The news: YouTube’s viewing dominance is pushing publishers and media companies to look beyond it as a marketing channel and adopt it as a primary platform for airing TV episodes and original content.

National Geographic now airs linear rerun streams on YouTube, and NBCU launched YouTube-centric media brands like Comedy Bites and Family Flicks.

“My prediction is that we’re going to continue to see more and more original content made for YouTube first, and then it could be repurposed to TV,” YouTube head of TV & film partnerships Fede Goldenberg said.

In fact, the company’s TV focus is highlighted by it actively lobbying for creators to receive mainstream TV awards like Emmy nominations, per Fast Company.

Why it matters: YouTube isn’t just a creator hub—it’s becoming a crucial distribution platform for media companies and TV channels that could make streaming services redundant.

In May, 12.5% of TV viewing time went to YouTube—up from 10.8% in January and above Netflix at 7.5%, per Nielsen. That big-screen rise, surpassing other streamers, positions YouTube as a growth platform that’s expanding across audiences and formats.

Little room for competition: YouTube’s content library is already nearly endless, an asset that streamers may not be able to match. More than 20 million videos are added each day, per YouTube.

That scale dwarfs the output of traditional streamers: The number of new scripted series on global subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) services was only 46 in 2024, a 10% YoY decline, per ShowTracker.

Cost is another point of competition. While streaming services are raising subscription prices, YouTube launched a Premium Lite ad-free option in March for about half the cost of Premium.

Yes, but: Scale comes with tradeoffs. YouTube’s TV dominance could leave creators fatigued in the fight stand out in the crowd—or worse, facing smaller payouts from a coveted platform—and lead to a further decline in TV originals.

Our take: Brands should prioritize YouTube just as they do TV and TikTok, not as a dumping ground for extra assets. Launching campaigns with a YouTube-first media strategy—including original YouTube content and creator-first formats like Shorts—is the new table stakes.