Does Google want to sell Youtube?
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Youtube has initiated an in-depth change to its platform since 2019. In recent days, we have seen the disappearance of the red thumbs, but also the removal of hundreds of channels with “sensitive content”. Right politically oriented channels, alcohol channels, gun channels and in general and all adult content, the latter not just about porn, but everything that people wouldn’t find in a Disney park.
The boss of Youtube is Susan Wojcicki who has been an assumed leftist for years and we put her at the head of the platform to “clean up” after the debacle of the Democrats in 2016 and the success of the Trumpists on Youtube. She did so, by the end of 2016, a few weeks after the Donald was elected, thousands of channels were removed from Youtube, most of the content creator supporting Trump.
But the second reason to put Suzie at the helm of Youtube is to do a deep spring cleaning so that the platform smiles on advertisers who do not want angry things. Whenever there is content that is contrary to the American Puritan mentality, then it goes out the window. Alcohol, sexuality, but also tobacco, weapons, name calling. In recent months, even videos showing frenzied consumption of meat have been deleted. Simply because they were seen as climate skeptics. If you eat meat, you increase the size of the pasture for livestock and the pasture is decimating the forest. #NoJoke
However, the real problem with Youtube is that it just can’t make any money. Its revenue continues to grow, to around $ 18 billion, but net income has stagnated for years. This is normal, the more views the videos have, the more bandwidth and servers are required. This is why some analysts say Google is looking to sell Youtube in a few years, around 2025.
On the one hand, because Youtube is drowned in legal proceedings against rights holders, its profits stagnate because of ad blockers, but above all because large content creators hardly use Google advertising anymore, but rely on sponsored videos or partnerships. And when before a video you see “Commercial Inclusion”, know that not a single penny goes into Youtube’s pockets, because the youtuber gets along directly with the advertiser. And that’s a hell of a lot. Despite all its efforts, Youtube has never succeeded in attracting TV channels advertisers who are able to spend 115 000 dollars per minute for a prime time broadcast (example of CNN).
90% of Youtube’s content is mediocre and gutted, and the few creators who make fiction, Youtube’s Democrat Puritanism systematically censor it. Of course, he still has the personal data of Youtube users, which Google can then sell in its Googleverse. But that remains little advantage over the mountain of feces that Youtube has to contend with every year. And Google is making a lot of money with its Google Ads advertising network, but also the Play Store which brought it in 40 billion dollars in 2020. Youtube’s income is only a drop in the ocean of cash that currently fills Alphabet’s coffers.
This remains hypothetical, because the Suzie could purge Youtube of all the “bad guys”, to finally become attractive and replace television in the long term. But if Google decides to sell Youtube, then only Amazon or Disney would be able to pull out the necessary mountain of cash on the table to afford it. I don’t think Amazon is interested, because they already own Twitch which has a more or less interesting model. Twitch is making very little money at the moment, grossing $ 1.5 billion annually for $ 60 million in profit.
In its viewing model, Twitch is more like television with better interactivity. Historically a streaming cave for esports, Twitch will be streaming competitions like the NFL and series for the next several years. On the other hand, it would be more interesting for Disney to buy Youtube if Google wants to sell it one day. Because its Disney+ platform is a disaster at all levels, catastrophic ergonomics, constant decline in subscribers and an infrastructure that simply does not hold up.
If Disney gets its hands on Youtube, then it will make it its main streaming platform for its many franchises and ban all the creators of the platform. Hence the explanation of systematic purge at Youtube in recent years by Suzan Wojcicki. Which is certain, regardless of whether or not Google gets rid of Youtube one day, the days when anyone could post a video on Youtube is on the verge of extinction.
