After a ‘tough’ year, YouTube pulls surprise – it’s bigger than ever
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Despite issues with a handful of renegade video makers who scared advertisers and made for a “tough” year, YouTube unloaded a surprise this week: It’s audience is bigger than ever.
The world’s No. 1 video network has grown to 1.9 billion monthly viewers from 1.5 billion at the same time last June, according to Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief product officer. He made the announcement here at the VidCon convention, a fanfest for online video enthusiasts.
“We’re growing every month,” Mohan told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview. “We have creators with viewership that’s higher than many cable channels.”
He added that YouTube’s goal is to make sure that the service continues to “provide the innovation that enables them to connect to their community.”
Unlike most video networks, Googleowned YouTube rewards video makers with a hefty cut of the ad revenues when they attract large followings to the videos they post. Mohan wouldn’t break out a figure but says Google pays out “millions and millions” of dollars to creators every month.
But at the same time, YouTube has had to contend with some edgy video producers who attract large followings but scare off advertisers.
Additionally, YouTube adjusted the hurdle video makers needed to jump through to participate in the “Partner” program of shared revenues. It lowered the minimum number of subscribers to a channel to 1,000 but imposed, for the first time, a requirement that 4,000 total hours of videos be viewed. The new requirement caused an uproar among those who have smaller channels.
Many small creators complained about losing their money-making opportunities, but the changes have worked out, Mohan says. The creators with the largest following – those earning $10,000 or more a month – is up 35 percent. Those earning $100,000 or more is up 40 percent.
The “key learning” from what Mohan says was a “tough year” is that “the vast majority of creators are trying to do the right thing and conduct themselves admirably.” He said his job is to build the right tools for them while also addressing the troublemakers who may have taken advantage of the openness of the platform and working closely with advertisers, “giving them comfort to be on YouTube.”
While several advertisers did flee, most stayed, he said, and Procter & Gamble recently returned to the fold.