Technology is upending broadcasting genres and their distribution models as we knew them. 2025 was a triumphant year for the streaming giants, Netflix and YouTube, but not for conventional broadcasters. It was a year of reckoning for both commercial and public service broadcasters, particularly the BBC.
Who would have anticipated that Netflix — it launched its streaming service only in 2007 — would have put in a bid to buy the Hollywood studio, Warner Brothers Discovery, to augment its movie and TV series inventory? To help it compete for viewership with YouTube and other streaming rivals.
Public service broadcasting both in the US and in Europe is under pressure from streamers and YouTube. The latter’s valuations and budgets have risen over the past decade, even as the BBC’s annual income is down by one-third, and advertising revenue for commercial public service broadcasters such as Channel 4 has come down almost 40% since 2014, according to the Financial Times. It recently described the existentialist threat to the BBC and other UK broadcasters in an article called “The slow death of Britain’s TV channels”.
The BBC is considering introducing advertising and a paywalled premium subscription. And BBC executives reportedly want to introduce BBC News on YouTube and TikTok. Put your content on the competition. In the meantime, the broadcaster is in talks with the British government over a new 10-year charter and funding settlement.
Netflix, in contrast, has seen sharp revenue growth. It has an annual budget several times larger than the BBC’s and without the obligations that the PSB has to fulfil — of universal reach, breadth of coverage and local content. YouTube has become a multi-genre behemoth. Movies are releasing on streaming platforms as video on demand. With the rise in connected television and smart TVs, TV and film audiences are staying home and moving online. To survive the streaming onslaught, disparate broadcasters are in talks to merge their broadcast businesses, such as ITV and Sky in the UK.
The New York Times says that in the US, Nielsen figures show that YouTube racks up more streaming viewership in the daytime than Netflix, Amazon, Prime Video and others. In the evening, prime time Netflix’s audience figures increase as do those of other streaming channels. YouTube is also watched on devices other than TV screens, which are not covered by Nielsen rankings.
India is now a major market. According to YouTube’s country managing director, 75 million viewers over 18 are consuming YouTube over a connected TV in their living rooms, making it a significant entertainment option. It had a revenue of Rs 14,300 crore in India, she told Business Standard. The company estimates that it contributes Rs 16,000 crore to India’s gross domestic product by way of payouts to either creators or media companies. Moreover, 15% of watch time on content produced in India comes from outside India. The biggest channel on YouTube globally is T-Series.
YouTube’s growing dominance in TV streaming is a challenge to streaming companies, which invest heavily in scripted and unscripted entertainment for TV audiences. What’s more, TV broadcasters and programme producers have long been posting their shows online on YouTube. And, in a first, the Google company has won exclusive streaming rights for the 2029 Oscars.
Finally, there is the second coming of Donald Trump. With his return as the president of the United States of America, news broadcasting organisations are becoming liabilities for their owners. The Federal Communications Commission, under a Trump-appointed boss, is trying to block media mergers. Paramount, the news and entertainment conglomerate which owns CBS News, has been accused on air on the CBS show, 60 Minutes, of interfering in editorial to placate the Trump administration, which could block its parent company’s hostile bid for Warner Brothers Discovery. Paramount and Netflix are both making a bid for the film and broadcast property.
Earlier this month, the president sued the BBC for $10 billion in a Miami federal court, claiming defamation from a Panorama documentary, which was edited in a way that falsified the sequence of Trump’s utterances. The BBC’s response has been to apologise for an “error of judgment” over the edit, while disputing the charge that it was defamatory. The broadcaster’s director general and head of news have both resigned. Last year, Disney’s ABC News had paid Trump $15 million to settle a defamation claim.
Before his re-election, the president had argued that Comcast, a cable giant, should be investigated for treason over the “one-sided and vicious” output of its NBC News and MSNBC channels. The FCC has since launched a probe into its diversity policies. The Economist recently noted that Netflix has marched into every genre, from live comedy to sport, but has drawn the line at news. Because for media companies, news is becoming a toxic asset.
Sevanti Ninan is a media commentator. She also publishes the labour newsletter, https://workerweb.curated.co/issues