YouTube is No. 7 on the list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2024. Explore the full list of companies that are reshaping industries and culture.
In 2023, YouTube made good on its stated mission to become “the first global TV station.”
YouTube TV, the company’s streaming, cord-cutting alternative to cable, grew 48% from the prior year, with a 92% retention rate.
Driving this growth was YouTube’s $2 billion purchase of NFL Sunday Ticket residential streaming rights, which drew sports fans looking to stream out-of-market football games in a uniquely YouTube way: The company introduced the ability to watch up to four livestreams simultaneously, reduced latency so that fans can seamlessly watch games and chat on social media, and introduced its own live chat. Sunday Ticket “allowed us to, really, for the first time anywhere, create that 360 fan experience,” says YouTube CEO Neal Mohan. “From exclusive live games to all of the commentary, highlights, and player-led content, like the Kelce brothers’ New Heights podcast. Consumers want it all in one place.”
YouTube also continued to iterate on its other product offerings. New AI features allow creators to generate soundtracks simply by entering themes, automatically dub content to reach international audiences, and create AI-generated video or image backgrounds by typing an idea into a prompt. “Creators are the lifeblood of YouTube,” Mohan notes. “As we continue to experiment with AI, we are building tools that offer new creative opportunities.”
Audiences, meanwhile, can now play, sing, or hum a song in order to search for it on YouTube. And advertisers can buy unskippable 30-second ads and interactive spots that appear during paused video. Overall, YouTube’s innovations drove ad revenue to $9.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, a nearly 16% increase from the previous year.
YouTube TV surpassed 6.5 million subscribers, pushing ahead of rivals like Hulu and making it Google’s fastest-growing service.
Explore the full 2024 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 606 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the firms making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, artificial intelligence, design, sustainability, and more.