Is YouTube making Hollywood irrelevant?

I just lately noticed a statistic that stunned me: in February of 2025, People used their tv units to look at YouTube greater than the rest. Greater than Disney. Greater than HBO. Much more than Netflix.

I typically consider YouTube as a service for younger folks – particularly, young people using their phones. However that is all altering. A recent report by analysis agency Moffett Nathanson tasks that by the tip of this yr, YouTube’s income will eclipse that of the complete Walt Disney Firm (films, theme parks and all). That report put it bluntly, dubbing YouTube the “king of all media”.

However what does it imply for the remainder of the leisure trade when YouTube is extra common than the rest and YouTube stars appear simply as likely to receive big Hollywood deals as A-list actors?

I spoke about all of this with Lucas Shaw, a reporter and editor for Bloomberg and the writer of the Screentime e-newsletter. It was a enjoyable dialog – you possibly can watch or learn extra of it right here:

Beneath are excerpts from our dialog, which have been edited for size and readability:

Katty Kay: Lucas, individuals who turned well-known on YouTube – Mr. Beast, Cocomelon, and many others – at the moment are getting their very own exhibits on streaming platforms. Is that the path that we will see this going, the place more and more YouTube turns into the incubator for exhibits that then go onto streaming?

Lucas Shaw: Hollywood studios and TV networks have tried to make programming with social media expertise – particularly YouTube stars – for not less than a decade now. Lilly Singh was a giant YouTuber who acquired a late-night speak present; it did not fairly work. Grace Helbig was a giant YouTuber who acquired a chat present. There have been some films that solid expertise. We’re now seeing a second or third try at it.

I believe a part of the reason being that these stars have gotten so huge that there’s now better confidence that they will ship. And a part of it’s that Hollywood firms have discovered that they can not drive a few of this expertise into their codecs. They need to form of empower them to proceed doing what they’re doing. So, the Mr. Beast present for Amazon is rather like a maximal model of what he does on his YouTube channel. And with Cocomelon, they’re mainly licensing YouTube movies after which paying them to make barely longer and costlier variations of it. We’ll proceed to see extra of that. 

KK: So, there is a distinction in what it takes to achieve success on YouTube in comparison with what it takes to achieve success on conventional tv and streaming platforms?

LS: Yeah, I believe so. I believe what folks need on YouTube is completely different from what they need from Netflix, not less than for now. Individuals come to love a creator for doing a particular factor.

There was a cut-off date at which this Swedish gaming creator PewDiePie was the largest YouTube star on the earth and YouTube funded an authentic program with him as a part of this authentic programming initiative that that they had. And it did not resonate in the identical approach that his channel did, as a result of it wasn’t what folks got here to look at. Individuals favored watching him communicate off the cuff whereas taking part in video games. There was an intimacy to that, however there was additionally a rawness and it felt form of much less sanitized and manicured. And so, then seeing him being a star of a extra conventional TV present, although it is already on YouTube, I simply do not assume it appealed to these folks in the identical approach.

KK: Lucas, you simply got here again from a visit round Asia. Is there no international competitor – and even an American competitor – who seems like it should knock YouTube off its perch of such big dominance? 

LS: There was positively a second the place TikTok gave the impression to be that – and YouTube was intimidated as a result of quite a lot of rising and impartial creators had been posting to TikTok first. One among YouTube’s nice strengths traditionally was that it lowered the barrier to entry for anybody who needed to make a video. And that barrier began to really feel greater to some, as a result of YouTube had gotten so huge and there have been established gamers. So, going from zero to 100 acquired a lot more durable they usually noticed creators going to TikTok as a substitute. TikTok continues to be a giant competitor, however there simply is not something that operates in as many alternative classes as YouTube. Spotify is competing with YouTube in music and in podcasting and in some video.

Netflix clearly competes with YouTube globally; I might say it is one of many greatest rivals by way of leisure. However YouTube and Netflix simply play completely different roles, as a result of YouTube is free. For example, YouTube has tons of of hundreds of thousands of customers in India. Netflix has about 15 million. It is simply a lot simpler for YouTube to penetrate a few of these poorer markets. Now, there’s not as a lot cash there, however from a simply “attain as many individuals as attainable” standpoint, there actually is not a direct comparability. Possibly Instagram.

