How much return on investment has Google earned from its 2006 acquisition of YouTube? According to a recent estimate, the video site’s value may have increased 500 times over since then. Prominent Wall Street firm MoffettNathanson has published research that suggests YouTube could be worth as much as $550 billion.
In a report shared on its website, MoffettNathanson dubbed YouTube “the king of all media.” Alphabet‘s video-focused subsidiary hauled in $54.2 billion of revenue in 2024, per MoffettNathanson’s estimate. That number is expected to increase in 2025 and push YouTube’s revenue ahead of Disney, giving it the highest revenue total among media companies. (It’s worth noting that Disney’s parks and product divisions are excluded from that accounting.)
YouTube’s valuation has been steadily rising since Google scooped up the video site in a $1.65 billion all-stock deal that closed nearly two decades ago. By 2018, YouTube was worth $160 billion, according to a report published by Morgan Stanley. Five years later, investment bank Needham put YouTube’s value in the $350-400 billion range.
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Flash forward to the current day, and YouTube has become a recurring bright spot in Alphabet’s quarterly earnings reports. MoffettNathanson claimed that YouTube’s worth accounts for about 30% of Alphabet’s valuation — so I guess it’s not the risky bet it was made out to be back in the 2000s.
There’s no question YouTube has been a killer app for Google since 2006 — but is MoffettNathanson correct to claim that the platform led by Neal Mohan (pictured above) is the king of all media? YouTube and Disney are currently engaged in a battle for attention that is playing out across multiple fronts, including children’s entertainment and TV screen viewership.
MoffettNathanson’s report argued that YouTube is still undervalued on TVs, and that it can put some distance between itself and Disney by continuing to bring new forms of monetization to its leaned-back experience. “YouTube has substantial runway for further growth — not just in monetization but also in expanding into new business segments, such as becoming the premier streaming aggregator,” reads the research note. “If executed effectively, this could further widen the gap between YouTube and the other media players.”
If bets like Primetime Channels pay off for YouTube, how high can its valuation potentially rise? After 20 years, the platform has achieved eye-popping revenue numbers that were once thought to be beyond its capabilities. But as long as creators continue to broadcast themselves, the sky’s the limit for this tech industry darling.
