YouTube Reports $1.8B Paid to Music Industry in Past Year
YouTube paid out over $1.8 billion in ad revenue to the music industry over the past year from October 2017 to September 2018, the video platform claims.
YouTube paid out over $1.8 billion in ad revenue to the music industry over the past year from October 2017 to September 2018, the video platform claims.
In a Google report called “How Google Fights Piracy,” the company also states in total it has paid out over $6 billion of ad revenue to the music business, approximately half of which was from the the monetized use of music in videos using Content ID.
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That Content ID system has cost $100 million to build, according to the paper, and handled 98 percent of copyright claims on YouTube in 2017. Of those Content ID claims, more than 90 percent result in monetization, the company reports.
The report also touts consumers’ wide use of YouTube, noting Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” music video had been viewed more than 2.5 billion times — more than 10 times as many listens as on the leading streaming services.
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Along with Swift’s “Shake It Off,” the company notes there are more than 100 videos topping 1 billion views. That number was just 15 in 2015 and, citing MIDiA, it adds “music videos reach 1 billion views 10 times faster on YouTube today than in 2010.”
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As YouTube compares its numbers to Spotify (although without specifically naming the company), it’s worth noting that leading streaming service reported last month that — as of Aug. 31 — it had paid out €10 billion to rights holders since its launch in 2008. That was €2 billion more than the company reported to have paid at the end of 2017 in its F-1 filing to go public earlier this year.
Using that data, at the average exchange rate across the period, Spotify paid out roughly 300 million per month this year to rights holders. YouTube, meanwhile, paid an average of $150 million per month in ad money per month during that reported yearlong period.
Apple Music, the other leading streaming service, does not report its industry payouts.