Youtube doesn’t have a large competitor challenging it for market share like other major companies do. There are plenty of streaming services, but YouTube is the only game in town when it comes to people generally browsing video content and following their favorite creators.
Coca-Cola has Pepsi. McDonald’s has Burger King. Toyota has Honda. Why doesn’t YouTube have one?
In: Economics
Let’s say you want to start a lemonade stand, because your neighbour Jimmy has earned a good amount of pocket money and bought lots of Fortnite skins with his Lemonade stand money. Jimmy has done so well because there were multiple barbeques happening lately, it’s summer and it’s hot: and Jimmy makes a really great lemonade compared to no lemonade. Jimmy’s lemonade has become a big deal and everyone knows Jimmy’s lemonade and either like it or not, it’s a known lemonade either way.
Now you start your own Lemonade stand OP’s lemonade. Since you are starting out people aren’t sure about your stand, it looks a little rickity and not as well put together as Jimmy who has been around and invested money. However, your mother grows strawberries and you found a way to make strawberry lemonade. You manage to move some customers from Jimmy to your stand who prefer strawberries over just lemons and some of the folks who weren’t convinced about Jimmy’s lemonade DO like your strawberry lemonade. Over time you establish yourself as the place to get strawberry lemonade and to Jimmy for regular.
If OPs Lemonade stand would have stuck with regular lemonade they may not have gotten as big because Jimmy had already convinced the whole neighborhood that this is the place to go, and there is no reason to go somewhere else. By offering a different taste you can get some folks who want something different, and maybe some folks who weren’t otherwise interested in lemonade.
Youtube has been offering “free” lemonade for some time, and really perfected Lemonade. That doesn’t mean that other flavours aren’t available: there are Netflix (strawberry) and Twitch (raspberry) for those looking for something else. So are there competitors in the streaming lemonade stand business? There absolutely are! Are they all looking to sell regular lemonade? Not so much, because it’s hard to beat the free lemonade you’ve been conveniently getting for a long time, and you have a favorite cardboard box to sit on.
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