For the past few years or so, streaming services have been engaged in a multibillion-dollar battle to grow as fast as possible and capture market share.

在過去幾年左右的時間裡，串流媒體服務一直在進行一場耗資數十億美元的戰鬥，以盡可能快地增長並佔領市場。

However, as interest rates have risen and demand for new content has dried up post pandemic,

然而，隨著利率上升以及疫情後對新內容的需求枯竭，

companies have responded by battening down the hatches and trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of their existing subscriber base.

各家公司的應對措施是做好準備，並試圖從現有用戶群中榨取盡可能多的資金。

At first glance, the winner here looks to be Netflix, who have maintained their dominance in the streaming game and seen their share price recover over 2023.

乍一看，贏家似乎是 Netflix，他們在串流遊戲中保持了主導地位，股價在 2023 年有所回升。

However, the real winner here might actually be YouTube which has seen by far and away the steepest increase in view time over the past year.

然而，真正的贏家實際上可能是 YouTube，在過去的一年裡，YouTube 的觀看時間成長無疑是最快的。

So in this video, we're going to take a look at how the streaming wars are going, why Netflix is doing better than the rest and why YouTube is actually doing the best.

因此，在本影片中，我們將了解串流媒體大戰的進展情況、為什麼 Netflix 比其他公司表現更好，以及為什麼 YouTube 其實才是最好的。

So let's start with a quick recap of how the streaming wars are going.

讓我們先快速回顧一下串流媒體大戰的進展。

In the late 2010s and during the pandemic, there was a sort of streaming gold rush as big players plowed billions of dollars into streaming to guarantee themselves a share of this apparently lucrative market.

在 2010 年代末和新冠疫情期間，出現了一種串流淘金熱，大型公司投入數十億美元進入串流媒體，以確保自己在這個看似利潤豐厚的市場中佔有一席之地。

When digital companies like Netflix started producing competitive original content in the 2010s, the Hollywood establishment started worrying that Silicon Valley was making a play for its business.

當 Netflix 等數位公司在 2010 年代開始製作有競爭力的原創內容時，好萊塢機構開始擔心矽谷正在利用其業務。

Like many other industries before them, music, books, taxis, the movie industry suddenly looked at risk of being replaced by a flashy digital surrogate.

與之前的許多其他行業（音樂、書籍、計程車）一樣，電影業突然面臨被華而不實的數位替代品取代的風險。

And Netflix and co weren't quiet about their ambitions either.

Netflix 及其合作夥伴也沒有對他們的野心保持沉默。

In 2013, after Netflix released the critically acclaimed House of Cards, its CEO Ted Sarandos told investors that the goal is to become HBO faster than HBO becomes us.

2013 年，Netflix 推出廣受好評的《紙牌屋》後，其執行長 Ted Sarandos 告訴投資者，我們的目標是比 HBO 成為我們更快地成為 HBO。

To defend their position, establishment titans like Disney HBO and Paramount plowed billions of dollars into developing their own streaming services.

為了捍衛自己的地位，迪士尼 HBO 和派拉蒙等知名巨頭投入了數十億美元開發自己的串流服務。

Netflix and co then responded in kind, borrowing and investing billions of dollars in an attempt to supercharge their growth and capture market share.

Netflix 及其公司隨後做出了同樣的回應，借貸和投資了數十億美元，試圖加速成長並佔領市場。

And this investment only grew in 2020 and 2021 when money was cheap and the pandemic spurred demand for new shows.

而這項投資僅在 2020 年和 2021 年資金便宜且疫情刺激了新節目需求時才增加。

However, in the past 18 months or so, as the cost of borrowing has increased and subscriber growth has stalled, the streaming gold rush has apparently come to an end.

然而，在過去18個月左右的時間裡，隨著借貸成本的上升和用戶成長的停滯，串流媒體淘金熱顯然已經結束。

In fact, subscriber bases started shrinking and many streaming services started posting billion dollar losses throughout 2022.

事實上，用戶群開始萎縮，許多串流媒體服務開始在 2022 年損失數十億美元。

Now, these companies then reacted by focusing less on subscriber growth and more on cutting costs and squeezing as much money out of their existing subscriber base as they could.

現在，這些公司的應對措施是減少對用戶成長的關注，而更專注於削減成本並從現有用戶群中榨取盡可能多的資金。

To do this, they laid staff off, stopped commissioning as many shows and cut writer costs.

為了做到這一點，他們解雇了員工，停止了許多節目的委託，並削減了編劇成本。

Some of them also introduced ads or tiered subscriptions.

其中一些還引入了廣告或分層訂閱。

And Netflix specifically cracked down on shared subscriptions.

Netflix 也專門打擊了共享訂閱。

And this tighter monetary environment has proven especially difficult for smaller streaming services who don't have piles of cash in the bank.

