By Hernan Lopez.
Companies mentioned: Alphabet, Amazon, Audible, Disney, Netflix, Nielsen, Spotify, YouTube
Questions answered: Did Ted Sarandos say Netflix has 86M U.S. subs or UCAN subs, and does that mean they gained or lost subs in ‘25? How many hours did people spend watching YouTube in 2025? How much revenue does Amazon bring in from streaming across video and audio?
Netflix made $45B in revenue in 2025; YouTube, more than $60B.
But how big are Amazon’s streaming businesses? It’s complicated, but probably bigger and growing faster than you think.
Long-term Streamonomics readers know I’ve been calling YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, and Disney the “Streaming Four” as far back as 2024. Early on, some pushed back on including YouTube because it relied so much on creator content (since then, Netflix has been adding a subset of it), it’s ad-supported (increasingly, so are all others), operates a vMVPD in the U.S. (so has Disney for years), and offers a music streamer (so does Amazon). Before we get to Amazon, let’s stay with YouTube...