A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
YouTube占美国电视百分之十五点八，好莱坞开始反击
YouTube Takes 15.8% of US TV Viewing as Hollywood Fights Back
About this story
YouTube now captures 15.8% of US TV time, double its 2023 share, as Netflix and legacy studios scramble to respond with creator deals and short-form video. HSK 5+ Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 5+ Chinese listening episode that runs about 3 minutes. The full Mandarin script is shown with tap-for-pinyin and a line-by-line English translation, so you can listen and read at once — comprehensible input in the sense of Stephen Krashen's i+1 theory. It teaches 12 key vocabulary words such as 接近、增长、培养 and walks through 5 grammar patterns, each explained in English with examples. The same news story is retold at 4 difficulty levels — use the level selector above to find the version that is challenging but still understandable for you.
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原文Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
English transcript reference
In Nielsen's August viewership report, YouTube accounted for 15.8% of American TV viewing time.
That share is double its level in early 2023, and close to the combined total of Netflix plus the streaming services of Disney, Paramount, and Warner Bros.
In other words, after Americans turn on the TV, the time they spend on YouTube is already about the same as the time they spend on Hollywood's entire streaming lineup.
Burbank, north of Los Angeles, sits right next to Hollywood, and a 32,000-square-foot studio there belongs to Smosh.
The company spans multiple platforms, has over 45 million followers, and its revenue grew fivefold in three years.
Headcount tripled over the same period, reaching 100 people.
Its boss, Alessandra Catanese, put it bluntly: the layoffs at Paramount, Disney, and Netflix are our draft.
What she means by draft is picking people from others' layoff lists, so you don't have to train them from scratch.
Mark Fischbach, who has over 40 million followers on YouTube, self-financed a horror film called Iron Lung.
The film had no major distributor paving the way and relied on his own channel for promotion, yet it became a box-office dark horse.
He used a metaphor to describe the platform: a thousand-pound monster crouching on everyone's shoulder, ready to crush down at any moment.
The monster's size is even clearer when you look at revenue.
In 2025, YouTube's advertising and subscription revenue exceeded $60 billion.
That same year, Netflix's revenue was $45.18 billion.
In terms of revenue sharing, YouTube takes 45% to 55% of ad revenue and channel subscriptions, and usually doesn't pay a cent upfront.
Netflix's move is to launch vertical short videos and promise to invest over $1 billion within three years to sign creators.
That figure comes from an estimate by LightShed Partners.
When YouTube's boss Neal Mohan was asked about poaching, he said it was a bit flattering.
Netflix's retired co-founder Reed Hastings compared the two companies in historical terms.
He said YouTube is like television in the 1950s and 60s, while Netflix is like movies, and it's very hard to beat YouTube at this game.
Other platforms are moving in the same direction.
TikTok and Tubi are teaming up to develop ten original long-form drama series.
Meta is bringing Instagram Reels to smart TVs, with landscape videos up to 90 minutes long.
The old studios' books tell a different story.
Skydance, which merged Paramount and Warner Bros, according to Fitch Ratings, is carrying $87.5 billion in debt.
The company is about to release its first earnings report since the merger.
The capital market's scorecard is equally direct: Netflix's stock has fallen nearly a third this year, while Disney's has risen about 3%.
Everyone is throwing money at creators, but YouTube holds a 15.8% share and over $60 billion in revenue, and no one has yet been able to shake its position.
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Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 4. Can be used as a verb or adverb. In the script: 接近…之和.
HSK 4. Often used with 率 (增长率: growth rate). In the script: 增长到三倍.
HSK 4. Often used for people (培养人才). In the script: 从头培养.
HSK 4. Can be a verb or noun. In the script: 靠他自己的频道宣传.
HSK 4. Often used with 词 (形容词: adjective). In the script: 用一个比喻形容这个平台.
HSK 4. Common in personal and business finance. In the script: 广告与订阅收入.
HSK 4. Can be a verb or noun. In the script: 投入十亿美元.
HSK 4. Used in names and descriptions. In the script: 联合创始人.
HSK 5. Often used with 市场 (market share: 市场份额). In the script: 这个份额是…的两倍.
HSK 5. Short for 营业收入. Common in business contexts. In the script: 营收涨了五倍.
HSK 5. Describes speech or writing that is direct. In the script: 说得直白.
HSK 5. Often used in reports. In the script: 出自…的估算.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法占到了 + percentage
占 means 'to account for' and is often followed by 到 to indicate reaching a certain proportion. Used with percentages or fractions.
YouTube占到了美国电视观看时长的百分之十五点八。
接近 + noun
接近 means 'close to' and is followed by a noun or number to indicate approximation.
也接近奈飞加上迪士尼、派拉蒙、华纳兄弟几家流媒体之和。
被问到…时说
A passive construction: 被问到 (when asked) + 时 (when) + 说 (said). Used to report speech in response to a question.
YouTube的掌门人尼尔·莫汉被问到挖角时说，这有点让人受宠若惊。
往 + direction + 走
往 indicates direction, and 走 means 'to go'. Together they mean 'move toward'.
其他平台也在往同一个方向走。
据 + source
据 means 'according to' and is followed by a source or authority.
据惠誉评级，账上压着八百七十五亿美元债务。
Proper nouns
专有名词Sources
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