Compteittion in the video has been rampant, with Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) enjoying dominance, but the game has been changed as YouTube, the Alphabet-owned company has hit a new milestone in viewership last year.
The Wall Street Journal notes that millions of people are spending billion of hours watching YouTube videos on the Video-sharing platform. From 2012, YouTube has experienced a ten-fold increase in viewership. Its milestone is over and above Netflix’s 116 million hours and the 100 million hours of daily streaming on Facebook.
What was YouTube’s strategy to trump its rivals?
A few years ago the company gave priority to viewing time over clicks. It was tapping into the the fact that people are increasingly using their mobile devices to access the internet. In fact, more than 60% of YouTube viewing is on mobile devices and tablets.
In acknowledging YouTube’s move, eMarketer principal video analyst Paul Verna wrote, “Marketers have long prized time spent as a measure of engagement, so YouTube’s emphasis on that aspect of its platform has positioned the company to capture a growing share of TV budgets.”
YouTube’s milestone evidence of powerful innovations in personalization
There is notable competition in the digital video space, which is being triggered by new and successful properties. Innovation is increasing as every new entity fights to gain market share. YouTube usage remains strong and continues to be of importance to its parent company Alphabet.
However, figures of daily usage are not yet published. There is a speculation that the video-sharing platform reached 185.9 million monthly US users in 2017. Monica Peart, eMarketer senior forecasting director points out that more and more viewers are becoming aware of YouTube.
The company has gone ahead to introduce a lightweight app in India as well. In the meantime, Alphabet’s stock closed at $849.67 witnessing an increase of $1.86 or 0.22%.