事實證明，這種緊張的貨幣環境對於銀行裡沒有大量現金的小型串流媒體公司來說尤其困難。

And there's a good chance that if borrowing costs stay high for a while, these smaller companies could end up being bought out by their bigger cash-rich peers.

如果借貸成本在一段時間內保持高位，這些規模較小的公司很可能最終會被現金充裕的大型同業收購。

The richest of these is Apple, which obviously has a presence in the streaming industry via Apple TV, and has literally the biggest cash reserve of any company in the world with an estimated $160 billion.

其中最富有的是蘋果公司，它顯然透過 Apple TV 涉足串流媒體行業，並且擁有世界上最大的現金儲備，估計達 1600 億美元。

In fact, Apple is so rich that in 2021 when it decided to borrow $14 billion in five year notes, its annual interest rate was just 0.7%.

事實上，蘋果富有到以至於在 2021 年決定借入 140 億美元的五年期票據時，其年利率僅為 0.7%。

That means that incredibly, Apple could borrow money roughly as cheaply as the US government.

這意味著，令人難以置信的是，蘋果借錢的成本與美國政府大致相同。

But perhaps the one company that's truly the exception to this tightening and this squeezing of budgets is Netflix.

但也許 Netflix 才是真正在這種緊縮和預算緊縮中例外的一家公司。

Like other streaming services, Netflix did have a tough 2022.

與其他串流媒體服務一樣，Netflix 的 2022 年確實很艱難。

In fact, we made a whole video about it, but it's rebounded significantly this year.

事實上，我們製作了一個關於它的完整影片，但今年它明顯反彈。

You can see this just by taking a look at their stock price which fell 75% from October 2021 to May 2022, but has since recovered about two-thirds of its 2023 value.

只要看看他們的股價就可以看出這一點，從 2021 年 10 月到 2022 年 5 月，該公司股價下跌了 75%，但此後已恢復到 2023 年價值的約三分之二。

Netflix's revival seems to have something to do with the fact that it has the deepest content library, which means that it was the least affected by Hollywood's writers' strike, which began on May 7th with the Writers Guild of America.

Netflix的復興似乎與它擁有最深的內容庫有關，這意味著它受到好萊塢編劇罷工影響最小，這場罷工始於 5 月 7 日，由美國編劇工會發起。

Anyway, according to its Q3 report, Netflix's profits were actually up 20% year on year and they added 9 million new subscribers.

不管怎麼說，根據第三季的報告，Netflix 的利潤實際上比去年同期增長了 20%，並且增加了 900 萬新訂戶。

However, while it's not really a streaming service in the typical sense, perhaps the even bigger winner of the streaming wars this year has been YouTube.

不過，雖然它並不是真正意義上的串流媒體，但今年串流媒體大戰的最大贏家或許是 YouTube。

Now, Netflix have always made clear that they weren't just competing with the other streamers, but rather with the entire attention economy.

現在，Netflix 一直明確表示，他們不僅與其他串流媒體競爭，而且與整個注意力經濟競爭。

Its CEO even once said that they thought they were competing against sleep.

其執行長甚至曾經表示，他們認為自己正在與睡眠競爭。

But while Netflix has had a good few months as streaming services have started squeezing their existing user base for profits, they've still made the experience more expensive and less fun.

儘管 Netflix 已經度過了幾個月的美好時光，因為串流媒體服務已經開始擠壓現有用戶群以獲取利潤，但它們仍然讓體驗變得更加昂貴且缺乏樂趣。

And the big winner here has apparently been YouTube.

YouTube 顯然是這場競爭的最大贏家。

Data collected by Nielsen suggests that a year ago, Netflix accounted for 7.3% of all TV viewing in America while YouTube accounted for 6.9%.

尼爾森收集的數據顯示，一年前，Netflix 占美國電視觀看總量的 7.3%，而 YouTube 則佔 6.9%。

Today though, while Netflix's share has gone up a bit to 8.1%, YouTube has been the big winner, leapfrogging Netflix to 9%.

不過如今，雖然 Netflix 的市佔率上升，達到 8.1%，但 YouTube 卻成為最大贏家，一躍超越 Netflix 至 9%。

In practice, this means that YouTube accounts for nearly a quarter of all streaming time more than any other platform.

實際上，這意味著 YouTube 佔所有串流媒體時間的近四分之一，比其他任何平台都多。

Now, this has helped YouTube maintain its steady revenue growth, which has gone from an estimated few billion in the early 20 tens to about $30 billion today.

這幫助 YouTube 保持了穩定的收入成長，收入已從二十出頭的數十億美元增加到如今的約 300 億美元。

Impressively, ad rates have also held up pretty well in 2023, despite the wide economic slowdown.

令人印象深刻的是，儘管經濟普遍放緩，但 2023 年廣告費率也保持得相當不錯。

And in fact, they're actually expected to come in higher than last year.

事實上，他們的收入預計會高於去年。

And it's not just these big aggregate numbers.

