It’s been almost 20 years since the founding of Alphabet’s YouTube, and Hollywood still doesn’t really know what to do with it. YouTube, which effectively invented user-generated content, claims a daunting share of overall media consumption. And it’s no longer just dominating the internet, it’s dominating the living room, too. YouTube made up 9.7% of all viewership on connected and traditional TVs in the U.S.
Universal has experimented with new ways to copy the rabbit-hole effect of YouTube Shorts, which force-feed users content based on interest, by offering curated clips of “Saturday Night Live” sketches, scenes from “The Office” or favorite Bravo show moments. Universal is the parent company of News. If younger users are being conditioned to watch in a certain way,
Universal’s Peacock streaming service wants to give consumers that choice in addition to its long-form movies and TV shows. But simply curating feeds within a content vertical now feels like a “YouTube 1.0 strategy” given how TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels have redefined short-form viewing, according to Nathanson.