YouTube grabbed $3.5 billion in 2013 gross revenue and $1.5 billion in net revenue, according to the pay site, The Information.
And the site reports daily
viewing hours are near 300 million, which is up from the year before, but far below the target one billion viewers YouTube is said to have declared as a goal to reach by 2016.
The
Website 9to5Google.com reported that the $3.5 billion revenue figure was short of some analysts' estimates, which ranged from $5 to $5.6 billion. The Information, however, said YouTube is
solidly profitable.
YouTube did not comment on The Information report.
The stat some may be looking at more intently is the time spent watching YouTube. The growing
popularity of online video with content sites like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu means YouTube has more pressure to create--or in its case, encourage--video views.
According to The
Information, Netflix already logs more total hours of viewership, in large part because YouTube is a site filled with short videos, and Netflix deals in longer form content that is also growing more
popular with viewers.
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