☕ YouTube CEO at MoffetNathanson
Tuesday: Investment Insight — Neal Mohan lays out how YouTube has been growing, changing for the better, and implementing new features.
Michael Nathanson interviewed Neal Mohan (YouTube CEO) a few days ago. Here’s the bullet points:
YouTube is celebrating its 20th anniversary, having evolved from a simple video-sharing site to a global hub for the creator economy and cultural epicenter.
The platform’s growth is driven by a “flywheel” of creators, viewers, and monetization:
Creators: Focus on providing tools and formats (Shorts, long-form, live streams) to help creators build audiences and businesses.
Viewers: Investment in innovative formats like Connected TV, Shorts, and Podcasts to enhance viewer engagement.
Monetization: Twin engine of AVOD (ad-supported video) and SVOD (subscription video) businesses, including YouTube Music Premium, YouTube TV, and Sunday Ticket.
YouTube is now the #1 streaming platform on Connected TVs in the U.S., with over 1 billion hours of global CTV watch time; CTV is now the primary way people watch YouTube at home.
Shorts has seen 20% year-on-year growth in engaged views (Q1 2025), now uploaded by 70% of channels; it serves as both a participatory format for younger audiences and a launchpad for new creators.
Podcasts are a fast-growing segment, with over 1 billion monthly users; video podcasts and improved discovery are key drivers.
YouTube maintains its lead in the creator economy by focusing on audience/community growth and monetization, having paid over $70 billion to creators and partners from 2021–2023.
AI and multimodal generative AI are central to YouTube’s strategy:
Longstanding use in recommendations, content policy enforcement, and rights management.
New tools like DreamScreen (AI-generated images/videos) and multitrack audio (high-fidelity translation) empower creators and expand global reach.
AI also improves recommendations, especially for new or casual viewers, and enhances ad targeting and creative generation.
Shorts monetization is improving, with revenue per watch hour now matching or exceeding traditional in-stream ads in some regions.
YouTube’s ad business is shifting toward more performance-based (direct response) advertising, with innovations like QR codes, shoppable CTV, and pause ads.
AI-driven ad products and campaign types (e.g., Demand Gen) have led to a 26% year-on-year improvement in cost per dollar for advertisers.
Ad load is managed to prioritize user experience, with innovations like deeper ad pods on CTV increasing both ad volume and user satisfaction.
YouTube TV has over 8 million subscribers, with growth focused on product and feature innovation (e.g., Multi View), rather than just channel lineup changes.
Sports content is a major focus, with exclusive NFL games and Sunday Ticket available globally, leveraging creator integration (e.g., “watch with” creators) to drive engagement.
Prime Time Channels allows users to purchase à la carte video subscriptions; Sunday Ticket is available as both an add-on and standalone.
YouTube Music and Premium have reached 125 million subscribers worldwide, with ongoing feature innovation and new SKUs like Premium Lite to increase user choice and value.
Financial discipline is emphasized, with over $50 billion in annual YouTube revenue, ongoing investment in growth areas (CTV, Shorts, Podcasts, AI), and a focus on gross margin improvement and cost control (e.g., headcount, vendor costs, AI-driven efficiencies).
YouTube continues to chug along, growing at an incredible rate. GOOG 0.00%↑ came under fire last 6 months or so for being “too slow to adapt to AI” and was thought to be an AI loser. I disagree. They are so big and so engrained in the lives of so many, that they have such a head start. They don’t need to be first movers with a lot of AI features but can simply layer on AI into their products and services. Of course, this is an oversimplification, but that is what it all boils down to IMO.