Netflix's Biggest Competition Isn't Sleep -- It's YouTube (venturebeat.com)
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings loves to identify sleep as the biggest competition of its service. "Sometimes employees at Netflix think, 'Oh my god, we're competing with FX, HBO, or Amazon, but think about it. If you didn't watch Netflix last night: What did you do? There's such a broad range of things that you did to relax and unwind, hang out, and connect -- and we compete with all of that," he once said. "You get a show or a movie you're really dying to watch, and you end up staying up late at night, so we actually compete with sleep," he added. Turns out, Hastings does not need to look that far for competition.
From a report: Despite Netflix and Amazon investing billions of dollars in producing original content, they are struggling to make inroads in emerging markets. YouTube, on the other hand, is growing rapidly, becoming a daily habit for even new internet users. In India, for instance, YouTube reaches 245 million unique users each month, or 85 percent of all internet users in the country, the company told VentureBeat. About 60 percent of all YouTube traffic in India comes from outside of its six major cities. [Globally, YouTube has 1.9 billion monthly active users.]
As consumption on YouTube grows, creators are also finding loyal audiences. In India alone, YouTube now has more than 600 channels with more than 1 million subscribers, up from 20 channels in 2016. Record label T-Series, which is fighting with PewDiePie for the title of most-subscribed YouTube channel, took 10 years to get to its first 10 million subscribers. In the last two years, it has grown to 60 million subscribers. Globally, YouTube says the number of channels with more than 1 million subscribers has grown by 75 percent this year.
Globally, YouTube told VentureBeat that 75 percent of the platform's watch time occurs on a mobile device. The average watch time for a mobile user is 60 minutes per day. Or in other words, this is the time a user could have spent watching Netflix. According to eMarketer's estimates, an average user would spend about 86 minutes per day watching digital videos on streaming services this year.
From a report: Despite Netflix and Amazon investing billions of dollars in producing original content, they are struggling to make inroads in emerging markets. YouTube, on the other hand, is growing rapidly, becoming a daily habit for even new internet users. In India, for instance, YouTube reaches 245 million unique users each month, or 85 percent of all internet users in the country, the company told VentureBeat. About 60 percent of all YouTube traffic in India comes from outside of its six major cities. [Globally, YouTube has 1.9 billion monthly active users.]
As consumption on YouTube grows, creators are also finding loyal audiences. In India alone, YouTube now has more than 600 channels with more than 1 million subscribers, up from 20 channels in 2016. Record label T-Series, which is fighting with PewDiePie for the title of most-subscribed YouTube channel, took 10 years to get to its first 10 million subscribers. In the last two years, it has grown to 60 million subscribers. Globally, YouTube says the number of channels with more than 1 million subscribers has grown by 75 percent this year.
Globally, YouTube told VentureBeat that 75 percent of the platform's watch time occurs on a mobile device. The average watch time for a mobile user is 60 minutes per day. Or in other words, this is the time a user could have spent watching Netflix. According to eMarketer's estimates, an average user would spend about 86 minutes per day watching digital videos on streaming services this year.
And yet it could all crumble if youtube keep pissing off tomorrow's next pewdiepie.
heard about the youtube union?
It turns out that lazily producing Cop Drama #3485 and Medical Drama #4859 works for 5% of people, but there are others who are looking for something else.
You mean to tell me a free video website has more reach than one that requires a monthly payment? I would never have guessed that...
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Here's how my family currently uses Netflix. Our usage has definitely dropped over time.
1) Wife will "watch" a series if it's interesting, maybe BBC, after the 10pm news. She's typically asleep by 10:40 and 3/4 episodes often play while she's snoozing.
2) I watch old Star Trek series, maybe the occasional anime or new sci fi series - typically in the background while I'm working on some side project by myself late at night.
3) Young daughter will watch girl cartoons, typically for about an hour at a time per day.
4) Teen boys ignore it. They know how to pirate and don't even bother checking to see if NetFlix has a version of what they want to watch before downloading.
What aren't we doing? Sitting down to watch anything other than the occasional movie together. No one binges series after series anymore; we pretty much got that out of our systems two years ago. And we still pirate GoT and other "premium" series, particularly if the only legit version online is season-limited or injected with commercials. But 3-4 hours of the same series...in the same sitting? Ain't nobody got that kind of time...
Hard to compete with free
It sounds like someone at YouTube reached out to somebody at Venture Beat and spoonfed them some PR sound bites.
#DeleteChrome
Unlike Youtube, Netflix doesn't get paid (by advertisers) by the amount of time you watch it. A person, like me, can be happy with his Netflix service even if he watches it "just" 30 minutes a day, and even if this person spends other time watching youtube, or, god forbid, sleep.
