YouTube generated an estimated $62 billion in revenue in 2025, surpassing The Walt Disney Co.’s media business, which produced $60.9 billion last year, excluding Disney’s experiences division, according to financial research firm MoffettNathanson. The firm now values YouTube at between $500 billion and $560 billion, per The Hollywood Reporter.

YouTube’s advertising revenue reached $11.4 billion in Q4 alone, totaling over $40 billion for the full year, according to parent company Alphabet. The platform also operates a subscription business that includes YouTube Premium, YouTube Music, NFL Sunday Ticket, and YouTube TV. The latter now counts approximately 10 million subscribers.

YouTube reports paying out more than $100 billion to creators, music companies, and media partners to date.

Ad Budgets Haven’t Kept Pace

Despite YouTube’s scale, brand advertising spending on the platform has not kept pace with its viewership gains, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing marketers and agency executives.

“The budgets that are allocated for YouTube, both from a media perspective and a creative and production perspective, are still lagging dramatically behind the budgets that are allocated to TV projects,” Frank Cooper III, CMO at Visa, said in a statement.

TV campaigns can command production budgets four to five times higher than comparable YouTube campaigns, according to Zach Blume, co-founder and president of creative firm Portal A. 

Many large advertisers continue to classify YouTube spending as part of digital marketing budgets, placing it in direct competition with TikTok and Instagram rather than with traditional television, according to Jacob Davis, Global Head of Performance at independent global media agency Crossmedia.

Creator Partnerships Gaining Ground

Brand-creator partnerships on YouTube have grown in sophistication. Kroger’s ongoing partnership with cooking channel “Mythical Kitchen” has transitioned from single-product integrations to recurring mid-show segments, according to Jacob Moncrief, “Mythical’s” Chief Operating Officer.

YouTube’s BrandConnect program facilitates some of these arrangements, though the company does not break out revenue from creator-brand deals in its financial results and does not receive a direct cut unless it helps arrange them.

YouTube last year introduced an API (Application Programming Interface) to help brands import creator audience data directly into their own platforms, the company said.

AI Investment

MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson cited AI tools as a factor in YouTube’s growth outlook, writing that the platform “will be a major beneficiary of both the structural tailwinds and headwinds facing technology and media companies.” YouTube CEO Neal Mohan has noted that creators are already using AI tools to assist with production elements such as set design, costumes, and visual effects.