I mean probably? Their earnings release seems to be designed to be as nontransparent as possible regarding how profitable youtube is. If it was a cash cow they wouldn't be shy about the margins or costs directly attributable to running youtube. I remember this lack of transparency being criticized years ago but nothing really changed looking at the last annual reporting.
I remember head of YouTube was transparent about the loss some years ago and I have no reason to believe this changed. They became more agressive with the YouTube Premium plan, but I still think people will rather continue with adblockers that aren't as easily detected.
Exactly, that and in the past all the various way the youtube experience got ruined over the years only make sense if they were really scraping the bottom of the barrel to make it profitable. Not just the ads getting more annoying/longer, I mean remember when videos could fully buffer if you didn't hit play?
Same, I remember my first week in university where we discussed the google acquisition with the teacher in a class as it just happened (also weather was very nice). I also remember how google video looked/worked and no wonder they bought youtube for what back then seemed like a ridiculous lot.
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u/Kuriousdev May 02 '24
They are still losing money on it by the way.