- Joined
- Dec 20, 2023
To correct the latest episode of MATI: YouTube does not make money. It is an infamous loss leader for Google. Video streaming is not cheap. Google keeps YouTube around because it allows them to have a monopoly on long form user generated video content. During the 2010s the only competitors to YouTube that didn't fold were Vimeo and DailyMotion and nobody uses Vimeo and nobody has heard of DailyMotion. Vimeo is paid and DailyMotion is basically a piracy and automated news syndication website with the maximum amount of ads shoved into each square inch. Much of YouTube's decisions make sense when you realize it's about control of content, not making money.
I think that YouTube may be becoming profitable due to YouTube Music, which exists because YouTube has Content ID which is just a database of every song on the planet, along with all the metadata to go along with it. They just had to get a license from the labels (who they already have relations with) and boom they have an immediate competitor to Spotify. Just shove 2 preroll and 1 postroll ad between each song.
I think that YouTube may be becoming profitable due to YouTube Music, which exists because YouTube has Content ID which is just a database of every song on the planet, along with all the metadata to go along with it. They just had to get a license from the labels (who they already have relations with) and boom they have an immediate competitor to Spotify. Just shove 2 preroll and 1 postroll ad between each song.
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