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YouTube on track to top Disney's ( DIS ) media revenue this year

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Creating videos for YouTube now a 'viable' career path,

CEO says

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YouTube showcases three times as many new tools vs last

year

By Kenrick Cai

NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) - On its 20th birthday,

YouTube is unrecognizable as the scrappy video site that began

as the domain of young amateur users publishing unpolished,

low-budget clips.

Commanding 2.7 billion users, including celebrities like

British pop star Dua Lipa who share professional-grade content,

YouTube has become the most popular way for Americans to watch

TV and is expected to eclipse industry leader Disney's ( DIS )

media revenue this year.

On Tuesday at the company's annual Made on YouTube product

launch event, executives at the platform - owned by Alphabet's

Google - laid out a vision of how YouTube planned to

dominate the airwaves in the coming decades: with AI.

YouTube spent much of the event championing its video

creators as the future of media who could now work without

constraints placed by media executives. They would be helped,

instead, by a host of artificial intelligence-enabled tools that

would either reimagine the production process or create new

content entirely - a concept that Hollywood fought against

during a months-long strike in 2023.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan and other presenters dismissed the

idea, reiterating that the rapid expansion of AI capabilities

would not replace the jobs of content creators.

"These are tools, and really just that," Mohan said. "Make

no mistake: no studio, network, tech company, or AI tool will

own the future of entertainment."

Rather, Mohan said, making videos on YouTube should be seen

as a "viable, respectable and sustainable career path" as AI

increasingly comes to the fore of the creation process over

YouTube's next 20 years.

Backed by Google's deep pockets and market-leading AI

know-how, YouTube has stretched its lead over Disney ( DIS ), which

dominated the market for most of 2024, according to Nielsen

data. YouTube captured 13.4% of U.S. viewership in July, versus

9.4% for Disney ( DIS ).

Analysts at MoffettNathanson recently predicted that

YouTube's revenue this year would surpass Disney's ( DIS ) as well. That

storied entertainment company made nearly $60 billion in media

revenue last year, they estimated.

Alphabet does not regularly report YouTube's revenue, but it

disclosed that combined YouTube ad and subscription revenue

surpassed $50 billion in the four quarters ending September

2024.

AI BOOSTS ROLL-OUT OF NEW TOOLS

YouTube on Tuesday showcased new products by tapping

personalities who have enjoyed success on its platform including

Dua Lipa, Mark Rober, Smosh and Brandon B.

For some, these content creators - each of whom runs

channels with at least 16 million subscribers - have taken the

place of late-night TV show hosts whose viewership has slumped.

In some cases, these creators have subscribers that rival

followers of Hollywood stars on social media, underscoring their

appeal to a new generation of media consumers.

On stage, Lipa credited YouTube for helping her connect more

intimately with her fans. Asked by Reuters in an email how Lipa

intended to use the AI features and if she had concerns, a

spokesperson did not immediately respond with a comment.

Mohan said YouTube had paid out more than $100 billion to

content makers over the past four years. Some video makers have

reinvested some of their earnings into building production

facilities in the style of Hollywood studio lots as they make

increasingly elaborate and professional videos.

The company tripled the number of new features it introduced

this year compared to last year's event.

Most of the more than 30 new tools that it revealed

incorporated AI to either revamp the production process or

create new content. The tools have features to automatically

embed relevant shopping links into videos or to almost

instantaneously edit a bunch of clips into the first cut of a

video. YouTube also unveiled AI-generated videos to accompany

audio-only podcasts and a speech-to-song generator.

Amjad Hanif, a vice president at YouTube who manages

creator-oriented products, told Reuters in an interview that the

pace of rapid product development could partly be attributed to

YouTube staffers themselves using AI to ideate more rapidly.