2025 has been the year where YouTube has definitively become the dominant force in television. Not just streaming—television broadly. The platform now commands more viewing time than any traditional network or streaming competitor.
Source: Nielsen
The shift has been building for years, but 2025 marked the tipping point. YouTube’s share of TV screen time now exceeds Netflix, Disney+, and traditional broadcast combined in key demographics.
YouTube’s victory comes from structural advantages: infinite content library, creator economics that attract talent, algorithmic personalization, and the network effects of a platform where everyone already has an account.
Traditional TV and streaming services compete for licensed content. YouTube competes on a different dimension—unlimited supply from millions of creators, personalized to individual viewers.
Industry Implications
For media companies, YouTube’s dominance forces strategic reckoning. Compete directly (costly and probably futile)? Partner (cede control)? Focus on niches YouTube serves poorly? The platform economics favor YouTube in most scenarios.
For advertisers, the shift is already reflected in budgets. TV ad spending continues migrating to digital—and increasingly, to YouTube specifically.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
