Streaming Wars Are Over: YouTube Has Won
Quick shout-out up top. I’ve had more great coverage on the H1 2025 Netflix Kids Content Performance Report from three sensational analysts Julia Alexander, Marion Ranchet and Jen Topping. These aces truly stack the deck of excellent uptake the report drop has gotten. I’m very grateful.
One more very important shout-out. Thank you so much to everyone who’s upgraded to paid with the newsletter. Your belief in the value of this work and money-where-mouth-is support is very meaningful and utterly appreciated. And now, on to the good stuff…
Nothing sets the LI commentary class alight like an absolutist claim about YouTube but in the world of kids and streaming, YouTube is inescapable. There have been lots of takes on this topic in the last few weeks; however, when you work in kids media the time for debate is long over.
As Evan Shapiro says, data is the voice of the audience, and that’s the crucial thing. From a kids audience point of view, YouTube is TV, and its position is so solidified that streaming wars are over, YouTube has won. If you’re lucky enough to have young people in your life, your personal focus group is already validating this for you.
As Emily Horgan says, data is also the beating heart of corporate storytelling. I have to believe that by building business cases we can sway stakeholders to move productive decisions forward. That’s why this edition of my newsletter focuses on the reality that YouTube as a platform holds in kids media. As promised last week, the data is cut with critical context, to help you make the argument for YouTube wherever you need to. Included are varying perspectives, different audiences, and a variety of markets beyond just the US. Where the sources are free, they’re linked so you can go digging for yourself.
Use it with your CEOs to unlock investment in new production pipelines. Use it with your corporate stakeholders to direct commissioning, talent, and budget resource. Use it with your public service broadcasters to illustrate how everyone will win if YouTube rights are sensibly dealt with. Use it in your conversations with policy makers to urge protection of our youngest audience. Use it with your funding bodies to show you’ve done the homework behind the new format you’re pitching.
The key thing about YouTube is its sheer availability. Accessible on any device with the internet, browser agnostic so no app required, and forget a login—you don’t need that either. Access to YouTube basically tracks in line with household internet penetration. Premium streaming services, like Netflix, are far more coy on their subscriber counts, but we can still do the modelling.
The chart below is a favorite of mine (you can also download for keeps here if you like). Back at Disney we used this methodology to frame the franchise opportunity of our linear channels across EMEA. Linear might have fallen from relevance but the logic of free-to-air (FTA) vs. pay-TV (PTV) still stands from an audience point of view in streaming. FTA = maximum reach (sound familiar? Sound YouTubey?), the best place to be if you’re building a brand with product extensions. Pay-TV tiers like Sky One or Sky Movies (sound Netflixy?) might deliver higher distribution fees, but with fewer households. More money, fewer eyeballs—and less brand traction. In short: YouTube is the new FTA. Netflix is the new pay-TV.
The chart makes the point: availability matters. So ask yourself, what audience are you walking away from if you’re not on YouTube? Above figures are households across all demos, but let’s get to the real point: kids. For US and UK detail, the PARK Report from Precise TV is your best free resource. But let’s also widen the frame and take a more international view.
Data from Qustodio pulls from a panel and screen time app tracking. They publish reports annually; the latest frames the data as “The Digital Dilemma: Childhood at a Crossroads.” These reports have a transmedia view so there’s plenty in there on gaming too. What I like about them is they cover multiple markets. See how platform popularity nets out across the US, the UK, France, Spain and Australia. YouTube still very much in the lead.
One last chart is crucial to the conversation about where audiences actually consume YouTube. It’s not just a mobile platform anymore. YouTube is riding high as the biggest streaming platform in the house, the TV. Nielsen’s The Gauge shows this clearly.
There you have it: comprehensive proof that, for kids at least, the streaming wars are over and YouTube has won. The evidence is clear—so the question is, if you work in kids media, how will you respond?
Whether you’re commissioning, pitching or protecting, this data should give you the confidence to sharpen your case and act. Easy? Far from it. Just listen to Cory Williams, our podcast guest this week, who’s wrestling with collapsing YouTube revenues and an AI rip-off machine. But here’s the thing: the harder road is still better than the road to irrelevance. The audience has cast its vote. Here’s hoping kids media can evolve quickly enough to survive.