YouTube CEO Says The Video Platform Cares about Creators and Monetization

After a rocky 2017 and the so-called adpocalypse, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki promises creators the streaming video platform cares about creators. In a February

Subscription News: YouTube CEO Says The Video Platform Cares about Creators and Monetization

Source: YouTube

After a rocky 2017 and the so-called adpocalypse, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki promises creators the streaming video platform cares about creators. In a February 1 blog post to creators, Wojcicki shares the company’s top five priorities for 2018 with ‘a spirit of openness, transparency and enthusiasm.’ Here is a synopsis of those priorities, including one critical to retaining creators on YouTube – addressing demonetization concerns.

#1: Prioritizing transparency and communication: Wojcicki says communication will continue to be important to YouTube, but they will shift from blog posts and product forums to communicating via Twitter using the handles @YTCreators and @TeamYouTube. YouTube will use Twitter to share information with creators, answer questions and respond to issues quickly. In addition, YouTube will email creators with news and updates. Creators can sign up online to get on the email list.

As part of this transparency and communication initiative, YouTube will do more outreach to gather feedback before launching updates and new features. Wojcicki will continue to try to meet creators at events and when she travels. To supplement that, she has her own YouTube channel to share her perspective. Ironically, she doesn’t include a link to her channel in the post. We found it through a Google search.

#2: YouTube will address demonetization: Though the number of creators making six figures grew by 40 percent in 2017, YouTube frustrated a lot of creators.

Subscription News: YouTube CEO Says The Video Platform Cares about Creators and Monetization

Source: YouTube

‘We understand the frustration you feel when one of your videos is demonetized or age-gated and the impact it has on your views and your revenue. While we worked hard this year to provide an appeals system and quicker responses to creators when a video is demonetized, we’ve heard loud and clear that we need a better system. We’re currently working on a more accurate solution that includes more human review of your content, while also taking your own input into account (since you know your videos best). Addressing your concerns about demonetization is a top priority of ours, and we’ll continue to share updates with you throughout the year,’ Wojcicki says.

While they’re working on that, YouTube is adding new ways for creators to earn cash – SuperChat, influencer marketing opportunity, sponsorships, donations, merchandising and ticket sales.

#3. Providing more ways for people to engage with video: Likening itself to a two-way conversation, YouTube says they will continue to offer ways for fans to engage with videos and connect people in meaningful ways. This includes access to Reels, YouTube’s version of creating video stories, and innovating through the use of AR and VR.

#4. Tightening and enforcing YouTube policies: Wojcicki says they will continue to police creator videos to prevent people from impersonating other channels and using misleading thumbnails. In addition, YouTube will do a better job of enforcing its current policies using a combination of human review and machine learning. The company’s goal is to have 10,000 staff across YouTube and Google to identify and address content that may violate company policies, and YouTube vows to partner with news organizations to share breaking news. The final paragraph is this section is perhaps the most compelling, considering some of the controversy YouTube creators caused in 2017:

‘And we’re also currently developing policies that would lead to consequences if a creator does something egregious that causes significant harm to our community as a whole. While these instances are rare, they can damage the reputation and revenue of your fellow creators, so we want to make sure we have policies in place that allow us to respond appropriately,’ says Wojcicki.

#5. Investing in learning and education. Every day viewers learn new things from YouTube, including everything from how to repair home appliances to how to raise chickens. Wojcicki believes the YouTube platform has a significant opportunity to work with creators to bring more education and learning opportunities to light.

Wojcicki wraps up her post on a positive note:

‘As YouTube grows, I want to remain focused on our mission to give everyone a voice and show them the world. It’s my commitment in 2018 to ensure we do this responsibly, with greater openness, smarter policies, more engaging products, more revenue for creators, and a higher emphasis on learning and education. I’m thankful to everyone who’s made our community such a special, inspiring and meaningful place and I feel privileged to be a part of it. I hope all of you are looking forward to YouTube’s best, most transparent and most exciting year yet as much as I am,’ Wojcicki says.

Insider Take:

We find this post very interesting. It sounds like corporate speak with very little substance. In the demonetization section, for example, Wojcicki promises they will make the system better, but the solution is vague and offers little comfort to creators who lost money last year. Like Facebook, YouTube promises to work with news partners on new solutions, but this statement was vague and didn’t offer convincing evidence of how this could or should work.

We appreciate that Wojcicki took the time to consider YouTube’s top priorities for 2018 and to share them with creators. After all, she was under no obligation to do so, but this post doesn’t seem like it will alleviate creator concerns that YouTube and creators are on the same side. Here is a sampling of comments the post received (most of the comments – not shown – were spam):

Subscription News: YouTube CEO Says The Video Platform Cares about Creators and Monetization

Source: Twitter

Subscription News: YouTube CEO Says The Video Platform Cares about Creators and Monetization

Source: Twitter

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