Google escalated its warfare with Penske Media Company by saying that YouTube will cease submitting streaming information to Billboard charts beginning January 16, 2026.
The transfer marks a dramatic new entrance within the ongoing battle between the tech big and the media conglomerate that owns Billboard, Rolling Stone and Selection.
YouTube’s world head of music and Hip-Hop veteran Lyor Cohen stated the platform refuses to simply accept Billboard’s methodology that weights subscription streams greater than ad-supported streams.
“We imagine each fan issues and each play ought to rely equally,” Cohen wrote in a weblog put up on Wednesday.
The dispute comes simply months after Penske Media sued Google in federal court docket over AI overviews. The September lawsuit alleged that Google illegally makes use of Penske’s journalism to energy AI summaries with out consent whereas lowering visitors to their web sites.
Billboard up to date its chart guidelines Monday to slender the hole between paid and free streams from 1:3 to 1:2.5. However YouTube demanded equal weighting for all streams no matter whether or not customers pay for subscriptions.
“Billboard makes use of an outdated system that weights subscription-supported streams greater than ad-supported,” Cohen stated. “This doesn’t mirror how followers have interaction with music as we speak and ignores the huge engagement from followers who don’t have a subscription.”
The streaming methodology battle represents the newest escalation in a broader warfare between Google and Penske Media. Penske alleged that Google forces publishers to permit their content material for use in AI-generated summaries as a situation for showing in search outcomes.
The corporate stated about 20% of Google searches linking to its websites now present AI overviews, with that proportion anticipated to rise.
“We’ve got a duty to proactively battle for the way forward for digital media and protect its integrity – all of which is threatened by Google’s present actions,” Penske stated within the lawsuit.
The media conglomerate reported that affiliate income had dropped by greater than a 3rd from peak ranges by late 2024, as search visitors declined. Penske attracts 120 million on-line guests month-to-month throughout its properties.
Google defended each disputes, saying AI overviews assist customers uncover content material, whereas YouTube information will proceed to circulation to Luminate, Billboard’s main chart supply.
Billboard responded that it hopes YouTube will rethink and acknowledge “the attain and recognition of artists on all music platforms.”
The chart firm stated it measures fan exercise appropriately primarily based on client entry, income evaluation and trade steerage.
YouTube paid the music trade over $8 billion prior to now 12 months, in line with Cohen, and now each side seem dug in for a chronic battle that would reshape how tech platforms work together with media firms.
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