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> YouTube wasn’t profitable for a while. Even if it is now, it is probably barely so. First search result... "YouTube generated nearly $5 billion in ad revenu

> YouTube wasn’t profitable for a while. Even if it is now, it is probably barely so. First search result... "YouTube generated nearly $5 billion in ad revenue in the last three months, Google revealed today as part of parent company Alphabet’s fourth quarter earnings report." [1] https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/3/21121207/youtube-google-alphabet-earnings-revenue-first-time-reveal-q4-2019 https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/3/21121207/youtube-google-al...

kelnos 6y ago
Sure, but how much did that $5B cost?
aliante 6y ago
That doesn't demonstrate that it turned a profit though. Video streaming is costly and they pay over 50% of that to creators. https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/4/21121370/youtube-advertising-revenue-creators-demonetization-earnings-google https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/4/21121370/youtube-advertisi...
- searchableguy 6y ago
  Maybe people should just pay for it? Oh no. How could they make us pay for the software services. Imo, this mentality needs to go. People spend $$$ in cafe, buy expensive branded clothes, transportation, hanging out with their friends, outside food, and so on. All of those are not necessary but they pay for it. They should pay for the digital services they spend most of their time on now a days. What's different?
  - aliante 6y ago
    Except, they don't. People aren't willing to pay much for non-physical goods anymore.
    - jhowell 6y ago
      > People aren't willing to pay much for non-physical goods anymore. Anecdotal
    - searchableguy 6y ago
      If there are no free services subsidized by google or other tech corp, then they will have to pay or shut up.
    - ldng 6y ago
      And guess who's fault is that ?
    - majewsky 6y ago
      /me looks at my Patreon bill Yeah, no. The problem is Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is garbage, and people don't like to pay for something that is mostly garbage.
  - mythz 6y ago
    Everyone has the option for an ad-sponsored or ad-free YouTube for a monthly fee. Which is how I've been watching YouTube, ad-free for years.
  - keith__talent 6y ago
    I pay for Youtube premium, I see no ads, it's amazing... What is your point here? You want Youtube to be like a cable television company and make money off ads and subscribers? How does this relate to YouTubes 5BN in revenue?
  - SirLotsaLocks 6y ago
    or we could all move to something decentralized like peertube. It doesn't need to all be hosted by one company.
keith__talent 6y ago
Revenue is not profit.
creato 6y ago
And what about the costs? I don't know how to find that for youtube, but here's netflix: > Netflix operating expenses for the quarter ending March 31, 2020 were $4.809B, a 18.4% increase year-over-year. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NFLX/netflix/operating-expenses https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NFLX/netflix/opera... They're obviously not comparable directly like this, but just based on internet bandwidth usage, they're probably in the same ballpark, but netflix has a far, far easier technical problem. They have a relatively small library that can probably be cached easily. Imagine the infrastructure that is behind a youtube CDN.
ummonk 6y ago
That doesn't tell us how profitable it is. It might very well be spending more on infrastructure and networking than it gets in revenue. For comparison, Netflix's cost of revenue was 3.6 billion dollars last quarter.

kelnos 6y ago

Sure, but how much did that $5B cost?

aliante 6y ago

That doesn't demonstrate that it turned a profit though. Video streaming is costly and they pay over 50% of that to creators. https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/4/21121370/youtube-advertising-revenue-creators-demonetization-earnings-google https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/4/21121370/youtube-advertisi...

searchableguy 6y ago
Maybe people should just pay for it? Oh no. How could they make us pay for the software services. Imo, this mentality needs to go. People spend $$$ in cafe, buy expensive branded clothes, transportation, hanging out with their friends, outside food, and so on. All of those are not necessary but they pay for it. They should pay for the digital services they spend most of their time on now a days. What's different?
- aliante 6y ago
  Except, they don't. People aren't willing to pay much for non-physical goods anymore.
  - jhowell 6y ago
    > People aren't willing to pay much for non-physical goods anymore. Anecdotal
  - searchableguy 6y ago
    If there are no free services subsidized by google or other tech corp, then they will have to pay or shut up.
  - ldng 6y ago
    And guess who's fault is that ?
  - majewsky 6y ago
    /me looks at my Patreon bill Yeah, no. The problem is Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is garbage, and people don't like to pay for something that is mostly garbage.
- mythz 6y ago
  Everyone has the option for an ad-sponsored or ad-free YouTube for a monthly fee. Which is how I've been watching YouTube, ad-free for years.
- keith__talent 6y ago
  I pay for Youtube premium, I see no ads, it's amazing... What is your point here? You want Youtube to be like a cable television company and make money off ads and subscribers? How does this relate to YouTubes 5BN in revenue?
- SirLotsaLocks 6y ago
  or we could all move to something decentralized like peertube. It doesn't need to all be hosted by one company.

keith__talent 6y ago

Revenue is not profit.

creato 6y ago

And what about the costs? I don't know how to find that for youtube, but here's netflix: > Netflix operating expenses for the quarter ending March 31, 2020 were $4.809B, a 18.4% increase year-over-year. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NFLX/netflix/operating-expenses https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NFLX/netflix/opera... They're obviously not comparable directly like this, but just based on internet bandwidth usage, they're probably in the same ballpark, but netflix has a far, far easier technical problem. They have a relatively small library that can probably be cached easily. Imagine the infrastructure that is behind a youtube CDN.

ummonk 6y ago

That doesn't tell us how profitable it is. It might very well be spending more on infrastructure and networking than it gets in revenue. For comparison, Netflix's cost of revenue was 3.6 billion dollars last quarter.