Analyst: YouTube Is World’s Biggest Media Company

YouTube has been crowned the world's largest media company by revenue in 2025, according to influential research firm MoffettNathanson.

The Google-owned video platform generated $62.3 billion in total revenue last year, narrowly surpassing Disney's media properties at $60.9 billion. This marks the first time YouTube has claimed the top spot among global media giants.

Analysts Michael Nathanson and his team highlighted YouTube's strong position amid industry shifts. Unlike traditional media companies grappling with audience fragmentation, AI disruptions, and declining linear revenues, YouTube faces fewer such headwinds. Its dual revenue streams—advertising (over $40 billion in 2025, exceeding the combined ad revenue of Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery) and subscriptions (including YouTube Premium, Music, TV, and NFL Sunday Ticket)—provide a robust foundation.

Nathanson emphasized YouTube's advantages in a client note: "Over the next few years, unlike almost any other asset we cover, we strongly believe that YouTube will be a major beneficiary of both the structural tailwinds and headwinds facing technology and media companies."

He added that YouTube avoids many AI-related challenges plaguing peers and is set to "keep growing for the foreseeable future." Advancements in generative AI are expected to empower creators to produce more impactful, targeted content, which AI tools will help monetize even more effectively.

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MoffettNathanson values YouTube as a standalone entity at $500–560 billion and forecasts continued low double-digit revenue growth through 2028, driven especially by accelerating subscription gains. 

This positions YouTube not only as the current revenue leader but as a resilient powerhouse in an evolving media landscape.