• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 24, 2025

Many modern TV-streaming platforms might tout themselves with strong user data, traditional TV viewership ratings, and possibly engagement data.

On its 20th anniversary (April 23), YouTube goes a different route: more than 20 trillion pieces of video content have been uploaded to date.

That’s not all. In 2024, YouTube users averaged over 100 million daily comments, with those users tabbing the “heart” symbol averaging 10 million viewers per day. Also in 2024, YouTube videos on average received over 3.5 billion likes from users per day.

Perhaps putting a crimp on transparency issues, YouTube some years ago started hiding thumbs-down "dislikes."

Couple all this with major media news around its ascension to is overall share of the TV-streaming marketplace -- now at a leading 12% -- and the long-time streaming platform kept rolling along.

While music videos have been a big piece of its growing process, more recently it has been a welcome home for podcasts -- the video variety -- where users can view images and video clips.

YouTube now amasses an estimated $54.2 billion in revenue (2024) according to MoffettNathanson Research -- largely from advertising revenue. The stock research company now gives this Alphabet business an estimated stand-along value of between $475 billion to $550 billion.

Not only does it have a higher valuation than that of media companies -- Walt Disney for one, which has a value of around 150 billion-- but it continues to outdo other legacy media with its YouTube TV, a virtual pay TV provider, now with around 8.5 million subscribers -- soon to ascend to be the top pay TV provider overall.

Looking at all YouTube businesses, Michael Nathanson estimates it can capture around $30 million of the $85 billion consumer pay TV market overall.

Adding in the affect that other direct-first companies -- Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Roku has had on things -- you can see when legacy media continues to be on the backfoot.

Wondering then, how much can YouTube increase its take perhaps on the soon to start upfront TV advertising market, to begin in a few weeks?

Will new results reveal more eye-popping numbers?