YouTube Generates More Ad Revenue Than Disney, NBC, Paramount, WBD Combined

YouTube generated $40.4 billion in ad revenue in 2025, surpassing the combined ad revenue of Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), which together totaled $37.8 billion, according to estimates reported from MoffettNathanson.

“- YouTube's advertising revenue now exceeds that of its four largest traditional media competitors combined”

Insider

Industry reporting frames this as a significant shift in the entertainment-advertising landscape, marking YouTube’s rise above the traditional studio cohort.

Insider

TechCrunch highlighted the scale of the change, while Insider cited MoffettNathanson’s figures to confirm the comparison.

The 2025 result represents a reversal from 2024, when YouTube’s ad revenue of $36.1 billion trailed the combined $41.8 billion earned by Disney, Comcast’s NBCU, Paramount, and WBD; analysts frame the 2025 outcome as a rapid turnaround in one year.

Reporting notes that YouTube’s ad growth outpaced the traditional studios amid broader declines in linear TV audiences and shifting advertiser spend.

TechCrunch

Both TechCrunch and Insider cite MoffettNathanson numbers to show the year-over-year change.

YouTube’s broader revenue mix is a key part of the explanation: Alphabet reported YouTube’s total revenue in 2025 rose to $60 billion, with a large portion coming from subscription services.

“- YouTube's advertising revenue now exceeds that of its four largest traditional media competitors combined”

Insider

Insider and TechCrunch both note that nearly $22 billion of 2025 revenue came from subscriptions — driven by YouTube TV, YouTube Premium, YouTube Music, and the NFL Sunday Ticket — which supplements ad income and strengthens YouTube’s financial position versus studios that remain heavily dependent on subscriptions and linear advertising.

Beyond revenue, YouTube’s audience footprint on TVs underpins its ad dominance: Nielsen data cited by Insider shows YouTube generated more viewership on U.S. TVs in January than the combined streamers from Disney, NBCU, Paramount, and WBD.

YouTube held a 12.5% share versus Netflix’s 8.8% among paid streamers in that Nielsen snapshot.

TechCrunch

Coverage links viewership scale to ad opportunity, noting YouTube’s mix of free, ad-supported video and large-scale TV distribution increases its appeal to advertisers.

Analysts and reporting highlight implications for Hollywood’s business model: traditional studios face shrinking linear audiences and high production costs while YouTube leverages scale, subscriptions, and potential AI-driven opportunities.

“- YouTube's advertising revenue now exceeds that of its four largest traditional media competitors combined”

Insider

Insider notes Google may accelerate growth with new "skinny bundles" for YouTube TV and that subscription growth could outpace ad growth.

Insider

TechCrunch frames the change as an industry-wide momentum shift that challenges studio strategies.