# Is Google making money off YouTube? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-google-making-money-off-youtube/470355 "2008-10-31T00:07:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Influential\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Influential\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Influential_Panda)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-google-making-money-off-youtube/470355/1 "2008-10-31T00:07:28Z")
I remember when they bought YouTube, everyone was saying there was no way to make it profitable with the huge bandwidth costs and nonstop lawsuits. So, how 'bout it? Is Google turning a buck on the site? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-google-making-money-off-youtube/470355/2 "2008-10-31T00:14:41Z")
And also, if I might hijack - _how_ do they make money from YouTube? There are no ads on the YouTube site that I can see, other than the “featured videos” which I guess are paid for to appear prominently. But I don’t see how that can justify the billions Google spent on it. Where does the revenue come from? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-google-making-money-off-youtube/470355/3 "2008-10-31T00:43:36Z")
I’ve heard some people talk about a reward scheme where video content producers get financial rewards for their content - based on ad click rates - which I guess must imply that there are ads presented alongside some of the video content. I can’t seem to find them though. ---
**Author:** ![History\_Mystery\_and\_the\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/53a042/32.png) [@History\_Mystery\_and\_the\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/History_Mystery_and_the_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-google-making-money-off-youtube/470355/4 "2008-10-31T01:23:28Z")
I recall hearing that YouTube is still money down the drain for Google. I’d assume that Google maintains it out of good-will and the desire to build a brand while it plays around with ways of making it profitable without killing the experience. The reasoning being that if YouTube becomes a fact of life, it doesn’t matter if finding profitabilty takes a while. Once you get there, it will be huge. And frankly, Google can afford to throw some money around. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-google-making-money-off-youtube/470355/5 "2008-10-31T14:09:53Z")
They planned to place ads in the videos: > **[CNET: Product reviews, advice, how-tos and the latest news](https://www.cnet.com/)** > > Get full-length product reviews, the latest news, tech coverage, daily deals, and category deep dives from CNET experts worldwide. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/22/technology/22google.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/22/technology/22google.html) [YouTube Video Advertising: No Pre-roll, No Context | TechCrunch](http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/11/youtube-video-advertising-no-pre-roll-no-context/) [http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/youtubes-advertising-coming-out-party/](http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/youtubes-advertising-coming-out-party/) Apparently implementation was delayed: [http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/10/youtube-launche.html](http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/10/youtube-launche.html) The anwser appears to be: > [@](#): > > Google doesn’t break out results for YouTube, which it paid $1.7 billion for in 2006, so its profitability is a mystery. Google execs say that the unit is profitable but has a ways to go. [http://www.sltrib.com/ci\_10830182](http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10830182)