Neal Mohan: Last News

YouTube advertising revenue increased 12% to $7.95 billion in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago, helping corporate parent Alphabet beat Wall Street expectations.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Internet video giant YouTube larded its coffers with $7.95 billion in ad revenue for third quarter of 2023, representing a 12.5% year-over-year increase, as parent Alphabet overall topped Wall Street forecasts. Analysts had projected YouTube advertising revenue to come in at $7.81 billion for the quarter, per FactSet. The stronger-than-expected results come after YouTube fell short of expectations in the year-ago period, when ad revenue dropped 1.9%.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said the video giant is more focused on refining its newest sports experience, NFL Sunday Ticket, than it is in pursuing NBA rights when they become available after the 2024-25 season.

The CEO of YouTube is standing by his company’s decision.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan has defended the decision to strip Russell Brand’s 6.6M-subscriber channel of ads, thereby preventing him from monetizing it following sexual assault allegations.

YouTube is amping up its efforts in generative artificial intelligence, adding a “Dream Screen” and other AI tools for creators.

ABBA‘s Björn Ulvaeus, and Rosanne Cash, Johnny Cash‘s daughter, are set to work with YouTube and Universal Music on a new AI project.According to a statement regarding the project, Ulvaeus said: “While some may find my decision controversial, I’ve joined this group with an open mind and purely out of curiosity about how an AI model works and what it could be capable of in a creative process.”He continued: “I believe that the more I understand, the better equipped I’ll be to advocate for and to help protect the rights of my fellow human creators.”Other musicians that are attached to the project are One Republic‘s Ryan Tedder, composer Max Richter, record producer Louis Bell, Anitta, D4vd, American musician Don Was, Colombian musician Juanes, Rodney Jerkins,Yo Gotti and the estate of Frank Sinatra.Richter said: “Like every new technology, AI brings with it opportunities, but it also raises profound challenges for the creative community.

With artificial intelligence currently front and center across the creative community, YouTube has published a set of AI music principles and launched something it’s calling the YouTube Music AI Incubator with a group of artists, songwriters and producers from Universal Music Group.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Verizon and YouTube are calling a new customer-acquisition play aimed a gridiron fans. The telco has teamed with YouTube to give free access to NFL Sunday Ticket — which provides every out-of-market Sunday afternoon game — for the 2023-24 season to eligible new and upgrading wireless and home internet customers. In late 2022, YouTube landed a seven-year deal for the NFL Sunday Ticket retail package, wresting it away from DirecTV (which inked a separate deal sell it to bars, restaurants and other commercial establishments).

More than 250 LGBTQ and ally actors, notables, and other leaders signed a public letter created by GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) calling on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter to better enforce hate speech, harassment, misinformation, and other existing content policies aimed at protecting transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming users and all LGBTQ people.

YouTube drew a round of applause from advertisers at its annual Brandcast event by announcing it would let them run 30-second commercials that can’t be skipped by viewers on connected-TVs.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor YouTube’s biggest ad innovation for 2023? It might be borrowing a well-worn page from old-fashioned linear TV. At the YouTube Brandcast upfront event Wednesday in New York, execs announced the introduction of 30-second unskippable ads in top-performing YouTube content on TVs — you know, just like the commercials that have run on broadcast and cable networks for decades. YouTube also will start testing new “Pause Experiences” for YouTube on TV screens, showing an ad when viewers pause a video akin to the pause ads Hulu first bowed four years ago. In their pitch to Madison Avenue types, YouTube execs also boasted of the streaming service’s massive reach: More than 150 million unique viewers in the U.S. watched YouTube and YouTube TV on televisions for the month of December 2022, according to Nielsen estimates. YouTube remains the No. 1 most-watched service on TV screens in America (across both streaming platforms and traditional TV networks), and in April was one of the only streamers to see month-to-month growth, per Nielsen.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor YouTube’s advertising revenue dropped for the third quarter in a row, dragging down Google’s financial results as the video platform continues to navigate a soft ad market. Ad sales at YouTube declined 2.6% year over year in the first quarter of 2023, to $6.69 billion. Analysts expected it to come in at $6.6 billion, per FactSet. Parent company Alphabet doesn’t break out YouTube’s subscription revenue (from YouTube TV or YouTube’s other premium services). YouTube revenue was down 7.8% in the fourth quarter of 2022 following a 1.9% dip the quarter before that. In February, Susan Wojcicki stepped down as YouTube’s CEO after nine years in the role, staying on at Alphabet in an advisory capacity. Stepping in to lead YouTube was Neal Mohan (pictured above), previously the video platform’s chief product officer.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Neal Mohan posted his first open letter to creators as YouTube’s new boss, coming after CEO Susan Wojcicki stepped down last month. Mohan, previously the video platform’s chief product officer, detailed new features and tools coming in 2023 and beyond. “Creators and artists are the heart of YouTube, and I’ll continue to put them first,” Mohan, whose new title is SVP, head of YouTube, wrote in the letter, continuing the tradition of Wojcicki’s regular updates to creators. “In today’s challenging macroeconomic climate, we’re offering opportunities to grow a business on our platform.” Wojcicki exited as CEO after nine years at the helm but will continue in a role as an adviser to Google and Alphabet. According to Mohan’s letter, he first visited YouTube’s offices 15 years ago when it was located above a pizza parlor: “In its earliest start-up days, I saw YouTube’s potential. Now, I’m incredibly excited to lead it into the future.”

Longtime YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced today she’s stepping down as CEO of YouTube, “to start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Susan Wojcicki is stepping down as CEO of YouTube after nine years — and nearly 25 years at Google, which she joined as one of its first employees back when it was in start-up mode. Wojcicki announced her departure in a memo to YouTube staff Thursday. Neal Mohan, currently chief product officer at YouTube, will replace her as SVP and new head of YouTube. “I’ve decided to step back from my role as the head of YouTube and start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about,” she wrote. Wojcicki will continue to be involved with YouTube and parent company Alphabet. The exec wrote that she agreed with Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, to take on an advisory role at the internet giant. “This will allow me to call on my different experiences over the years to offer counsel and guidance across Google and the portfolio of Alphabet companies,” she wrote.

YouTube Shorts, a short-form video platformed launched after TikTok gained major traction among young digital audiences, is expanding to connected-TVs.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorYouTube wants to make your mobile phone the ultimate couch companion for streaming videos on internet-connected TVs.Starting Wednesday, YouTube is rolling out a feature that lets viewers connect their viewing experience on TVs with their iOS or Android mobile device — enabling a bunch of new interactive capabilities.YouTube’s smartphone apps already let you initiate video playback on connected TVs, as well as pause, rewind, fast-forward and queue them up. The new feature builds on that, so you can take a number of additional actions on the video that’s playing on the TV, including sharing the video, browsing through comments or leaving a comment, sending a Super Chat or Super Sticker, or signing up for a channel membership.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorToni Reid, after 24 years at Amazon, is joining YouTube as VP of product management to lead the video platform’s Emerging Experiences and Community team.In the role, she’ll oversee YouTube Shorts — the TikTok-like short-form video format YouTube has seen gain major traction — as well as YouTube Gaming, livestreaming and community products.Reid, who starts Monday (April 25), reports to Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief product officer. She takes over for Chris Jaffe, who after three years in the role took a new position last month as YouTube chief design officer, continuing to report to Mohan.Reid most recently served as Amazon’s VP of Alexa experience and Echo devices.

YouTube is bringing the beta version of a short-form video service to the U.S. in March.