YouTube set to overtake Disney as the world's biggest media company

Summary

YouTube’s revenue is closing in on Disney’s revenue, challenging its media dominance by generating an estimated $54.2 billion in 2024.
Ad revenue is a massive part of YouTube’s business, but its subscription services are also growing, like YouTube Premium and YouTube TV.
Google acquired YouTube in 2006, and it’s estimated that the video platform alone is worth between $475 billion and $550 billion.

Disney has been around for over a century and is home to some of the world’s most popular characters and franchises, such as Toy Story, The Lion King, Star Wars, and Marvel. It has become an entertainment powerhouse over the years and, in turn, the largest media company in the world. However, that might soon change because of an online video site that didn’t even exist at the turn of the century: YouTube.

Since its inception in 2005, YouTube has become the dominant online video-sharing platform. Many creators make their living solely from producing YouTube videos, and according to Statista, YouTube’s audience in the US alone is 253 million people.

YouTube’s revenue has surged alongside its rapid growth over the last decade. As noted in the latest report by MoffettNathanson (via THR), YouTube ranked as the world’s second-largest media company by revenue in the past year, generating $54.2 billion in 2024. YouTube is now only $5.5 billion behind Disney, whose total media revenue in 2024 is projected at $59.7 billion.

YouTube

notable shows: Kitchen Nightmares, Merlin
notable movies: Clueless, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, How to Train Your Dragon, Mean Girls, Star Trek
Premium Subscription: Yes, $13.99 per month
Originals: No
Live TV: No

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YouTube is coming for Disney’s crown

Analyst predicts YouTube will outpace Disney in 2025

Pocket-lint / Glenn Carstens-Peters / unsplash

Michael Nathasan, a senior research analyst at MoffettNathanson, predicts that in 2025, YouTube’s revenue growth will outpace Disney’s, earning it the title of the “new king of all media.”

Advertisers have recognized that YouTube is the ideal way to reach audiences, bringing in billions of dollars in ad revenue for the platform. In 2024, it is projected that YouTube generated $36.1 billion in advertising revenue alone.

As of March 2025, YouTube Music and YouTube Premium have over 125 million global subscribers…

But YouTube is not solely about ads. Like Netflix, Disney+, and other streaming services, it has also developed into a subscription service, thanks to YouTube Premium. As of March 2025, YouTube Music and YouTube Premium have over 125 million global subscribers, including trials. In 2024, YouTube’s “other revenue” is estimated to be around $18.1 billion, likely stemming from its subscription services.

Additionally, YouTube has focused on attracting cord-cutters in recent years. YouTube TV has become one of the largest TV providers in the US, boasting over eight million subscribers — despite a recent price increase in December from $73 to $83 per month.

After 1,400 hours watched I can’t give up this streaming service

YouTube Premium has become so valuable to me that it’s hard to imagine parting with it.

YouTube has accomplished a lot in just 20 years

It’s important to note that MoffettNathanson’s revenue projections focus solely on YouTube, not on its entire parent company, Google. The same applies to Disney’s figures, which concentrate on the media sector of its business while excluding additional revenues, such as those from its theme parks.

YouTube’s success in the media industry is impressive, given that it has only existed for 20 years, compared to Disney’s century-long history. Unlike Disney, Netflix, and Paramount, YouTube is also distinctive in that it lacks a central franchise or show. As Business Insider points out, YouTube does not have a Marvel Cinematic Universe, a Stranger Things, or even a Star Wars. However, it does boast independent creators, some of whom have risen to massive celebrity status, like MrBeast, and it has established itself as the go-to platform for watching videos online. There is simply no viable alternative to YouTube’s massive library of content from creators all around the world. In the live-streaming world, there are sites like Twitch, but even then a lot of creators now dual-stream on both platforms.

Taking into account that Google bought YouTube for only $1.65 billion in 2006, I think it’s safe to say that its investment has paid off exceptionally well.

Podcasts have also surged in popularity on YouTube. In a recent blog post, YouTube stated that it has one billion active monthly viewers who engage with podcast content on the platform. The company also highlighted that it is becoming the new king of television, with over one billion hours of YouTube content being watched on TVs daily.

Nathasan thinks that if YouTube were a standalone business separate from Google, it would be worth between $475 billion and $550 billion. Considering Google’s market cap is around $1.9 trillion right now, that would make YouTube nearly 30 percent of it. Taking into account that Google bought YouTube for only $1.65 billion in 2006, I think it’s safe to say that its investment has paid off exceptionally well. While YouTube may not become as big as Disney as a whole, just looking at the media side of things, it appears to be on track to overtake Disney, which would be an astonishing feat.