KK: I had a dialog just lately with Jonathan Haidt and we had been speaking about children and display screen time and it occurred to me that so lots of the social media firms – TikTok, Instagram, and others – have been hauled up earlier than Congress to justify what they’re doing. And YouTube appears to have escaped a few of that scrutiny. How has it accomplished that and do you assume it’s going to keep it up doing that?

LS: I believe it comes again to this concept that individuals do not know the way to categorize YouTube. It’s in some methods a social community, proper? And I believe some folks initially noticed it that approach as a result of it got here from Silicon Valley, as a result of there have been feedback, as a result of folks had been importing their very own movies. However it is usually an leisure platform. But in addition, at its core – as a result of it is a part of Google – it is a search engine. That is in quite a lot of methods how Google views it. It is a video search engine. And so, I believe the problem of categorizing it has simply made it so that individuals aren’t fairly positive the way to method it. 

However you are proper that they have not obtained the identical scrutiny from a regulatory perspective, actually not as a lot as Meta or TikTok, and it is a little bit bit baffling. , talking from an American perspective, it’s so humorous to me that the federal government wouldn’t enable one firm to personal two home broadcast tv networks, nevertheless it’s tremendous that Meta owns each Fb and Instagram, each of which attain far more folks than any broadcast community. Or it is tremendous that Alphabet owns each Google and YouTube, each of which attain far more folks than any broadcast TV community. So, I believe a part of that is additionally that our regulatory habits is fairly antiquated.

KK: What are the massive modifications that you simply see coming to the platform within the subsequent yr or two? 

LS: I might say, in combination, the massive change is that as extra promoting {dollars} movement to YouTube creators and channels may have more cash to spend money on their programming. There is a fairly extensively held perception that you’re going to proceed to see the caliber and price of a few of the prime YouTube exhibits go up and extra carefully resemble tv. You may even see some costlier unscripted exhibits. Mr. Beast is one instance, proper? The common value of certainly one of his movies is three or 4 million {dollars}, which is similar to what you’d see on tv, however not similar to virtually the rest you’d see on YouTube.

One other huge space that I am really in the midst of writing a narrative about now’s the expansion of scripted programming. It is nonetheless fairly small on YouTube, partially as a result of it’s extra sophisticated and costlier. I believe one other a part of it’s that YouTube as a platform is simply extra hospitable to unscripted programming. However because it turns into attainable to make more cash on YouTube and because it turns into clearer to prime writers and actors that there is a a lot larger viewers on YouTube than a few of these different locations, I believe you will see increasingly folks attempt scripted.

KK: Is YouTube the straw that broke the camel’s again of monoculture? I grew up in an period the place there have been nonetheless just some channels on tv. Everyone watched the identical factor. However now, evidently it’s actually damaged. And I ponder whether folks will begin hankering for that once more, for a typical expertise on this very fragmented, polarized, divided world that we reside in.

LS: I do not know the reply to that. I believe we like the thought of there being a monoculture, proper? It is enjoyable when you will have a second like when Barbie got here out and it appeared like everybody was speaking concerning the film or the Taylor Swift tour occurs and everyone seems to be speaking about this tour. We’re social creatures, and so we get pleasure from these moments the place everyone seems to be bonded by the identical thought or involved in the identical subject. Nevertheless it actually does not really feel like we’re on the precipice of returning to that in any approach.

If you concentrate on how Netflix and YouTube work, that are the 2 dominant leisure platforms proper now, they’re tailor-made to your particular person tastes. Individuals do not watch exhibits and movies on the identical time. There are issues that go viral, however that virality is pretty short-lived. 

I suppose Adolescence in some methods seems like a monoculture second, proper? Everyone seems to be watching and speaking about this present. However not like up to now, when that may final for the ten or 20 or 30 weeks that it is on, it lasts for per week or two. After which, we’re on to the subsequent one. That sample seems like it can solely proceed and speed up. I do not see us reverting to some world through which we’re all watching the identical factor, except there is a elementary shift within the distribution mechanism. 

KK: Yeah, it has been described to me as a second the place we’re residing in a “me tradition” with brief consideration spans.

LS: Yeah, as a result of it is all about YouTube, Instagram, Netflix. Every little thing seems like they’re serving you particularly, versus serving all of us collectively.