If you think you know YouTube, be sure to check out Dude Perfect's channel. Dude Perfect turned into a YouTube sensation with low-budget short videos featuring sports stunts and trick shots. In just one viral example, Dude Perfect creators broke the Guinness World Record for the highest basketball shot (856 feet) from the SkyPod Tower in Las Vegas.
The Dude Perfect channel reaches 61 million regular monthly viewers, mostly young people. That kind of success helped YouTube, which marked its 20th anniversary this year, become a major growth driver for Google stock and parent company Alphabet.
But YouTube is changing as its video creators, Dude Perfect among them, charge into long-form content. The video platform has evolved into what television once was for earlier generations.
"For the next generation, YouTube really has become TV," Dude Perfect Chief Executive Andrew Yaffe told Investor's Business Daily. "YouTube is an amazing platform for us. It is the heartbeat of our company and will be forever."
And with artificial intelligence nibbling at Google's search business, that's a good thing for the company. As competition heats up in the overall digital advertising market, YouTube could provide new revenue streams.
Once YouTube was known as a platform for sharing short, quirky videos of dancing cats and silly pranks. Acquired in 2006, YouTube has morphed from a mobile-first site into a dynamic platform that enables creators to produce content rivaling Hollywood productions and the traditional powerhouses that dominate television.
Google Stock: 'TV Becoming YouTube'
"This isn't about YouTube becoming more like traditional TV," said YouTube CEO Neal Mohan at a recent event. "This is about TV becoming YouTube."
YouTube is steadily becoming stronger in the $150 billion TV advertising market. It had 12.8% of TV viewers in June, according to Nielsen, up from 6% in early 2021. Netflix had a 7.5% share.
What's more, YouTube is becoming the central hub for all types of video with a global platform of some 2.5 billion monthly users. "We believe YouTube is positioned to become the home for all things video," said Michael Nathanson, analyst at MoffettNathanson, in a report.
YouTube recorded $36 billion in advertising revenue alone in 2024, roughly 15% of Alphabet's ad sales. In 2024, YouTube raked in some $54.5 billion in total revenue, estimated Goldman Sachs. It predicts YouTube revenue will hit $107.5 billion in 2030, boosted by subscriptions.
The Rise Of YouTube Creators
Dude Perfect is just one of dozens of YouTube creators diving into long-form content. One show in July, "I Tried America's Most Dangerous Sport," documented how Dude Perfect cofounder Tyler Toney learned to ride bulls at a rodeo in Texas.
To prepare for the challenge, Toney trained with country music star Cody Johnson and professional bull rider Dale Brisby. The video culminates in Toney's ride on a bull called Stomper at the Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth.
Dude Perfect just completed a 21-city "Hero Tour" featuring live-action versions of its family-friendly YouTube content blending comedy and competition. In September, it plans to release a movie based on the "Hero Tour" that it hopes will run at theaters worldwide.
"I think what is defined as TV-type content is blurring and lots of things that historically you would see on TV you now see on YouTube," CEO Yaffe said. "More than half our content is consumed on television sets and is produced like a television show."
YouTube is playing off its strengths, but in new ways.
"Two-thirds or more of all content on YouTube now being consumed runs 20 or 30 minutes or longer," said Evan Shapiro, an entertainment industry commentator. "There are two massive reasons why YouTube is doing so well on television. One is the fact it literally has everything. And two, it's radically personalized to each user."
Google Stock: YouTube's Expanding Reach
Ed Simpson, chief strategy officer for Wheelhouse Entertainment, said YouTube's growth has been dramatic over the past year. Wheelhouse — an entertainment, talent and investing platform — was founded in 2018 by Brent Montgomery, a reality TV pioneer.
"YouTube specifically has gone mainstream over the last 24 months," Simpson told IBD. "The volume of content that is being consumed across the YouTube platform is really significant in terms of daily consumption of content and where (viewers) spend their time. And YouTube has moved from being a mobile-first platform to being predominantly TV-distributed."
Along the way, YouTube is expanding its reach, Simpson said.
"One of the most interesting things about the move to the TV screen is that YouTube is no longer the presenter of the under-30s," he said. "The 40- to 60-year-old category is now the fastest-growing consumer on YouTube."
While traditional media companies increasingly rely on YouTube as a distribution platform, creators — influencers, producers and performers — are still YouTube's lifeblood. The company paid out some $70 billion to media companies, artists and creators over the last three years.
YouTube shares ad revenue with creators. Creators get 55%, YouTube garners 45%.
Dude Perfect's Yaffe said YouTube's growth in TV screen viewership "has to do with improvement in content quality and the availability of content."
"It is an incredibly well-designed product. And whatever content people want, they'll find it there and of a quality that is equivalent to most of what is on television at this point."
Shift To Long-Form YouTube Content
A growing army of creators is leading YouTube's expansion into living-room TVs. More creators are making the TV crossover with comedy, documentaries and other content.
Creators face many challenges shifting to long-form content. Storytelling approaches differ from short-form content. They also may need to organize their content into seasons and episodes — like TV shows.
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And, creators need to invest in bigger production crews.
Simpson of Wheelhouse Entertainment estimated that roughly a thousand YouTube creators have the capabilities to cross over into TV. Hundreds could succeed, he said.
YouTube has been helping creators forge sponsorship deals with major advertising brands.
"YouTube is continuing to be a juggernaut," Simpson said. "The YouTube platform is an incredibly efficient self-distribution, self-create, self-monetized platform. That enables creators to build significant businesses because the audience is there, the money is there, and the distribution is there."
Some creators are building full-scale studios. "YouTubers are becoming the startups of Hollywood," YouTube's Mohan said in a blog post.
