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Radically different sorts of business. Youtube's income comes from engagement, and it's value comes from its network effects. Youtube doesn't own any of the con
by jjk166 6mo ago
Radically different sorts of business. Youtube's income comes from engagement, and it's value comes from its network effects. Youtube doesn't own any of the content on its platform, and you could replace every video on Youtube and it wouldn't matter so long as it remains the place people post videos. Youtube's survival is about gaining and keeping eyeballs, its competitors are other sites that people may spend their time on. The social media features - the comments, the likes - may not matter to you or most anyone else, but Youtube is thoroughly a social media business. Indeed for Youtube most content is an ongoing cost - they must pay to store billions of videos most people will never watch, and certainly which won't generate ad revenue to cover their hosting expenses, so that they can host the thing which actually does pull a sizeable audience, most of which is ephemeral.
Disney on the other hand is an IP curation firm. Sure they make money on movie tickets and subscriptions and merchandise, but they create value by creating and maintaining a litany of characters, stories, and settings which are priced based on the idea they can be milked essentially forever. Disney could pump out flop after flop after flop, but so long as those flops keep Disney owned characters alive in the zeitgeist, it's a financial win. Obviously Disney needs revenue, but it's valuation is only loosely related to its current revenue.
- lotsofpulp 6mo ago>Youtube doesn't own any of the content on its platform What additional benefits would ownership grand Youtube? It seems like they have everything worth having (under “License to Youtube, Duration of License, and Right to Monetize”). https://www.youtube.com/static?gl=US&template=terms https://www.youtube.com/static?gl=US&template=terms
- jjk166 6mo agoI'm not saying Youtube ought to own it, I'm just contrasting youtube and disney's business models. Youtube doesn't have any equivalent to Mickey Mouse. Mr. Beast may generate tremendous ad revenue for Youtube, but Youtube can't sell Mr. Beast. Youtube is a machine made of steel that you need to operate to generate profit; it is valuable only for what it does. Disney is a machine made of gold that you can operate to generate profit, but which you could also sell for parts to make immense and instant sums of cash; and critically the operation of this golden machine adds more gold to itself, it is valuable for what it is.