Nathan McAlone’s Post

Very interesting article on The Washington Post about YouTube being the healthiest economy on the internet. TLDR; YouTube is America's Underrated Tech Powerhouse! We may think of YouTube for long and short-form videos, but it's SO much more: Sharing a few key takeaways! #1 in #Video: Americans watch more YouTube on TV than any other streaming service (including Netflix!) #1 in #Music: YouTube is THE top destination for listening to music, beating out radio and services like Spotify. #EconomicPower: YouTube's creator-focused revenue model is unique among large platforms, consistently empowering content creators to earn a living. #RevolutionizingTV: YouTube TV is now a leading cable competitor. #AIGroundZero: YouTube's massive data is instrumental in training powerful AI models.

More people tune into songs on YouTube than Spotify or any other audio service. People spend more time watching YouTube on TV than any streaming service. According to the Pew Research Center, the most widely used social app among adults and teens is YouTube. If you post on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Reddit or X, you're basically making those companies’ products for free. YouTube doesn’t work that way. From each dollar that advertisers pay for commercials on many millions of YouTube videos, the person who made the video gets 55 cents. If you buy a subscription to YouTube Premium, which lets you watch videos without ads, YouTube hands over portions of your money to the video makers, in proportion to your viewing time.

This Shira Ovide article in The Washington Post makes the argument that YouTube is the most consequential technology in America. Doing my own back of napkin math, it’s easy to see why this is true at least among media and entertainment tech. YouTube is… #1 in video #1 in social media #1 app used by Teens #1 in streaming viewership on TV #1 in creator payments #1 in music consumption #1 in market value among media/entertainment companies #2 in search (behind Google) #3 in pay tv subscription (in only 7 years) As someone running a media business that publishes daily across big YouTube channels, the impact is hard to ignore. We had a channel approved for monetization recently and the revenue started flowing immediately. You can’t say that about all platforms. Good read. https://lnkd.in/e8gwVqtQ

Entertainment is the market of attention. That means all content — from social, brands and artists on streaming platforms — is technically competing. It’s more common to look at competition between similar products such as Netflix vs. Disney+ or Spotify vs. Apple Music. But entertainment is one market, “the market for attention”, and TikTok is ahead of in capturing this commodity. That’s why this is the year we’ll see TikTok take share from streaming platforms, Scott Galloway predicts. I like the concept that TikTok is the “frame through which youth perceive the world” (particularly North American youth). Consumption habits are continuing to change. That also means the type of content that needs to be produced continues to change. What does this mean for creators and brands? How will the major steaming platforms adapt? Where will brands and marketers allocate their resources? If you’re looking to reach Gen Z and Millennials but aren’t investing in TikTok content and strategies this year, there’s definitely a missed opportunity.

YouTube achieved a significant milestone, surpassing 100 million global #subscribers for its paid #music and #video tiers, including trial subscriptions. This landmark underscores the success of YouTube's subscription services, contributing to Google's $15 billion revenue from subscriptions in 2023. The platform's Premium and Music Premium tiers offer ad-free content, higher-quality streaming, background play, and #downloads, with a combined subscription base challenging competitors like Netflix and Spotify. Despite YouTube's primary revenue source being advertising, the steady growth of its premium services positions them as pivotal contributors to the platform's future success. #youtube #google # netflix #spotify #100Msubscribers Source: The Verge https://lnkd.in/de8PAUNt

YouTube is firing on all cylinders. ▶️ 100M+ Music & Premium subscribers. 📺 7M+ YouTube TV subscribers. Ad revenue alone grew +16% to $9.2B in Q4. Outpacing Netflix. 🍿 With subscriptions included, YouTube contributes ~15% to Alphabet's revenue. For more insights, check out our full review of Google's earnings. 👇 https://lnkd.in/gaiXwmw3

#TikTok may soon increase post limits to 30-minute videos. The expansion of #videolength on the app suggests that the platform is aiming to become a one-stop destination for #videocontent, clearly aiming to rival #YouTube for long-form options. In addition to making a significant impact in the #music industry, even launching a #musicstreaming service in several countries, TikTok is now looking to compete with streamers like #Netflix and #HBOMax by allowing users to upload longer videos. This move is driven by the increasing number of users who are watching full-length movies and TV shows on the app, which has already driven several brands to upload these clips themselves. Some predict this #microbinge model will drive even more brand decisions in the year to come as major streamers look to benefit from the short-form appeal.

I need to read this. Later.

This is a big deal in many ways. The egalitarian era where the bedroom producer and the billboard chart topper make the same payment per stream is ending. 80% of artists have less than 50 monthly listeners. The next 10% have fewer than 400. This will send more money to artists in the top ten percent who will meet the new minimum threshold. The elimination of streaming fraud and gaming the system with things like 32-second clips of white noise will be significant for the company and musicians on the platform.

In brief: Content creators or musicians are required to achieve a minimum number of annual streams to maintain their eligibility. Increase in the minimum duration or playtime for music tracks classified as "short," to meet specific criteria for royalties. Kicking out distributors involved in streaming frauds. #Spotify #musicstreaming #streaming