YouTube wants to look a little more like Netflix... Netflix feels the same

YouTube’s latest move shows it’s doubling down on subscriptions, while Netflix wants a piece of its ad game.

2/24/25 11:22AM

YouTube has made billions from ads. Now, it keeps exploring ways for users to pay to see fewer of them.

According to Bloomberg, the streaming giant is planning to roll out a cheaper, ad-free subscription tier called “Premium Lite” in several markets, including the US and Australia. For less than the current $13.99/month price, users can ditch ads on most content — music videos being the crucial exception.

The move makes sense, given YouTube’s deep reliance on advertising: in 2024, it pulled in a staggering $36 billion from ads alone, just shy of Netflix’s entire $39 billion haul. That’s even before factoring in what YouTube makes from its more than 100 million Premium and Music subscribers.

While Alphabet doesn’t reveal the exact splits between YouTube’s ads and subscription revenues, the company revealed last year that YouTube’s total revenue topped $50 billion for the first time during the 12 months ending Q3 2024. Some quick math shows that 70% of sales came from ads, with the remaining ~30% from subscriptions. Two weeks ago, YouTube hit another major milestone, saying that more people now watch YouTube on TV than on phones — further evidence that YouTube, rather than Disney or Amazon, might be Netflix’s stiffest competition for attention after all.

Of course, while YouTube is going after subscribers, Netflix is making moves in the opposite direction.

Once famously anti-ads (cofounder Reed Hastings once criticized ads for “exploiting users”), Netflix changed course in 2022, launching a cheaper, ad-supported tier after suffering its largest-ever subscriber loss. Two years later, over 55% of new sign-ups in ad-supported regions now opt for this ad-backed plan.

Still, ads are “not a material component” of Netflix’s total revenue, per its latest annual report. But the subscription juggernaut expects its ad business to “transition from crawl to walk” in 2025, Co-CEO Gregory Peters said during last month’s earnings call.

Claire Yubin Oh & Jon Keegan

Nebius soars after signing a five year deal with Microsoft to supply nearly $20 billion worth of AI computing power

Artificial intelligence infrastructure group Nebius jumped more than 50% in early trading on Tuesday as the company announced a major deal to supply computing power for Microsoft’s AI operations after the close on Monday.

Under the agreement, Nebius — which rose from the ashes of Russian tech giant Yandex — will provide Microsoft “access to dedicated GPU infrastructure capacity in tranches at its new data center in Vineland, New Jersey over a five-year term.” The New Jersey data center has a capacity of 300 megawatts. The total contract value through 2031 is $17.4 billion, although, if further capacity is required, the contract value could rise to $19.4 billion.

The deal represents a sizable portion of Microsoft's proposed annual capital expenditure on AI, which is expected to reach $120 billion by the end of fiscal 2026.

Nebius and competitor CoreWeave are both on the short list of startups that Nvidia has invested in. Nvidia’s small stake in the former is now worth around $120 million.

Nebius announces multi-billion dollar agreement with Microsoft for AI infrastructure

The deal represents a sizable portion of Microsoft's proposed annual capital expenditure on AI, which is expected to reach $120 billion by the end of fiscal 2026.

Nebius and competitor CoreWeave are both on the short list of startups that Nvidia has invested in. Nvidia’s small stake in the former is now worth around $120 million.

President Trump hosts tech executives and their guests to a dinner at the White House in the Oval Office.

Here are the Trump ties among the tech leaders who had dinner at the White House

Many of the attendees have donated to, vocally supported, or even worked for the president.

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Rani Molla

21h

Tesla’s EV market share declined to 38% in August

In August, Tesla’s share of the US EV market fell to 38%, according to new data from Cox Automotive reported by Reuters. Tesla’s market share fell below 50% for the first time last year, as competitors’ EVs began hitting the market. Now, as Tesla’s own sales slip more drastically than they had last year, it’s giving up even more ground. Tesla’s market share fell from 48.7% in June to 42% in July to 38% in August, according to Reuters. That slide has come even as buyers rushing to take advantage of the federal tax credit that ends this month provide a near-term boon for sales at Tesla and other EV makers.

$115B

Rani Molla

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OpenAI now expects to burn around $115 billion through 2029 — a full $80 billion higher than the company had previously estimated, The Information reports.

Just how much is that? It’s roughly equivalent to:

Fortunately for OpenAI, which is raising money at a $500 billion valuation, its revenue is also growing faster than expected. The ChatGPT maker now expects to make $13 billion in revenue this year and $200 billion in 2030.

An annotated photo of who attended the tech dinner at the White House.

An interactive who's-who of the tech execs at Trump's White House dinner

The White House invited a gaggle of top founders and tech executives for an intimate dinner at the White House.

Jon Keegan9/5/25