In March, specialized analyst Michael Nathanson published a note indicating that YouTube could be worth around $400 billion as an independent entity. And the investment bank Needham & Co raises that figure to a minimum of 455,000 million, which would practically equal the sum of the stock market value of its rivals Netflix and Disney.

Analyst Laura Martin, co-author of the note along with Dan Medina, explained about this in an interview that "there is a hidden value in YouTube that cannot be negotiated separately, and that is trapped in Google in a conglomerate that has many other risks. Those threats include the potential impact of generative artificial intelligence on search and the associated business of planning around it.

The structure of the technology giant has traditionally been criticized by those who consider that it does not allow us to glimpse the real value of the different businesses it includes. And even possible threats by regulators to force the segregation of that conglomerate have been received with goodwill by some investors.

In fact, the calculation carried out by Martin and Medina concludes that, even if only 5% of YouTube were available on the market, Alphabet's stock could benefit from an increase of up to $15. In the note, both maintain that the company would have greater added value on the stock market if it were divided, a strategy that, for example, explains the recently announced separation of Vivendi into four companies.

 Needham & Co raises the figure that MoffetNathanson had estimated in March and encourages debate about the hidden value of the platform.

YouTube in particular is attracting more and more attention from analysts to the extent that its advertising revenue is especially buoyant based on its distribution model with creators. A quarter of them were already charging in the first quarter also for advertising associated with short videos, a more complicated format to monetize commercially and in which they stand up to TikTok.

It is also supporting this traditional billing with growing income from subscriptions to its Music and Premium modalities. This chapter is not segregated in the accounts but Google confirmed in January that in 2023 it had generated 15,000 million dollars through recurring payments for services and already in May of last year the CEO of YouTube indirectly indicated that this business had reached that platform. 11 billion dollars in the previous 12 months.

Finally, MoffetNathanson predicts that in 2026 this platform will become the largest pay television provider in the US with 12.6 million customers. In that race to gain critical mass, Morgan Stanley estimated in November of last year that it would lose $1.2 billion with its foray into American football broadcasting rights despite adding 1.5 million subscribers.

https://dircomfidencial.com/marketing-digital/youtube-podria-valer-por-separado-casi-tanto-como-disney-y-netflix-juntas-20240712-0404/