YouTube claims viewers watch more than 6 billion hours of video each month on its site—almost an hour for every person on Earth—and that 100 hours of video are uploaded every minute. That catalogue is peerless, Mulligan said, but Google probably wants to do more with it in order to take on streaming services like Spotify, Rdio or Beats Music.

“YouTube has the ability to offer so much more than anyone else, with video the killer component,” he said.

Google might also package a premium YouTube music service with the pure audio content in Google’s All Access app. The combination, if it’s done cleanly, could help Google distinguish itself from some of its competitors.

6 billion hours of video watchever every month sounds huge.

Wow. YouTube might have the potential to make a LOT of money.