Netflix, YouTube
Netflix today largely scoffed at the prospect of joining a streaming bundle, criticizing smaller rivals for investing heavily in “lower-view” content, but showed plenty of deference when YouTube came up in the discussion during a post-earnings video call.
According to the latest data from Nielsen, YouTube accounted for about 10% of all U.S. TV viewing last month, compared with Netflix’s lower share of 8.4%, but still the highest among subscription services, and streaming viewing hit a record high of more than 40%.
One analyst asked executives how Netflix plans to take market share from YouTube, if that’s its focus.
At least not publicly. According to the data, “Netflix and YouTube are the clear leaders,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said. Netflix is focused on the roughly 80% of remaining TV viewing time, mostly linear and streaming, “that’s not going to us, that’s not going to YouTube… So that’s a huge amount.”
“We’re obviously competitors in certain areas of YouTube’s business, and we certainly compete for time and attention,” he said, but, citing some of the “most viewed, most talked about” and Emmy-nominated high-profile content, “our teasers and trailers and behind-the-scenes and clips and stuff like that are incredibly popular on YouTube, so I would say we inspire each other quite well in that sense.”
Co-CEO Greg Peters added that the services cater to very different kinds of content, with Netflix “filling an important and differentiated need for both consumers who really want great spectacle movies and TV shows, and for creators who want partners who can share the risks involved in bringing those stories to life.”
He gave a nod to everything from Stranger Things to Wednesday to Outer Banks: “It’s really hard to imagine that these big creative bets would be feasible or possible with the YouTube model.”
“The competition is fierce. [but] And we believe our model works well for consumers, for creators, and for our business.”