How does a video streaming service with one billion active users per month and $4 billion in revenue not turn a profit? Ask YouTube, which couldn’t break free from breaking even in 2014, according to a new report. Sources tell the Wall Street Journal that Google’s video unit posted $4 billion in revenue last year, up from $3 billion in 2013, and that while the service accounted for 6 percent of Google’s overall sales, it contributed nothing to earnings.
A core problem facing YouTube, which Google acquired for $1.65 billion, is that many users aren’t visiting YouTube.com to watch the videos, instead finding them as embeds on other sites. That said, a Google rep tells Business Insider that the “vast majority” of its traffic indeed comes from the home page or its mobile apps.
