Since becoming YouTube’s CEO in 2014, Google legend Susan Wojcicki has been busy shaping a service that long ago captured the world’s eyeballs into a business built to last. (She explains her strategy in our in-depth feature.) Though the company has made progress on an array of fronts, it’s also still working on some major challenges that are key to fulfilling Wojcicki’s vision.
What’s Working
1. YouTube is catering to its most passionate fan groups. Wojcicki has pushed the company to tailor services for some of the most popular ways people use YouTube, creating dedicated apps for kids, gaming enthusiasts, and virtual-reality early adopters.
2. YouTube generates revenue from more than just advertising. Red is a premium service that’s ad-free and costs $9.99 a month. YouTube offers Hollywood movies and TV shows to buy or rent (just like Amazon), and YouTube TV provides 40 broadcast and cable channels for $35 a month. In October 2016, Google acquired the influencer marketing firm FameBit to help YouTube match brands and stars.
3. YouTube is building a deep slate of original programming. Wojcicki has quietly undertaken the most ambitious content initiative in YouTube history. She has funded dozens of Red Originals, which target YouTube’s core audience of teen viewers, a market that’s been underserved thus far by Netflix and Amazon. The programming is often created by some of YouTube’s most successful producers and features homegrown stars.
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