For me to remain a happy Netflix customer, it doesn't need to swallow up more of my time or compete with Youtube. It needs to continue to show me things I *want* to see (it needs to increase the amount of content it has - especially "older" movies and series, not just new made-for-Netflix content), it needs to remain ad-free (respecting my time) and it needs to remain cheap, and needs to remain convenient (watch on my phone, watch offline, etc.).
By the way, Netflix could fairly easily steal Youtube's thunder, by allowing popular content providers (e.g., those already successful on youtube) to upload content which will be shown on Netflix, in return for $0.002 per view (I think this is about what Youtube pays the content uploaders). People will still use Youtube to listen to illegally-uploaded songs, but to watch original content, ad-free, they could go to Netflix.
People prefer free content, even if it's crap?
TV should have been a hint.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I think the main advantage of Youtube is that they do a much better job of pushing stuff you want to see. You can subscribe to channels and then they show you a list of all tne new stuff in your channels each day. You can sign up for notifications so you never miss a new video. They can recommend new channels to you based on channels you are interested in.
Netflix seems to be terrible at promoting the content on their service. Every day I go on there and see the same shows and movies being pushed for months at a time. Sometimes I'll go exploring and find that there are great movies on there that they just never tell you about, even if I've watched many similar movies.
The only way to find these movies, especially when viewing in an app is to search by title, but almost nobody searches by title because so many movies just aren't there. When I want to find stuff they aren't pushing, I go to the web interface, where you can click on the name of actor/director/writer and see all the other content that they have for that person. This feature seems to be absent from the apps, and it's kind of a shame, because there is plenty of good content on Netflix, but much of it is impossible to find.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
....I cannot resist to the call of a good book. This beats anything Netflix could offer to me.
I subscribe to a number of channels on YouTube.
But how often do I watch any of them? Maybe once a month. Certainly not every time they publish.
Just because you are subscribes does not mean you are going to watch - and because of the short form there, it's pretty easy to ignore updates for even the slightest reason.
I still do not see YouTube as competing with Netflix, because each has such different time profiles. If I want to watch videos for a few hours, I'm always going to turn to Netflix over YouTube. But if I have just some minutes free here and there I'm probably going to wander through YouTube a bit. Now I may end up watching longer but that was not intentional, so it's not like Netflix was going to get that viewing time anyway.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
but there are others who are looking for something else
And on YouTube they find... PewDiePie and a million Fail videos (basically Americas Funniest Home Videos stretching out til the end of time).
I'm pretty sure that is not what the remaining 95%, according to your statistics, seek...
You figures also do not explain why Netflix subscriber counts keep going up. Seems like maybe you have that percentage reversed.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Why don't you watch Netflix *and* Youtube in parallel? As a good consumer you should be able to master that!
PewPewDie is about 0.00001% of total views on Youtube.
Same thing for generic cop/medical dramas on Netflix (I've never watched one and watch Netflix all the time), so thanks for undermining your original point there chief.
Maybe it turns out the way the world works for most people is not how you are using it, or even how you describe it...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If you've ever been on Netflix looking for some old movie from years ago, odds are you won't find it.
It's a good bet you'd find it on YouTube for rent at $3
For instance, Animal House Netflix History:
12/01/2016: Added to Netflix
03/01/2017: Removed from Netflix
11/01/2018: Streaming Again
It has been available on Youtube since forever
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
How about "neither"? I work and study and read. Netflix/Youtube is for the dummies.
I don't respond to AC's.
Subscribe to PewDiePie on YouTube!
While the article is looking internationally, domestically in the USA the competition is Amazon Prime. Yes, I'm aware they're now branding Prime as it's own thing, but with so many people joining Prime for Amazon or Whole Foods shopping, you have many millions of customers who see the streaming service as a free bonus. If these people don't already subscribe to Netflix, it's now a harder sell, as they have lots of content available already.
I prefer learning stuff over watching yet another cop drama or soap opera
I can attend graduate-level physics lectures by top professors, with great graphics and sound
I can learn glassblowing, welding, knifemaking, machining, woodworking, and more
Currently, I'm watching card magic tutorials
Even some promotional materials are educational. By watching an ad, I learned about longwall coal mining
And then, for fun, there's dead malls and Uncle Bumblefuck (AvE)
I'd hate to think I'd have to start paying a monthly fee just to sleep.
... you've hit the bottom of the barrel. You as may as well start broadcasting "Ow! My balls" for all the effort required to reach that demographic.
