YouTube Crowned World’s Largest Media Company

TLDR

• YouTube hit $62.3B in revenue in 2025, overtaking Disney’s media properties ($60.9B) to become the world’s largest media company
• MoffettNathanson values YouTube as a standalone business at $500B–$560B — more than all five major Hollywood studios combined
• YouTube is 50% larger than Netflix by revenue, its nearest media rival
• Nearly one-third of YouTube’s revenue now comes from subscriptions (YouTube TV, Premium, NFL Sunday Ticket)
• MoffettNathanson rates Alphabet a Buy with a $350 price target

YouTube just quietly became the biggest media company on the planet — and most people were too busy watching cat videos to notice.

Research firm MoffettNathanson confirmed that YouTube generated $62.3 billion in revenue for full-year 2025, edging out Disney’s media properties which brought in $60.9 billion. It’s the first time a tech-owned platform has topped the media revenue rankings.

Google acquired YouTube back in 2006 for $1.65 billion. That’s now looking like one of the great deals in business history.

Revenue grew 14% in 2025, a slight slowdown from 19% growth in 2024. But YouTube still outpaced most of the industry — Fox came in second among traditional media at just 9% growth.

Alphabet reported in its Q4 earnings that YouTube “exceeded $60 billion” for the year, but declined to give a more precise number. MoffettNathanson’s independent analysis filled in the gaps.

The Numbers Behind the Crown

Advertising on the free platform drove over $40 billion in revenue last year. Subscriptions — YouTube TV, YouTube Premium, and NFL Sunday Ticket — made up nearly a third of total revenue.

If spun off as a standalone company, MoffettNathanson values YouTube at $500B–$560B, or roughly 8–9x its 2025 revenue. That would make it worth more than Disney, Comcast, Warner Bros., Sony, and Paramount Skydance put together.

YouTube is also 50% larger than Netflix by revenue — its closest rival in the streaming space.

TV, Not Just Phones

That testimony came during a hearing on Netflix’s failed $82.3 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount Skydance ultimately outbid Netflix with a $110 billion offer.

On Nielsen’s distributor index, YouTube has held the top audience share spot for 11 consecutive months as of January, sitting at 12.5% of total aggregated audience.

MoffettNathanson said that even a combined Paramount-Warner Bros. entity would have posted $66.2 billion in 2025 pro forma revenue — but notes that YouTube’s growth rate makes that lead “short-lived.”

The firm also points to AI as a future tailwind. “The continued development of GenAI will help creators produce even more impactful content that will be increasingly better targeted and better monetized,” Nathanson wrote.

MoffettNathanson rates Alphabet as a Buy with a $350 price target.

The post YouTube Crowned World’s Largest Media Company appeared first on CoinCentral.