YouTube Faces Inevitable Consolidation Amid Ad Reach Pressures
𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲, and since #YouTube is self-proclaimed 📺 “Television”*, consolidation might also be coming to the world’s most-consumed “TV network” (as per data from #Nielsen’s The Gauge) — including but not limited to the following two structural forces at play (as discussed on #TheBundle with @MurrayBarnett and @UnffclPrtnr): • 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵: TV advertising budgets are not sold programmatically, programmatic guaranteed at best, but is mostly directly bought and committed upfront by agencies/brands — often in the tens or hundreds of millions per quarter. To compete for that level of demand, sellers need consistent, aggregated reach at scale, and the fragmented creator ecosystems struggle to meet that bar. • 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀-𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝗴𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗺𝘀: Net-new discovery and visibility on #YouTube is hit and miss, viewers subscribing to channels is essential for some stickiness in the absence of any true relationship ownership — consolidating audiences into one single network of creators** is one mitigation strategy to ensure repeated tune-in for each one of them. We may see the roll-up of e-commerce sellers (creators) on #Amazon (platform/aggregator) reloaded, in pursuit of sustainable business economics. *#Youtube is TV is not to be taken literally but look at as a strategic framing for #Google to tap into the TV advertising budgets. Link to the latest episode of The Bundle in the comments below ⬇️
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