Tube Trends: How Netflix Would Upgrade YouTube Footprint With Warner Bros.

There’s been no shortage of digital ink spilled around Netflix’s potential acquisition of Warner Bros., as well as the inevitable counteroffer from Paramount — even here at TVREV, where multiple articles (that are well worth your time) have been published on the topic.

However, one thing that is flying under the radar in all of the takeover talks is what Netflix (or Paramount) potentially acquires in terms of Warner Bros.’ social video audience, specifically on YouTube.

Data from Tubular Labs sheds additional light on the topic, first showcasing the unique U.S. audience reach on YouTube for Netflix, Warner Bros. and Paramount, plus the country’s other largest media properties for comparison:

While Warner Bros. sits fourth, its YouTube channels (including subsidiaries) still accounts for about a third of the U.S. population. Disney, Paramount and Comcast have larger footprints, but not to such an overwhelming extent. And all three have the added benefit of NFL rights in the the fall that provide a boost Warner Bros. does not have access to.

The nature of YouTube audiences is also continuing to shift — and specifically, grow. Earlier this year, Pew Research found that 85% of U.S. adults use YouTube. And coupled with data that highlights how increasing numbers of Americans are using the platform as a substitute for traditional TV, Warner Bros.’ social video viewers may actually be the secret sauce in any acquisition.

To that point, Netflix would particularly benefit.

Though the streaming giant’s 66.3 million unique U.S. viewers on YouTube in October (according to Tubular) is half of the totals from other properties, it’s still doing so with effectively one line of business: Netflix.

Parsing around the other properties, each has been around for many decades and features a variety of sports, news, streaming, broadcast, cable and studio divisions under its larger banner. Netflix being where it is — sitting among the most-watched media properties in the U.S. — given its lack of those assets is an achievement.

But of course, it can still stand to climb. And acquiring Warner Bros. would still do just that.

Tubular’s audience overlap data shows that about 54% of the viewers on various Warner Bros. YouTube properties also watch Netflix on some social video platform, meaning that Netflix could be adding 46% new unique viewers via a potential deal.

Considering Netflix’s use of social video to push awareness of new titles, being able to grow that reach via potential partnerships with Warner Bros. channels could create a significant bump around future debuts.

Despite the larger size of Paramount’s audience, the overlap isn’t much larger across social video platforms than it is for Netflix.

The same Tubular audience overlap data shows that 57% of the viewers on Warner Bros. YouTube properties also watched Paramount on a social video platform.

No matter which deal goes through, it could push the combined entity closer to 200 million unique viewers in the U.S. alone, which would make it the country’s largest media property by far on YouTube. It would also plot a course for how to continue to drive domestic streaming subscriber and theatrical sales growth in an environment that’s none too hospitable to either.

For Netflix, in particular, this is its potential moment to leap into the same stratosphere as these established behemoths — even as its pockets are already deeper than all of theirs. The focus in the short-term will be on the obvious assets it acquires (a popular streaming service and premium cable channel, a famed movie studio). But the jewel of it all may wind up being the one that’s already on everyone’s phone and computer, giving Netflix an avenue to become one of YouTube’s largest players in the process as TV continues to make long-term shifts.