Google Claims YouTube Destroying Traditional TV

It has become customary for Google to make comparisons between YouTube and TV on its earnings calls — after all, it is hoping that brands will switch out some of their huge TV advertising budgets for online video.

Thursday's Q2 earnings call was no exception, according to Business Insider.  Google's executives made several references to how YouTube is coming after TV in a big way.

Omid Kordestani, Google's chief business officer kicked things off early on with this stand-out stat: "YouTube reaches more 18-to-49-year-olds in the US than any US cable network."

Not only is YouTube apparently dominating in terms of reach, but people are treating YouTube like their television set.

Kordestani said: "The number of users coming to YouTube, who start at the YouTube homepage similar to way they might turn on their TV us up over three times year-over-year. Plus, once users are in YouTube, they are spending more time per session watching videos. On mobile, the average viewing session is now more than 40 minutes, up more than 50% year-over-year."

Those findings are extremely significant at this point in YouTube's life stage. Google wants emphasize that YouTube is no longer just that repository of videos where people need to know what they want to watch before they want to watch it — YouTube is now becoming a discovery platform, that acts as a curator of content. YouTube is mimicking the electronic programming guide on your TV set.

And as users shift their viewing habits to online video, the advertising money is following.