional TV shows,” Mohan said.
In a sign of its status among creators, Mohan said, YouTube now has over 3 million channels enrolled in its ad and subscription revenue sharing program (YPP). Those channels—mostly individuals and small outfits that he described as “next-generation studios”—get a cut of any revenue their videos generate.
The creator world has become so big that Mohan, in his letter, suggested that YouTube may lobby for creators in Washington over unspecified legislation. He wrote the company will “help policymakers and partners across the industry see the economic and entertainment value that creators bring to the table.”
In terms of subscriptions, Mohan wrote of their importance to YouTube and that it will push for more in 2024. Last year, they generated $15 billion, driven by YouTube’s premium TV, music, and NFL Sunday Ticket offerings. Mohan also revealed that YouTube TV (a cable replacement) has 8 million subscribers while Music has 100 million (including trial members). The big subscription numbers show how YouTube is continuing to encroach on territory dominated by paid streamers like Netflix and Spotify Premium, particularly the latter as the music platform has 226 million paid subscribers globally (while Netflix has around 260 million).
The real venue for YouTube to compete with the likes of Netflix and Spotify is the living room. Helped by YouTube TV, NFL Sunday Ticket, and other big screen-ready content, Mohan said users average more than 1 billion hours of YouTube content on their TVs daily as opposed to watching it on their laptops or smartphones. This comes as YouTube simultaneously takes on TikTok for dominance in short, snackable video clips, especially with YouTube’s introduction of TikTok competitor Shorts.
While living room-ready content may ring alarm bells for creators—most of whom do not have the means or training to make big-picture-perfect content—Mohan hopes YouTube’s AI with “appropriate protections” will quell their fears. These AI tools include Dream Screen, which creates a professional or realistic-looking background, and Music AI Incubator, which helps with audio. “Everyone should have access to AI tools that will push the boundaries of creative expression,” he said.