The Algorithm and I

My brother-in-law, bless his heart, still refers to any moving image as “the television.” He’s a retired taxidermist, which explains a lot, and he recently tried to explain to me why Netflix was the future. He’d been watching something about competitive dog grooming, and was quite emphatic. I nodded, mostly to encourage him to finish his story, because truthfully, I’ve been distracted. By YouTube. It’s become…a habit. A compulsion, really. I find myself scrolling through videos of people organizing their spice racks at 3 AM, and I don’t even like spices.

Netflix reported $45 billion in revenue last year, which is impressive, I suppose. They have 325 million subscribers, and they’ve certainly pioneered the streaming thing. But it feels… curated. Too curated. Like being presented with a perfectly arranged cheese plate when all you really want is a bag of chips. YouTube, on the other hand, is the digital equivalent of rummaging through your grandmother’s attic. You’re not sure what you’ll find, but you’re almost guaranteed to stumble upon something unexpected. And, increasingly, profitable.

Just One Part of a Very Large Machine

Alphabet, the company that owns YouTube, is, let’s face it, a bit of a behemoth. They do everything. It’s easy to overlook YouTube amidst all the self-driving cars and AI projects. It’s like having a particularly talented stepchild. But last year, YouTube exceeded $60 billion in revenue. Sixty billion! About $40 billion from ads, the rest from subscriptions. That’s 33% bigger than Netflix, which, if you ask me, is a fairly substantial margin. My brother-in-law would be appalled.

They’re also making inroads with music—YouTube Music Premium is gaining traction, competing with Spotify and Apple. And then there’s NFL Sunday Ticket, which is, admittedly, a stroke of genius. It’s like dangling a shiny object in front of a very large, easily distracted audience. Podcasts and Shorts are also contributing, because apparently, people have very short attention spans these days. Who am I to judge?

Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s CEO, keeps talking about AI transforming the YouTube experience. Which is terrifying, frankly. I can barely operate the remote control as it is. But the numbers don’t lie. Netflix’s market cap is around $349 billion. It wouldn’t surprise me if YouTube, as a standalone entity, is worth even more.

Winning the Battle for Our Attention

It’s not a fair comparison, really. Netflix spends billions licensing and producing content. YouTube, for the most part, relies on user-generated content. People just… making things. It’s a little unsettling, if you think about it. But the data is hard to ignore. According to Nielsen, YouTube has been the number one streamer in the U.S. for nearly three years. In December, they captured 12.7% of TV viewing time, compared to Netflix’s 9%. My brother-in-law would probably say that’s because people have “lost their standards.”

YouTube also has this… network effect. The more people use it, the more valuable it becomes. More viewers mean more engagement, which attracts more content creators, who upload more videos, which attracts more viewers. It’s a vicious cycle, really. And Alphabet’s technological engine is constantly refining the algorithm, making the whole thing even more addictive. Netflix has an uphill battle, I think. They’re trying to build a walled garden, while YouTube is essentially the entire wilderness.

I suspect my brother-in-law will remain unconvinced. He’s a simple man, with simple pleasures. But I, for one, am starting to understand the appeal of the algorithm. It knows me better than I know myself. And that, frankly, is a little bit terrifying. But also… strangely comforting.

2026-02-15 19:02

Just One Part of a Very Large Machine

Winning the Battle for Our Attention

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