Don’t be surprised if streaming is completely revolutionized before the end of the decade. Of course, this form of entertainment has changed a great deal over the last couple of decades already. During the turn of the century, cable TV was still the preferred way for viewers to consume content. However, as platforms like Netflix began offering movies and TV shows right on their websites, everything changed.
It wasn’t long after streaming really gained traction that the “streaming wars” kicked off in earnest. This involved ongoing battles among Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, Hulu, and several others, each aiming to claim the most subscribers. Said and done, Netflix remained on top, consistently boasting the most subscribers and overall views than its competitors.
Those initial streaming wars have come to a close, as all the big platforms began measuring success in different ways. In this day and age, people tend to subscribe to all the major players of streaming. So, companies are now aiming to keep subscribers on their platforms for as long as possible. The goal is to take up as high a percentage of viewers’ overall TV-watching time as they can. Currently, it’s YouTube that is in the lead of these new streaming wars.
| US Monthly TV Viewing By Platform (October 2025) According To Nielsen | |
|---|---|
| YouTube | 12.9% |
| Netflix | 8.0% |
| Disney+ | 4.8% |
| Prime Video | 3.8% |
| Roku Channel | 2.8% |
| Tubi | 2.2% |
| Paramount+ | 2.1% |
| Peacock | 1.6% |
| Warner Bros Discovery | 1.3% |
| Other Streaming | 6.3% |
Streaming Platforms May Shift To A More YouTube-Like Model
The big plot twist of streaming’s new performance model is that it put YouTube in the lead. Though the Google platform tried and failed with traditional streaming of original content, data shows that about 12.9% of Americans’ total TV viewing time is spent on YouTube. This is more than that of Netflix and Disney+ combined.
Interestingly, YouTube doesn’t need to produce original movies and TV shows to achieve this kind of success. Instead, the platform is full of user-generated content. Anyone can make a channel, and everyone has a chance of making it big on the platform. It’s a unique and highly successful business model that now makes YouTube an easy frontrunner in the streaming wars.
There’s essentially no chance that Netflix or Disney+ will catch up with YouTube using their current strategy. So, it seems that in the coming years these platforms will begin adopting their competitor’s business model. All the streaming giants will open the doors for viewers to add their own YouTube-like content and pay out to those who achieve significant views.
Regardless Of How The Streaming Wars Change, Traditional Movies & TV Shows Must Be The Priority
While it could be lucrative for platforms like Netflix to add a tab to their home page for user-created channels and videos, we don’t need to worry about this replacing original movies and TV shows. Projects like Stranger Things, Wednesday, House of the Dragon, The Bear, Severance, Pluribus, and more are precisely how platforms like Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, and the rest will gain an edge over YouTube’s lead if they adopt its model.
Since YouTube’s originals flopped, we can safely assume that YouTube won’t find much success in turning back to that strategy. However, if traditional streaming services provide influencers, podcasters, and vloggers another place to make money, it could easily take off. By 2030, we could see a massive shift toward streaming as other platforms catch up to YouTube’s lead, but only in addition to the TV shows we love.
