Why Netflix Paid for The Stokes Twins’ YouTube Videos
Alan and Alex Stokes sold their YouTube catalog to Netflix while keeping it all on YouTube.
In July 2026, Alan and Alex Stokes, widely known as The Stokes Twins, signed a non-exclusive deal with Netflix. The deal pays them to showcase content they’ve already made on both the Netflix and YouTube platforms simultaneously.
The deal sets up a long-form original series slated for 2027. For now, Netflix gets the right to show the content that gained over 160 million subscribers/followers and nearly 100 billion views across all platforms.
It’s a killer deal for the biggest twins in the creator world.
Alan and Alex are getting paid by Netflix for content they don’t have to make again, all while still being able to keep their videos on YouTube.
Why is Netflix doing this? How does this make any sense for them?
The answers lie in an ongoing war between Netflix and YouTube for the attention of Gen Z viewers.
By renting something that’s already been mastered, Netflix has a better shot at keeping viewership inside its own walls.
The question that’s still unsolved is, “Can deals like this be replicated by people who don’t have over 100 million subs?”
The answer depends on two possibilities: Is licensing your archive to a streaming service now a legitimate income stream, or is the deal a sign that even the biggest creators are just content supply for the platforms that built them?
Regardless of Netflix or YouTube’s true intentions, The Stokes Twins proved that your content is intellectual property that can be licensed to more than one platform.
Your previous creations aren’t just old uploads that should be forgotten when you post. They’re inventory that can be leveraged to boost your brand even further.
Because Alan and Alex owned their content outright and recognized its value, they were able to put it in multiple homes, both homes paying the twins for the same work.
And when you stop treating your work like the past and start treating it like an asset, you potentially open the door to countless new opportunities.