Does google make or lose money on youtube? Based on the number of ads I see, I'd imagine they break even?
But from what I understand, they burned money for many years and only very few years ago became profitable. But in some sense YT doesn’t really have to be profitable - for Google it’s more important to prop search itself, then to make money on YT.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/3/21121207/youtube-google-al...