Determining the best streaming services can be overwhelming due to the numerous excellent options available. Figuring out which 2025 TV schedule release or what new 2025 movies to watch has never been harder. But, if your living room feels like it’s been slowly taken over by one very specific viewing option, YouTube, you’re not imagining it. The world’s largest video platform just made it official: it's coming for traditional TV’s turf, and weirdly, how has this not happened already?
At the recent NATPE Budapest conference, YouTube executive Andreas Briese, who oversees Germany and parts of Central and Northern Europe for the company, took the stage and pitched something surprising to the global TV industry. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Briese told attendees:
YouTube can be a partner to your business and boost your business… YouTube can be a partner to engage with new audiences, to unlock new revenue streams and also innovate.
Needless to say, the exec wasn’t subtle. This wasn’t about YouTube creators doing brand deals, but was about networks, broadcasters and big-time TV producers uploading full episodes and long-form content directly to YouTube’s massive, ad-ready audience. Briese continued:
Television became the leading device of YouTube in the U.S. It’s the most-watched streaming service on TV devices, ahead of Netflix, Prime, Hulu, etc. We know in many other markets that is also the case. YouTube is currently serving 1 billion hours of TV watch time a day.
A collaboration between production companies and YouTube makes excellent sense. Over 50% of all that TV-based YouTube watch time is from videos longer than 20 minutes. Long-form content is back in style and, apparently, it's wearing a YouTube logo.
That might sound obvious to anyone who’s avoided booting up their Amazon Prime Video subscription and used YouTube to stream an old Top Gear episode or watched the best moments of Kitchen Nightmares, completely uncensored, over on Gordon Ramsey’s channel. But Briese’s point wasn’t just about existing behavior. He outlined how traditional TV creators are already leaning in. Channel 4 in the UK increased long-form uploads by 81%, which boosted its total watch time by 105% and full episode views by 169%. That also translated to a 78% spike in ad revenue, just from YT.
Paramount and Disney are also testing the waters. For example, you don’t need a Paramount+ subscription to watch the full premiere of Special Ops: Lioness, because the company uploaded it to YouTube shortly after its launch to build buzz. The House of Mouse went even further, uploading the entire first season of Andor ahead of its critically acclaimed second season to generate hype and drive folks to sign up for a Disney+ subscription plan. And it worked.
Andreas Briese was also refreshingly honest about why YouTube isn’t trying to be a content studio anymore. He added:
We weren’t good at picking content.
Honestly, fair. Instead, YT wants to be the platform where companies bring the content, they provide the infrastructure, and both parties make money. It’s a simple pitch with enormous implications for a content-hungry world.
This shift feels overdue. YouTube has been slowly encroaching on TV for years, first by dominating phones and then laptops, before eventually becoming the default app on smart TVs. The idea that it would evolve into a direct partner to networks, not just a place for clips or trailers, seems less like a reinvention and more like the next logical step.
We could be heading toward a future where your favorite network show releases its latest episode on YouTube alongside a MrBeast video. It’s already happening. But, not so fast, maybe don’t cancel that premium cable package yet.
Still, if YouTube keeps playing it smart, and shares the ad revenue like it says it will, it may become the new favorite “channel” on your smart TV.
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