YouTube’s creators are becoming prime-time TV. Viewers now stream more than 1 billion hours of YouTube on their physical TVs every day—surpassing the amount of time they watch on their phones. “When people turn on the TV, they’re turning on YouTube,” CEO Neal Mohan says. “Television really is YouTube.”
This trend isn’t entirely new. Nielsen started tracking YouTube TV viewership in 2017—and YouTube gained significant yardage toward its living room goal in 2023 with its $2-billion-a-year deal to stream NFL Sunday Ticket games. Mohanrefers to this as an “overnight success many years in the making.”
But now YouTube is letting creators in on the action. As of this year, YouTubers can now package their content into “seasons” and “episodes” just like traditional TV series, enabling viewers to binge-watch even more easily. Creators also have access to new AI dubbing tools for several languages, and they can embed scannable QR codes in videos to maintain interactivity even when viewers are far from their keyboards.
The strategy is working. As creators optimize for TV screens rather than laptops and smartphones, they’re moving toward high-definition content: uploads of 4K videos have risen 35% year over year. The number of creators making most of their revenue from TV screens is up 30% from 2023 to 2024, and 40 of YouTube’s top 100 channels are now primarily watched on TV.
Smaller creators benefit too: A new “hype” feature, currently available in Brazil, Taiwan, and Turkey but rolling out to more markets soon, lets viewers elevate videos from creators with fewer than 500,000 subscribers, helping emerging talent gain visibility.
YouTube, like parent company Google, is an advertising—and revenue—behemoth. In the past year, it’s brought in $50 billion in combined ad and subscription revenue. But that success is dependent on the company continuing to give audiences what they want, where they want it. YouTube has long recognized that must-see TV comes from content creators. “Creators really are the new Hollywood,” Mohan says. Now YouTube is giving its stars the tools to break through wherever viewers are watching.
Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/9127113...5-neal-mohan-tv-nfl-content-creator-streaming
This trend isn’t entirely new. Nielsen started tracking YouTube TV viewership in 2017—and YouTube gained significant yardage toward its living room goal in 2023 with its $2-billion-a-year deal to stream NFL Sunday Ticket games. Mohanrefers to this as an “overnight success many years in the making.”
But now YouTube is letting creators in on the action. As of this year, YouTubers can now package their content into “seasons” and “episodes” just like traditional TV series, enabling viewers to binge-watch even more easily. Creators also have access to new AI dubbing tools for several languages, and they can embed scannable QR codes in videos to maintain interactivity even when viewers are far from their keyboards.
The strategy is working. As creators optimize for TV screens rather than laptops and smartphones, they’re moving toward high-definition content: uploads of 4K videos have risen 35% year over year. The number of creators making most of their revenue from TV screens is up 30% from 2023 to 2024, and 40 of YouTube’s top 100 channels are now primarily watched on TV.
Smaller creators benefit too: A new “hype” feature, currently available in Brazil, Taiwan, and Turkey but rolling out to more markets soon, lets viewers elevate videos from creators with fewer than 500,000 subscribers, helping emerging talent gain visibility.
YouTube, like parent company Google, is an advertising—and revenue—behemoth. In the past year, it’s brought in $50 billion in combined ad and subscription revenue. But that success is dependent on the company continuing to give audiences what they want, where they want it. YouTube has long recognized that must-see TV comes from content creators. “Creators really are the new Hollywood,” Mohan says. Now YouTube is giving its stars the tools to break through wherever viewers are watching.
Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/9127113...5-neal-mohan-tv-nfl-content-creator-streaming