Well, one thing for sure, I didn't watch Netfix, because I'm not a subscriber. I watched Cable TV. Thinking that it's a choice between Netfix and sleep with no other options is just another example of their hubris.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
Youtube and Netflix are in two different categories. On the web, I often prefer summaries, tl;drs, bullet points. This is what Youtube is: watch a thing for a few minutes, access a news site, go watch another thing for a few minutes. I have watched lots of 4 minute movies on Youtube, for example, without losing my concentration on all the other tabs/apps I have running.
Netflix is like a more detailed article. It forces you to dedicate more of your time. You often need to make time for it. Close all other browser tabs, close other running apps, grab a snack, immerse yourself... It isn't quite a book but in this age of short attention spans, it's the closest analogy.
Youtube is entering the Netflix category with TV and Films. Netflix has not yet considered entering Youtube's playing field of video shorts.
I put in my favorite commentators talking on the background as I work or play games. It's radio. I'm not watching videos on youtube for 80% of the time. Which is sad because PSA Sitch among others make some excellently edited videos with delicious memes. When I'm not doing that I'm listening to some mp3 videos. I only put on Netflix when I'm in bed or the bathroom.
Netflix is loosing all of Disney content, that's HUGE and a very good reason for parents to stop subing to NF. Disney is making its own channel and what i said was going to happen is now happening. DC made its own network 7.99 a month min,Disney will soon too, bet 10.99 a month or alot more. Cable TV was once Disney bread and butter everyone had to subscribe to cable TV higher tier server to get Disney or pay a sub like they do for HBO. Since people are leaving cable and went to Netflix well looks like disney,dc,and yes marvel is making their own too now add those to your internet bill and hmm starting to look alot like the cable TV bill isn't it. lol we ....will...never ...win
Dare Devil was canceled,Luke cage was canceled.Iron Fist was canceled by NF because Disney pulling their content cant really blame them but now i don't have a reason to subscribe to NF except for maybe a month a yr. YT is no comp to Netflix, the content is very different nuff said about that.
Jack of all trades,master of none
THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES FOR YOUR LIES NAZI FAGGOT KEN DOLL WE ARE COMING FOR YOU
Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING. Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
The other big part is keeping material available that folks want to watch.
There are so many older movies out there that I would like to see again, but none of them are ever on any of the Streaming Services.
You can rent them via physical media, but good luck finding them as a streaming title.
I seem to remember the $15 dollars a month deal for IPTV-only access to HBO (HBO Now) is available only in a few countries. In other countries, viewers must first subscribe to a traditional multichannel pay TV package including other WarnerMedia channels, typically at $40/mo or more, before being allowed to subscribe to HBO.
If you REALLY want to see the Internet economy collapse ... just wait until YouTube decides to open up an option to deliver porn. Then the entire Internet economy will become non-viable and things will collapse fast.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
YouTube's biggest advantage is that anyone on the planet can make a video and upload it for viewing. As opposed to Netflix which only carries content created by an elite 0.05% of the population.
YouTube's biggest disadvantage is also that anyone on the planet can make a video and upload it for viewing, meaning that there are a ton of crappy videos on it not worth viewing. How successful YouTube is thus depends, as you point out, on how well it's able to help viewers sort the wheat from the chaff. It's interesting that Netflix has actually moved backwards in this respect, dropping the viewer ratings for movies (probably at the behest of the majority of the 0.05% who make mediocre to bad movies, and were upset their movies weren't getting as many views).
Youtube is free. Netflix is not. Easy.
There are too many options on the Internet:
archive.org, plenty of magnet links and streaming sites with ads and basically no copyrights.
The last option is as bad to users as YouTube, because both of them show horrible ads, despite Adblock.
The second option has always been there.
The first option is legal, growing and has excellent out of copyright content than the networks, Netflix, Prime, YT or any other channel offers. And did I mention no ads, free and way better content?
I find it harder and harder to watch Youtube for the most part. A lot of stuff is trash. A lot of it is blatantly made up made material. The pressure on the creators means even credible ones are forced to produce crap because of the bone crunching schedules they commit too.
Some original, some old tv shows and movies that aren't available anywhere else, is about the limit for me.
I thought about making a youtube channel a while ago, and didn't bother. But now its pretty much expected that every single game there is even if its some open source thing in alpha has videos of it somewhere on youtube. So I decide, well, I can't really have a game and not have some kind of play through shown on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
it's true that my tv watching is divided between youtube and netflix, but they are complementary and not competition, both serve different things to watch.
and why would netflix care if i watch youtube anyway, i paid them already, no amount of youtube watching is going to change that.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.