by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer
Source: www.mediapost.com, July 2024
YouTube — which started off primarily as a “user-generated content” site, with the majority of its content coming from homegrown, at-home video content makers — has morphed into much more.
And that’s a quasi-problem for legacy media companies: Is it a friend or foe?
A modern YouTube now has premium, professional content markets — including the Hollywood Studios, figuring out how to handle the growing video app/platform.
Right now, YouTube has a commanding 9% share of streaming video usage, according to Nielsen’s “Gauge” measure. And years ago, where it was largely on mobile phones or desktop computers, increasingly it now makes appearances on big-screen TV sets.
For many viewers, that equates to being on the same level as premium TV and movie programming coming from Paramount Global, NBCUniversal, Walt Disney, and 20th Television TV shows.
Somewhat good news for advertisers is that YouTube is not priced at the high CPMs that ad inventory on TV networks go for.
YouTube has been around since 2005. But now, as the mature streaming market continues to grow, with profitability a challenge for Hollywood studio-based streaming businesses, companies are looking at other ways to bring in more casual viewers.
One report says Disney is considering adding curated, “user-generated content” — similar to what appears on YouTube — to Disney+.
But overall, studios currently do not feel the need to be in intense competition with YouTube.
Tara Walpert Levy, vice president of Americas for YouTube, in a recent interview with CNBC said that “it snuck up on people” how important YouTube was as a presence — “in people’s lives and people’s viewing experiences — not just on the phone but in the living room.”
YouTube says users watch more than one billion hours of YouTube content on TV screens each day, and more than 150 million Americans watch YouTube on connected TVs each month.
Perhaps more importantly is to look at where YouTube is going in terms of young viewers: Ninety-three percent of teenagers say they have used YouTube.
Pure professional veteran TV and film producers and directors surely are not comfortable sitting side by side with user-generated content, and must feel that it lowers the value of their TV and movie content.
No matter. Legacy TV-video based media companies need to adjust their vision for a more complete picture — especially considering recent trends for future video consumption among all audiences, both young and old.
