Netflix revenues to overtake YouTube while Barb announce landmark YouTube measurement
Underlining YouTube’s own declaration that “YouTube is the new television,” UK TV measurement body Barb is to become the world’s first to report YouTube viewing on TV set.
Meanwhile fresh data from Omdia finds that for the first time Netflix will overtake YouTube in total video revenue this year. However, Maria Rua Aguete, Senior Research Director at Omdia stressed, “I see more collaboration than competition between YouTube, Netflix, and other industry players.”
Netflix pulls ahead of YouTube in revenue
Netflix is forecast to hit $46.2 billion in revenues this year, driven by $43.2 billion from subscriptions and $3.2 billion from advertising, as it pulls ahead of YouTube for the first time, according to Omdia. YouTube is expected to generate $45.6bn this year, with $36bn from ads and $9.6bn from YouTube Premium, the research analyst said.
“In markets like the US and UK, there is significant overlap between audiences,” said Aguete, who presented the figures first at MIP TV London. “In the US, 57% of YouTube users are also Netflix subscribers, while in the UK, that number rises to 67%. This dynamic presents opportunities for both platforms.”
While often positioned as rivals, YouTube and Netflix are increasingly collaborating rather than competing. “I see more collaboration than competition between YouTube, Netflix, and other industry players,” she stated. “Streaming services, broadcasters, and platforms are working together through marketing partnerships, content distribution, and advertising deals.”
An example is Netflix's use of YouTubers to promote Squid Game, leveraging influencer-driven marketing to attract new subscribers. Meanwhile, YouTube is solidifying its role as a premium content platform, outperforming FAST services.
“At the end of 2024, YouTube generated seven times more revenue than FAST platforms, $42.5bn versus $6bn,” Rua Aguete explained. “Major studios are taking notice. Warner Bros., for example, recently released 37 full-length movies for free on YouTube. We expect to see more partnerships like this in the future.”
Looking ahead, YouTube is making a strong push toward TV-like content. “Large players can turn this to their advantage by entering favorable ad-share agreements or even selling some sponsorship and video inventory directly,” Rua Aguete noted.
She also highlighted the growing role of YouTubers in cinema recovery, with influencer-driven promotions becoming an integral part of movie marketing strategies.
Another major shift is YouTube’s increasing consumption on Connected TVs. “Viewers are watching YouTube on the big screen more than ever before,” Rua Aguete said. “This changes the advertising game, making YouTube an even bigger player in premium video.”
Barb goes deeper into YouTube
Following a successful test with research partner Kantar Media, Barb is to start measuring TV viewing across 200 top YouTube channels with reports beginning in Q3.
While Barb already reports YouTube viewers on TV sets generally, the company claims it will dig deeper to become the first joint-industry committee in the world to incorporate viewing of specific YouTube channels. The channels will be selected based on volume of viewing and categorized by the type of content creator.
It prompted media industry opinion-former Evan Shapiro to call Barb “the most comprehensive measurement of a television media ecosystem in any of the territories that I cover,” at MIP TV London this week.
Barb has previously reported that TV sets account for the largest proportion of in-home, Wi-Fi-based YouTube viewing in the UK. In 2024, TV-set viewing accounted for 41% of all this YouTube viewing among all people aged 4+, ahead of smartphones at 31%. This was the first year in which Barb data showed that TV sets were the most-used device for viewing YouTube. TV sets were also the most popular device for children aged 4-15, accounting for just over half of their in-home, WiFi-based YouTube viewing last year.
Similar trends have been identified by YouTube in the U.S where TV sets are the most frequently used device for watching YouTube. “YouTube viewing on the TV set increased by 31% in the UK in 2024,” said Lucy Bristowe, CEO UK and Western Europe at Kantar Media, which made a successful pilot for Barb last November.
UK broadcasters including Channel 4 and ITV already distribute hundreds of hours of their programming on the platform. Barb think there is greater potential for broadcasters to use YouTube viewership data to inform the commissioning process.
Shapiro noted that 58% of the U.K. population is over 40; as such, “Boomers and Gen Xers disproportionately weigh the data for the total audience—long live public-service broadcasting and free TV.”
Shapiro noted that across all screens in the UK, the BBC still leads in terms of total audience at 24 percent, “but with all audiences, YouTube is now the second place channel, and Netflix is dependably in the top four, with ITV in between. When you look at TV only, broadcasters do appreciably better, but Netflix and YouTube are in the top."
Barb CEO Justin Sampson, said, “In recent years we have gone beyond broadcasters and beyond linear to deliver a fundamental step-change in our industry’s understanding of how people watch programmes and ads. “We’re now starting to deliver on a commitment to report more of the content people watch on YouTube. This commitment came off the back of an industry consultation which established a buy-side consensus on the need for transparent reporting of content with contextual indicators of quality.”
Netflix signed up to Barb in 2022 and is part of the measurement service’s daily reporting which includes aggregate-level viewing to SVOD/AVOD platforms, as well as content ratings for shows on the leading SVOD services.
How Barb works with YouTube
Since 2021, Barb has reported how people watch content on YouTube that’s distributed by TV companies, as well as service-level audiences for YouTube. This reporting was limited to viewing that takes place on a TV set at home through a Wi-Fi router.
Now Kantar Media will use audio-matching automatic content recognition (ACR) to identify when these channels are watched by Barb panel members on TV sets. Audio-matching ACR relies on access to the audio output of devices, which is only possible on TV sets.
This technique is harnessed with URL detection via the router meters installed in Barb panel homes to confirm YouTube as the source. Audio-matching ACR is the same method Kantar Media uses to identify programme viewing on linear channels and VOD streamers.
Barb says it is exploring how to ensure its list of YouTube channels is complementary to the YouTube channels measured on non-TV devices by Ipsos iris, the service for UK online audience measurement body UKOM. This would give advertisers and media companies a holistic view across all devices.
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