Jessica Mendoza

Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power.

I'm Jessica Mendoza.

It's Friday, May 22nd.

Coming up on the show, how YouTube took over the American classroom.

As of 2024, 94% of teachers have used YouTube in their roles, according to a survey touted by company executives.

And YouTube's dominance in American schools partly started when Google identified a problem.

About a decade ago, the company found that its internet audience was missing a key demographic.

The documents show that capturing the attention of these kids while they were at school was a way for Google to start building lifelong brand loyalty.

For Google, a key entry point into schools was the Chromebook, laptops running Google's Chrome operating system.

It didn't hurt that over the next few years, more and more schools across the country embraced one-to-one devices, the idea being that every student would get their own laptop to access the internet.

Chromebooks are typically cheaper than PCs and Apple laptops, and they became the go-to device for many school districts.

And then there was also YouTube.

Then the pandemic hit.

Students had to start learning from home.

And that's when the company's strategy got a major boost.

According to a recent lawsuit filed by school districts, YouTube campaigned to normalize itself in classrooms, in part by cozying up to parent-teacher associations.

YouTube said plaintiff lawyers were cherry-picking claims from outdated documents to, quote, mischaracterize our work.

The company also said it regularly engages with experts on how to improve and is proud of its PTA partnership.

The company's strategy seems to have worked.

Chromebooks now have the biggest market share in one-to-one devices across schools.