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Are there really no popular alternatives to Youtube to keep them honest? It is the virtual monopoly that allows them to be complacent enough to enforce such lou

by xkgt 6y ago

Are there really no popular alternatives to Youtube to keep them honest? It is the virtual monopoly that allows them to be complacent enough to enforce such lousy automation. This is not healthy.

stevehawk 6y ago
it's a loss leader, no one is going to try to compete with it.
- lordfoom 6y ago
  This is a myth it seems to me. As far as I can tell, YouTube makes money. I'd be interested in sources that show otherwise, but not speculative sources.
  - systemvoltage 6y ago
    How can you just tell it’s making money? Can you elaborate please?
    - flocial 6y ago
      It generated $15 billion last year not including 20 million Premium subscribers. 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...
      - AndrewUnmuted 6y ago
        This is the first time Google has released this information. It’s also likely this is the first year that YouTube was profitable.
      - jasode 6y ago
        >It generated $15 billion last year not including 20 million Premium subscribers. To clarify, that $15 billion is revenue and not net income/profit. Since Alphabet Inc didn't reveal the internal costs for Youtube, it means we still don't know if Youtube is losing money, or breaking even, or making a profit. So the gp's question of "how do we know it's making money?" is still unanswered. Another example to help differentiate revenue vs profit: Tesla "generated" $24 billion in revenue last year but it didn't "make money" because they still lost $862 million.[1] No profits. It doesn't help that the journalist of your The Verge article further confuses readers by incorrectly using the phrase "bottom line" instead of the "top line".[2] Revenue is actually the "top line". Net income/profit is the "bottom line": >, that the company has revealed how much money YouTube-hosted ads contribute to the search giant’s _bottom line_. On an annual basis, Google says YouTube generated $15 billion last year and contributed roughly 10 percent to all Google revenue. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=tesla+revenue+2019+loss https://www.google.com/search?q=tesla+revenue+2019+loss [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_statement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_statement
  - ZWoz 6y ago
    Video needs huge amount of storage and network capacity. Google is one few players, who don't need pay for their Internet, they change most of traffic by mutual settlement free peering. If you go with making your own youtube, then you are seriosly disadvantaged by that. Secondly, they can buy their disks directly from manufacturer, probably using bidding. So, even their storage costs are much lower, than you can hope.
emerged 6y ago
muh private company. free speech is only a law not an abstract ideal. totalitarian socialism matters.
missedthecue 6y ago
For a podcast? There's plenty. I mean you could just host it on a simple WordPress site if nothing else.
chongli 6y ago
Twitch is the only thing I can think of that resembles a viable competitor to YouTube. Of late I tend to find myself watching a lot more live streams on Twitch than prerecorded videos on YouTube. Of course it’s not for everyone. Some of the best YouTube channels are well produced and edited. You don’t get that with a live stream.
nix23 6y ago
Well its not popular, but a decentralized alternative exists: https://joinpeertube.org/ https://joinpeertube.org/
Wildgoose 6y ago
I know of https://www.bitchute.com/ https://www.bitchute.com/ - but you are right, we need more alternatives in order to keep them honest.
lumberingjack 6y ago
YouTube so big that every time they decide to upgrade facilities and buy new space they drive the prices of hard drives up for about a year quite substantially.

by xkgt 6y ago

Are there really no popular alternatives to Youtube to keep them honest? It is the virtual monopoly that allows them to be complacent enough to enforce such lousy automation. This is not healthy.

stevehawk 6y ago

it's a loss leader, no one is going to try to compete with it.

lordfoom 6y ago
This is a myth it seems to me. As far as I can tell, YouTube makes money. I'd be interested in sources that show otherwise, but not speculative sources.
- systemvoltage 6y ago
  How can you just tell it’s making money? Can you elaborate please?
  - flocial 6y ago
    It generated $15 billion last year not including 20 million Premium subscribers. 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...
    - AndrewUnmuted 6y ago
      This is the first time Google has released this information. It’s also likely this is the first year that YouTube was profitable.
    - jasode 6y ago
      >It generated $15 billion last year not including 20 million Premium subscribers. To clarify, that $15 billion is revenue and not net income/profit. Since Alphabet Inc didn't reveal the internal costs for Youtube, it means we still don't know if Youtube is losing money, or breaking even, or making a profit. So the gp's question of "how do we know it's making money?" is still unanswered. Another example to help differentiate revenue vs profit: Tesla "generated" $24 billion in revenue last year but it didn't "make money" because they still lost $862 million.[1] No profits. It doesn't help that the journalist of your The Verge article further confuses readers by incorrectly using the phrase "bottom line" instead of the "top line".[2] Revenue is actually the "top line". Net income/profit is the "bottom line": >, that the company has revealed how much money YouTube-hosted ads contribute to the search giant’s _bottom line_. On an annual basis, Google says YouTube generated $15 billion last year and contributed roughly 10 percent to all Google revenue. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=tesla+revenue+2019+loss https://www.google.com/search?q=tesla+revenue+2019+loss [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_statement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_statement
- ZWoz 6y ago
  Video needs huge amount of storage and network capacity. Google is one few players, who don't need pay for their Internet, they change most of traffic by mutual settlement free peering. If you go with making your own youtube, then you are seriosly disadvantaged by that. Secondly, they can buy their disks directly from manufacturer, probably using bidding. So, even their storage costs are much lower, than you can hope.

emerged 6y ago

muh private company. free speech is only a law not an abstract ideal. totalitarian socialism matters.

missedthecue 6y ago

For a podcast? There's plenty. I mean you could just host it on a simple WordPress site if nothing else.

chongli 6y ago

Twitch is the only thing I can think of that resembles a viable competitor to YouTube. Of late I tend to find myself watching a lot more live streams on Twitch than prerecorded videos on YouTube. Of course it’s not for everyone. Some of the best YouTube channels are well produced and edited. You don’t get that with a live stream.

nix23 6y ago

Well its not popular, but a decentralized alternative exists: https://joinpeertube.org/ https://joinpeertube.org/

Wildgoose 6y ago

I know of https://www.bitchute.com/ https://www.bitchute.com/ - but you are right, we need more alternatives in order to keep them honest.

lumberingjack 6y ago

YouTube so big that every time they decide to upgrade facilities and buy new space they drive the prices of hard drives up for about a year quite substantially.