YouTube To Earn $3.6 Billion In 2012, Analyst Predicts

Google has not been forthcoming about its expected earnings for 2012 however Citi analyst Mark Mahaney tells AllThingsD that the video delivery service will earn $3.6 billion by the end of the year, nearly twice what he predicted for YouTube in 2011.

If that advertising revenue is correct YouTube would be set to earn a net revenue of $2.4 billion in 2012 after paying out $1.2 billion in revenue to its various partners who create and post the videos relied on by YouTube’s platform.

Mahaney had originally predicted that YouTube would earn just $1.7 billion in 2012.

To put the video services predicted earnings into perspective the company will earn nearly 50 percent more Display Advertising revenue than Yahoo’s Display advertising and as much revenue as Netflix’ total subscription revenue.

Google’s massive increase in revenue at YouTube comes at a time when more videos are experiencing advertisements and more viewers are using YouTube to view music videos, comedian footage and other streaming video types.

YouTube according to analytics firm comScore is receiving 20 percent jumps in quarter-over-quarter traffic.

Google could see even faster viewer growth as the company continues to push for more big name supporters in the field of entertainment. Google also recently announced a partnership that will allow the platform to broadcast live Olympics coverage in Asia and Africa.

Millions of users turn to YouTube every single day for music, movie trailers, random user uploaded videos and in some cases to watch full-length movies and TV shows.

Do you think Google will reach $3.6 billion in advertising sales by the end of 2012?