---
title: Is YouTube bigger than Netflix?
description: YouTube has a higher annual run rate ($34B) than Netflix ($30B).
---

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# [Is YouTube bigger than Netflix?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/02032022-youtube-netflix)

 Written by [Trung T. Phan](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/trung-t-phan) | Feb 3, 2022 9:43:18 AM

Alphabet, Google’s parent firm, dropped its latest earnings report Tuesday night. And it was bonkers.

Per [*The Verge*](https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/1/22912196/google-alphabet-200-billion-annual-revenue-youtube-pixel-search), Alphabet’s revenue in 2021 hit a record $257B, a gain of 41% YoY. Somewhat absurdly for its size, this is the company’s fastest annual growth since 2007.

#### **The YouTube juggernaut**

Google acquired YouTube for $1.65B in 2006, but didn’t break out earnings for the streaming service until [2020](https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/3/21121207/youtube-google-alphabet-earnings-revenue-first-time-reveal-q4-2019).

For the latest quarter, YouTube ads [brought](https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/youtube-q4-2021-advertising-netflix-revenue-1235168995/amp/) in $8.6B. Here’s the wild part: That’s an annualized run rate of $34B, which outpaced Netflix — a $30B run rate — for the 1st time.

With a mostly ad-based business, YouTube is usually left out of the streaming subscription wars conversation…

#### **… but it’s clearly the video leader**

As one point of comparison, a [study](https://www.tubefilter.com/2021/07/05/app-annie-how-many-hours-users-spend-on-tiktok-youtube-facebook/amp/) of Android users found that in 2020 the average monthly time spent on YouTube was 23 hours (vs. ~6 hours for Netflix).

Meanwhile, YouTube itself has more [active users](https://www.dreamgrow.com/top-15-most-popular-social-networking-sites/) (2.3B) than any social site other than Zuck Daddy’s Facebook (2.7B).

And while we’re at it, here’s another wild stat: YouTube is the [2nd](https://www.globalreach.com/global-reach-media/blog/2020/01/28/the-2nd-largest-search-engine-on-the-internet) biggest search engine in the world (you can guess the first).

#### **Alphabet’s stock jumped 9%+…**

… on the strength of the earnings and news that it’ll do a [20-1](https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/02/01/google-parent-alphabet-announces-20-for-1-stock-split.html) stock split (which goes into effect in July).

If the split happened today, $GOOGL would be ~$148 a share vs. ~$2,960 a share. Lower dollar values after a share split have worked as an enticement for retail investors, who [bid up](https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN25R1FM) Apple and Tesla following their respective splits.

Split or no split, Google — and YouTube — will keep being bonkers businesses.

[View full post](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/02032022-youtube-netflix)

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