Long-Form YouTube Video Success Stories
A notable YouTube success story is Dhar Mann Studios, which built a following by offering morality tales. Launched in 2018, Dhar Mann is venturing into long-form TV with inspirational content.
Dhar Mann Studios now operates out of a 125,000-square-foot production facility in Burbank, the largest creator-led studio space in the Los Angeles area. On average, it produces five 25-minute episodes a week. The company recently signed an advertising deal with Studio71 to bring in more big-brand advertising to the TV shows. Studio71 is a media company that focuses on helping content creators grow their brands and monetize their content.
Dhar Mann Studios CEO Sean Atkins credited the company's success to its "universal storytelling."
"We are successful across almost a hundred countries," he told IBD. "The themes that we cover are universal. Human truths. We don't chase algorithmic trends. We tell emotional stories, which is a powerful thing. We're the biggest scripted digital player, storyteller, in the entire world at scale."
That doesn't mean the company can accomplish anything and everything.
"We don't have the economics or distribution to make a Marvel film and we're not trying to," Atkins said. "That's not what our focus is. I think there's a misnomer that creators are trying to be Hollywood, or that Hollywood is trying to be creators. The answer is actually a melding of DNA, not (that) one wins and the other loses."
Battle For Video Creators Heats Up
Creators are jockeying for position in long-form content just as YouTube finds itself competing for talent with tech giants like Netflix and Amazon.
One of YouTube's biggest stars, Jimmy Donaldson, aka "Mr. Beast," sold a game show to Amazon. Rachel Accuro, the children's YouTube star known as Miss Rachel, announced a deal with Netflix in early 2025. Netflix stock has gained 39% in 2025.
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But YouTube remains a formidable force in the battle over content. While Netflix won the video streaming wars, Shapiro said it's a different fight with YouTube because long-form creator content is key.
"Now we're in a new era where it's all formulating from the creator economy," he said. "And Netflix is losing." He notes that Netflix has opened the door to selling advertising after saying it would not.
Yaffe of Dude Perfect echoed that view, arguing that YouTube brings a lot to the table.
"The content we're making continues to resonate on YouTube, and that is always where we start. I think we'd look at other platforms when they're able to provide something that YouTube is unable to, or if they're able to provide a different audience or an expansion of our audience."
Google Stock: AI Impact On YouTube
YouTube can also bank on getting a boost from a trend in which its parent company is a major player: artificial intelligence.
AI is providing YouTube creators with tools for creating higher-quality content.
"AI will further the democratization of content," said Shapiro. "When editing and graphics and costumes and music become infinitely available through AI production to creators, they're going to be able to level up and compete more ably with massive studio productions. Conversely, I think that AI will infiltrate the studio ecosystem and create massive efficiencies, lowering the price of production and development, speeding up time to market, but most importantly, improving advertising and discoverability on TV."
In fact, generative AI is supercharging YouTube's advertising business. In May, YouTube unveiled search tools enabling brands to find relevant creators with an AI agent chatbot. It also recently announced tools that allow advertisers to use Google's AI models to target viewers when they are most engaged with a video.
What YouTube Growth Means For Google Stock
Google is among the top AI stocks to watch.
An even more successful YouTube would make Google stock more attractive to investors at a time the company is facing growing competition, including from other Magnificent Seven stocks like Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Amazon and Apple.
Acquiring YouTube has clearly been one of Google's smartest bets. The tech giant bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006.
YouTube rakes in nearly six times that amount – in a quarter. In Q2, YouTube sales jumped 13% to $9.79 billion, beating estimates of $9.58 billion.
Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan says YouTube has had a meaningful impact on Google stock. Even so, he notes that YouTube's profitability is a mystery. Google does not disclose it.
Sheridan expects YouTube subscription revenue growth to outpace advertising, driven mostly by subscriber additions. Non-advertising revenue comes from subscriptions to YouTube Premium & Music, cable-like YouTube TV, and NFL Sunday Ticket.
Goldman Sachs also expects YouTube Shorts, a short-form video rival of TikTok, to generate $3.1 billion in ad sales in 2025 and projects it will reach $8.7 billion by the end of 2029.
Sheridan forecasts that YouTube TV subscribers will grow to nearly 18 million by the end of 2029 from 8 million in Q1 2024, which was Google's last update. YouTube TV costs $83 monthly for a bundle of channels similar to cable TV.
"YouTube remains a key driver for Alphabet's forward revenue growth and an underappreciated asset within Alphabet," he said in a late-May report.
Is Google A Good Stock Now?
After underperforming in the first half of 2025, Google stock is now up 7% for 2025.
Google stock holds an IBD Composite Rating of 96 out of a best-possible 99, according to IBD Stock Checkup. The Composite Rating combines five IBD ratings of a stock's fundamental and technical performance into one easy-to-use rating. The best growth stocks have a Composite Rating of 90 or better.
Meanwhile, Google stock holds an Accumulation/Distribution Rating of B, according to IBD MarketSurge. That rating analyzes price and volume changes in a stock over the past 13 weeks of trading to discern trends in buying and selling by large institutional investors. (A+ signifies heavy institutional buying; E means heavy selling. Think of a C grade as neutral.)
What does technical analysis tell investors about buying Google stock now? Last week Google broke out of a cup-with-handle base with a buy point of 197.95, as shown on a weekly price chart. The stock is still in the 5% buy zone, which extends to 207.85. Yesterday Google shares closed at 202.94.
(Learn more about how to profitably invest in growth stocks here.)
Follow Reinhardt Krause on Twitter @reinhardtk_tech for updates on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.
