Every year seems to be a big year for YouTube, as more companies allot resources for video marketing and advertising in an attempt to reach a larger audience who, statistically, spend most of their time online. 2014, in particular, seemed to be a better and more successful year for the internet giant: eMarketer reports that the site's ad revenues amount to $1.13 billion, which accounts for 18.9 percent of the total market for digital video advertising in the country. These ads are the clips shown at the start of a video - the figure doesn't yet include revenue coming in from site banners, search ads, and more.

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YouTube seems to be the perfect vehicle to carry out these targeted ads, especially with the emergence of various topic-specific channels that caters to different demographics. Some of the biggest YouTube channels to date are about gaming, beauty, and comedy, to name a few. Moreover, according to Advertising Age, the most popular ads last year, after tallying the number of views, shares, and likes, were from Nike, Budweiser, and Samsung, among others.

Nevertheless, other platforms with video capabilities have also begun to compete with YouTube:

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), for one, has already proven itself to be a serious player, as more people turn to the site to watch movies via online streaming. To further test its influence, the company decided to introduce original programming to the market, which has never been done before. The series, "House of Cards," a political drama starring the always fantastic Kevin Spacey, became such a hit that it has disrupted cable networking when it first aired in 2013.

At first, other networks were adamant and believed that the new model was doomed to fail. But when the show started winning awards at the Golden Globes - it dawned on everyone in the industry how online media has, in fact, ushered in a new era for the way we consume content. It wasn't long before Netflix rolled out another hit show, comedy-drama "Orange is the New Black."

Online retailer Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) soon followed with "Transparent," which has also garnered favorable reviews and awards. CBS called the move as "disrupting Hollywood," which isn't far from the truth.

That being said, it isn't just the video format that has decided to stand up and participate in this phenomenon. Audio is also seeking to get their share of the market:

Spotify, an online radio and music streaming service, is the most popular site right now for listening to singles and albums by artists in various genres. The on-demand nature of the platform has become so well-received that Billboard has decided to include the number of downloads and streams to its formula when calculating for the top hits of the year, according to the New York Times.

In the realm of spoken word, meanwhile, Audioboom (AIM:BOOM) continues to reign supreme with its niche audience, who prefer to listen to podcasts, radio shows, news updates, and other forms of audio recording.

As more consumers turn to a variety of online media to get their entertainment, big brands are revising their marketing strategies and putting out high-quality content that easily fits our attention span, is interesting enough to talk about and passed around, and is relevant to current events and consciousness. It won't be such a stretch to see more content on other platforms other than YouTube in the future. 

TagsYoutube competitors, Audioboom, Spotify, Audio streaming