YouTube takes almost half of creator ad revenue, SA competition watchdog hears

As news publishers struggle to make ends meet, online video giant YouTube takes nearly half of the watch-page advertising revenue generated by content creators publishing certain monetised videos on its platform, SA's competition watchdog has heard. 

This was explained by YouTube's director of news and civic partnerships, Brandon Feldman, who was speaking to the South African Competition Commission this week.

According to Feldman, the video-sharing platform includes various avenues for monetisation, but watch-page advertising - which is generated from skippable ads that appear on YouTube videos - is the most significant revenue stream for content creators.