YouTube

ABC revamped its fall marketing strategy this year to better attract frequent YouTube viewers, working closely with YouTube parent Google to create ads for a new generation of TV watchers. Google hosted workshops for ABC to formulate a digital strategy to reach YouTube viewers who are younger, often have a shorter attention span and are constantly on mobile devices.

ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Videos turns 25, with YouTube a surprising part of its continued success.

The great promise of YouTube was its ability to cut out Hollywood-style intermediaries, but there are now more than 20 agencies and management companies competing to represent YouTube personalities, at least triple the number of three years ago.

U.S. advertising revenue for YouTube, the biggest Internet video website, could reach $1.13 billion in 2014, according to a report from research firm EMarketer. That would be an increase of 39% from 2013, EMarketer said today. However, the research company estimated that YouTube’s share of the U.S. digital video advertising market will decline in the face of rising competition from companies including AOL and Yahoo, which are expanding their online video businesses.

YouTube, broken out from Google’s overall business, is potentially worth more than Twitter with a valuation up to $40 billion, according to an analysis Jefferies. The report looked at the growth of digital video advertising and YouTube, a top beneficiary of this growing segment. Jefferies said online video ads would be a $17 billion market in the U.S. by 2017 and that YouTube will grow from $5.9 billion in video ad sales this year to $8.9 billion in 2016.

Most publishers pushing into video try get people to their sites and then use YouTube for marketing. Not so for Mashable, which is centralizing its video strategy firmly around YouTube. Over the last year, the tech news and Web-culture publisher has aggressively built a bigger presence on the Google video hub, allocating a substantial chunk of its recent $14 million funding round to video production efforts. In recent months, Mashable has tailored its editorial video content strategy around the young YouTube community.

Google has reportedly closed a deal to acquire Twitch for $1 billion to join YouTube as it builds out its video and live streaming business. The deal highlights the use of the Web for live streaming events, especially for sports and concerts.

The companies’ interest in the YouTube network, which has15,000 channels with 200 million subscribers, is part of their larger effort to invest in advertising and subscription video-on-demand channels and streaming services. But as much as online video is growing, analysts say TV still dominates in importance.

YouTube has embarked on a new round of discussions with Hollywood and independent producers to fund premium content, two sources with knowledge of the talks tell Reuters, a move that could bolster a three-year-old multimillion-dollar effort that has had mixed success so far. The talks underscore Google Inc’s desire to complete YouTube’s transition from a repository for grainy home videos to a site sporting the more polished content crucial to securing higher-priced advertising.

A new study from Adroit Digital, Online Video: Look Who’s Watching Now, found YouTube beats live television when it comes to sources most used to watch video content with 68% of those surveyed saying they turned to YouTube for watching videos while only 51% said live TV. Netflix came in with 49% of the vote.

YouTube will be the primary platform on which we consume media in half a decade, dwarfing current television giants, according to Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation. He described YouTube as a fantastic platform for studios to discover new talent and said that companies should be looking to invest in it as soon as possible.

In a crowded field, the former Daily Show comedian has been perfecting the art of the YouTube rant to stand out. The clips have worked out so far, racking up millions of views and spreading the word about Oliver’s Sunday night HBO show.

Starting today, Internet providers in the United States will be held accountable for lackluster YouTube streaming speeds. Google has brought its Video Quality Report — first launched in Canada at the start of this year — to the U.S., and is now ranking ISPs like Cablevision and Verizon FiOS based on the fidelity of their YouTube streams.

Google’s YouTube has reached a deal to buy Twitch, a popular videogame streaming company, for more than $1 billion, according to sources familiar with the pact. The deal, in an all-cash offer, is expected to be announced imminently, sources said. If completed, the acquisition would be the most significant in the history of YouTube, which Google acquired in 2006 for $1.65 billion. The impending acquisition comes after longtime Google ad exec Susan Wojcicki was named CEO of YouTube earlier this year.

YouTube is having a measurable impact on TV consumption, with nearly one fifth (19%) of YouTube users saying they pay less attention to TV and 17% stating that they watch TV less overall.

Walt Disney Co. is buying Maker Studios, the digital media company behind YouTube successes such as Epic Rap Battles of History and PewDiePie. Disney will pay $500 million to Maker shareholders. Maker Studios has about 55,000 YouTube channels with 380 million subscribers and 5.5 billion views per month.

Susan Wojcicki, one of the earliest Google employees who’s currently senior VP of ads and commerce, will become the next head of YouTube, the company has confirmed. Wojcicki, 45, is replacing Salar Kamangar, senior VP of YouTube and video.

YouTube is vague on its numbers and says only that thousands of channels, among the million or so that collect revenue directly through the partners program, earn at least six figures in revenue. But many of its content creators areworried about dropping ad prices, the escalating costs of production and YouTube’s cut of the profits.

Super Bowl ads released on YouTube prior to the 2013 game drove 3.4 times more views on average than commercials released on TV the day of the game. Google is expecting better results this year. There are more than 55 Super Bowl spots currently posted to YouTube.

The Financial Times reports that the service’s net revenue after paying its partners will be close to $2 bilion. Google bought the video service in 2006 for $1.65 billion. FT subscribers can read the full story here.

Google said it will begin allowing Nielsen to measure audiences for ads on its YouTube website, a decision that could give ad buyers more confidence to shift dollars to online video.

The most popular digital services in North Ameria continue to be Netflix and YouTube — by a wide margin, according to Sandvine’s newest Global Internet Phenomena Report. The report shows that video streams from the two services together made up more than half of all peak residential downstream traffic in the month of September. The other big names, Hulu and Amazon, together just account for 3% of all peak downstream traffic during the same time period.

YouTube is expanding its program that allows partners to charge subscription fees for their channels. The online video service, which launched the program in May with a pilot group of partners, has opened the it to eligible partners in good standing with a channel that has least 10,000 existing subscribers, YouTube announced in a blog post.

Twitter’s public S-1 filing revealed details on tweet distribution and plans for growing ad revenue through Twitter Amplify and real-time TV ad targeting. These plans and details show how Twitter could take $1 billion dollars in ad revenue from YouTube.

YouTube will livestream a music awards show on Nov. 3 with a performance by Lady Gaga. Kia is the nine-minute event’s title sponsor.

The ad-free Saturday Night Live channel is only available internationally to promote overseas TV syndication deals. A bulk of SNL’s content is available only on Yahoo, which is using thousands of segments from the show to anchor the launch of its original comedies. NBC and Hulu retain the online rights to full episodes.

Blip Networks, which transformed itself from a generic YouTube alternative to a platform for serialized online video, is being bought by one of YouTube’s biggest networks of publishers.