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YouTube Is Bigger Among Teens Than Netflix

Netflix may have some competition not usually talked about in the same breathe as Walt Disney, WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal and Apple when it comes to new premium streaming video services.

Think YouTube.

The Google video platform is a major attraction to teens, according to a recent report from Piper Jaffray. Its survey shows teens' daily video consumption with YouTube is at a 37% share -- up five percentage points from an earlier study.

Netflix is at a 35% share, down two points.

Both YouTube and Netflix results are much higher than the next media channel on the list, cable TV, which is at a 12% share. Hulu is next at a 7% number; Amazon Prime Video, 3%; others, 5%.

Comparisons may be an oranges-and-apple way of thinking: YouTube has a different monetization model than Netflix -- focusing heavily on advertising. Netflix is a no-ad, subscription model of premium TV series (many from those same legacy TV companies), documentaries and movies.

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In contrast, YouTube has a variety of TV-video content -- professional stuff from TV companies and user-generated video. The former gets priced at a higher level from big brand advertisers. The latter garners lower-priced ad sales.

Factor in the median age consumption of digital video platforms going forward: Legacy TV producers' content displayed on broadcast and cable networks, focusing on a wide-ranging content, has a naturally older (and bigger) audience.

In a December Nielsen survey, the media researcher said the median age of the top five broadcast TV networks is 56; set-top-box video on demand, 45; connected device, 42; and digital, 40.

If you are looking for a trend line here, concerning future YouTube and Netflix content users, look at the past.

Think about 17-year-old viewers clamoring for MTV videos/programming back in 1993. Those MTVers are now 43-year-old TV/media users/viewers.

What are they watching now?

1 comment about "YouTube Is Bigger Among Teens Than Netflix".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, October 11, 2019 at 9:53 a.m.

    Wayne, last time I looked Nielsen was reporting that the average teen--12-17----spent about 1.5 hours per day watching "linear TV" content---broadcast and cable. Sure, this is down from years ago when the daily consumption was probably double what it is now, but if cable TV's "share" of TV/video viewing ia a mere 12% ---as reported by this study---and we toss in another 3% for broadcast TV---making the total for "linear TV' 15% and Nielsen's average day consumption data is also correct--1.5 hours of "linear TV" viewed per teen per day, then putting the two sets information together, the average teen devotes 10 hours per day to TV/video. Does that sound right? If so, imagine the amount of TV/video that the heaviest teen quintile must be doing---at least 20 hour per day and maybe 25 or 30 hours? Does something sound wrong here?

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