What are the billion video views a day that YouTube records worth? In a word: More. According to Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney, the video hub will generate more than $1.1 billion in revenues by 2011... and that's a conservative estimate. He also says that Google will see about $700 million of that as net revenue. This year, he says, YouTube should gross just under $1 billion, about $945 million.
Mahaney's guesstimate is based on sound facts: YouTube has continued to grow its ad load, especially in the past nine months, and its video uploads continue unabated.
His note shows that YouTube's ad coverage on its Top 100 videos has climbed from 33 percent in June 2008 to 54 percent last month. And, he says, YouTube's viewers increasingly are watching professionally produced content.
For more:
- see this Wall Street Journal blog
Related articles:
YouTube birthday wishes; it continues to define the online video
YouTube front page ads draw top dollar as the video hub drifts
Google CEO Schmidt says 2010 is year YouTube turns a profit
Analyst: YouTube will be profitable in 2010