Neal Mohan, YouTube’s CEO, addressed in his annual letter for the year 2025 a compelling point stating that “YouTube is the new television.” He provided statistical data showing that users in the United States predominantly watch YouTube on TV, surpassing other devices in terms of viewing time.
Today, viewers consume content on YouTube for over 1 billion hours per day, spanning all types of content such as live streams, podcasts, and even the popular Shorts videos are preferred to be watched on TV.
YouTube’s direction is geared towards enhancing the TV viewing experience, such as using mobile devices as a second screen for activities related to the videos being watched, like shopping or commenting. They are also testing new features like “Watch With” that allows creators to go live simultaneously with live events like sports or concerts.
Mohan also shared information about the user base for YouTube TV, surpassing 8 million users in select countries, and YouTube Music & Premium exceeding 100 million users.
Additional highlights from Mohan’s letter include the rising popularity of podcasts on YouTube, with Americans utilizing YouTube as the most popular platform for podcasts (31%), surpassing Spotify (27%) and Apple Podcasts (15%).
YouTube creators are exploring new ways to create content, experimenting with cost-effective studio setups and daring to try out innovative approaches, demonstrating a fresh perspective aligned with the traditional Hollywood entertainment industry. YouTube is working on increasing revenue opportunities for creators through features like shopping, paid channel memberships, paid subscriptions, the Hype feature to boost video visibility, and more.
The utilization of AI to create content is also on the rise, with tools like DreamScene for background creation, Dream Track for music composition, and preparations to introduce AI-generated clip Veo 2 for YouTube.
Source: YouTube Blog
TLDR: Neal Mohan’s letter for 2025 highlights YouTube as the new TV, with users in the US predominantly watching YouTube on TV. The platform aims to improve the TV viewing experience and introduce new features while creators explore innovative content creation methods and AI tools play a growing role in content generation.
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