YouTube reaches over 100 million hours of daily watch time on TV
TV viewing accounts for 10% of all YouTube watch time, while the video streaming site is racking up 100 million hours a day on living room devices, according to Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a Q3 earnings call. CFO Ruth Porat also revealed YouTube's ad viewability rate was 95%, compared with an industry average of 60%. Pichai also brushed off the recent problems of ads being placed near extremist content. He said YouTube was focusing on improving the customer experience and increasing its subscriptions business.

YouTube is now seeing over 100 million hours of watch time on living room devices every single day. The new data point was revealed by Google CEO Sundar Pichai during the company’s Q3 2017 earnings call Thursday, where executives also once again called out the video service as a major revenue driver. “YouTube continues to see phenomenal growth,” said Pichai.

This was the first time Google specifically referenced the total watch time on smart TVs and other living room devices. Earlier this year, the company revealed that it now sees more than 1 billion hours of watch time across all devices.

This means that viewing on TV is accounting for roughly 10 percent of all YouTube watch time. The company previously said that more than half of its views come from mobile devices. Altogether, YouTube has more than 1.5 billion users watching an average of 60 minutes of videos every day. For reference: Back in 2012, YouTube streamed just 100 million hours per day to all devices, period.

Alphabet and Google CFO Ruth Porat used Thursday’s earnings call to once again point to YouTube as a key revenue driver for the company, without specifically breaking out YouTube’s revenue. She also pointed out that YouTube has a 95 percent ad viewability rate, compared to an average 60 percent across the industry.

However, Porat also singled out YouTube content licensing as one of the reasons for growing costs in Google’s balance sheets. YouTube continues to invest in original programming, and just this week announced that it had bought the rights for “Origin,” a Sci-Fi show from Left Bank Pictures, the production company behind Netflix’s “The Crown.”

Asked about a backlash YouTube suffered earlier this year, when some brands found their ads near inappropriate content, Porat suggested that things have vastly improved. “We have been doing a lot to protect the ecosystem and doing the right thing for advertisers,” she said, adding: “The vast majority of advertisers never left.” Out of those who did take their business of the service, many had already returned.

Pichai said that Google’s three major focus areas for YouTube going forward would be improving the community experience, driving further growth to the platform and growing its subscription businesses. Part of these efforts is also YouTube TV, the company’s internet-based TV subscription service that it launched earlier this year. “Given where we are, I’m really excited about the initial reception,” Pichai said about YouTube TV.