this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2023
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That article is outdated. YouTube started to become profitable, but it took more than a decade to get there, so your point still stands.
I look forward to the updated source you have on hand. They weren't profitable in 2009, weren't profitable in 2015, and the only things to change since then were Premium subscriptions and more ads. What could they have done to turn a profit?
Typed "was google profitable in 2022". Took about 4 seconds.
https://ippei.com/is-youtube-still-profitable/
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/youtube-statistics/
Edit: as I'm not sure you'll look at the graphs. I want to point out that since 2015 the "what could they have done to turn a profit" question is answered in the graphs
Users increased about 225%
Revenue has increased 700-800%
Its very profitable.
Unfortunately, revenue and profit are not synonyms. Revenue is money made before taxes and expenses. Yes, their revenue has increased because their userbase has increased. Users who are served advertisements. If users block advertisements, revenue decreases* while expenses increase due to more traffic and data storage required, reducing profit. Since YouTube doesn't flop their dick out on the table often, we don't know exact numbers for expenses but in 2015 when they did whip it out, it was at a loss. In your own link, the only methods it cites for Youtube 'profiting' are advertisements and premium. A userbase is only valuable if you can advertise to them, sell their data, or get them to pay a subscription.
If enough people block ads, it widens the margin between cost and revenue which can lead to "negative profits" or a loss.
I'm well aware revenue and profit arent 1:1. You're "source" is a "Google person says they break even" in 2015. I give you graphs showing revenue growing at almost 4x the rate of users since 2015. Are they making 800% more profit, obviously not. But they sure as hell aren't losing money on YouTube anymore.
My guy.. Userbases increases come with increased traffic and the need for more data storage and bandwidth. We not only don't know what their expenses are but we can't even make a good guess. Your "graphs" show revenue. Stop pointing to them like they matter in any sense. They don't.
800% in REVENUE means nothing if expenses are 805%.