這不僅僅是這些龐大的數字。

Individual YouTubers like MrBeast already garner more eyeballs than the best TV shows out there.

像 MrBeast 這樣的個人 YouTube 用戶已經比最好的電視節目吸引了更多的觀眾。

According to data from tech analyst Benedict Evans, if you assume that MrBeast viewers watch 75% of the entire video, then he would get as many views as all but the most watched Netflix TV series.

根據科技分析師 Benedict Evans 的數據顯示，如果假設MrBeast 觀眾觀看了整個影片的 75%，那麼他的觀看次數將與除觀看次數最多的Netflix 電視劇之外的所有觀看次數一樣多。

Anyway, the data here suggests that while some people have moved from other streaming services to Netflix, more people just gave up on paid streaming altogether and decided to spend their screen time on YouTube instead.

無論如何，這裡的數據表明，雖然有些人已經從其他串流媒體服務轉向 Netflix，但更多的人完全放棄了付費串流媒體，並決定將螢幕時間花在 YouTube 上。

Netflix even made a passing mention to this in their Q3 shareholder letter noting that our share of TV stream time in the US is greater than any streamer other than YouTube.

Netflix 甚至在第三季股東信中順便提到了這一點，指出我們在美國電視串流時間中所佔的份額比 YouTube 以外的任何串流媒體都多。

While this might have been meant as a brag, it betrays a real problem for streaming services.

雖然這可能是一種吹噓，但它暴露了串流媒體的真正問題。

If margins remain tight and streaming services have to increasingly rely on ads, then their fraction of the total attention economy will wane even further, probably to YouTube's benefit.

如果利潤仍然緊縮，串流媒體服務必須越來越依賴廣告，那麼它們在整體注意力經濟中所佔的比例將進一步下降，這可能對 YouTube 有利。

Perhaps the main question for YouTube is whether they can convert these new casual viewers into paying subscribers.

也許 YouTube 的主要問題是他們能否將這些新的休閒觀眾轉化為付費訂閱者。

YouTube TV, which sells a bundle of live television channels to American viewers has been a bit of a damp squib.

YouTube TV 向美國觀眾出售一系列直播電視頻道，但它的表現卻有些冷淡。

And while Alphabet doesn't regularly publish subscriber numbers, YouTube's ad-free subscription, YouTube Premium, reached 80 million subscribers in late 2022.

儘管 Alphabet 不會定期公佈訂閱者數量，但 YouTube 的無廣告訂閱 YouTube Premium 訂閱者數量在 2022 年底已達到 8,000 萬。

And while this sounds like a pretty big number, it's only about a third as many as Netflix.

雖然這聽起來是一個相當大的數字，但它只相當於 Netflix 的三分之一左右。

So there's definitely space for growth.

所以肯定有成長空間。

And all the stuff we talk about at TLDR can often seem pretty complicated, especially when we dive deep into economics and detailed data.

我們在 TLDR 討論的所有內容通常看起來相當複雜，尤其是當我們深入研究經濟學和詳細數據時。

But there's a fun and easy way for you to learn more about these topics, which doesn't cost thousands of dollars or take years and years of schooling.

但是，您可以透過一種有趣且簡單的方法來了解有關這些主題的更多信息，而無需花費數千美元或需要多年的學校教育。

That's because Brilliant is the best way to learn maths, data science and computer science interactively.

這是因為 Brilliant 是互動式學習數學、資料科學和電腦科學的最佳方式。

And it doesn't take long to learn either.

而且學習時間也不長。

These complex topics are broken down into accessible chunks, designed around your busy schedule.

這些複雜的主題將被分解成易於理解的小塊，以適應您繁忙的日程安排。

That means that by spending just a few hours a day, you can accumulate new knowledge over time in an actually fun way.

這意味著每天只需花幾個小時，您就可以有趣的累積新知識。

As time goes on, you'll get used to that empowering feeling of learning too because this isn't just about memorization and lectures.

隨著時間的推移，你也會習慣那種充滿力量的學習感覺，因為這不僅僅是記憶和講座。

Brilliant teaches you by doing using active learning techniques to teach you the principles behind otherwise complex subjects and ensuring you actually understand what's going on.

Brilliant 透過使用主動學習技術來教您其他複雜主題背後的原理，並確保您真正理解正在發生的事情。

So whether you want to brush up on basic math skills, improve your employment prospects by learning about future technologies or just have fun with coding,

因此，無論您是想溫習基本的數學技能、透過了解未來技術來改善就業前景還是只是想享受寫程式的樂趣，

then you can check out everything that Brilliant has to offer for free for a full 30 days by clicking our link in the description.

點開說明欄中的連結，在 30 天內免費查看 Brilliant 提供的所有內容。

Plus the first 200 of you to sign up will get 20% off Brilliant's annual premium subscription.

另外，前 200 名註冊者還可享有 Brilliant 年度高級訂閱 20% 的折扣。

Thanks for your support.

感謝您的支持。