YouTube Rules TV Again In May, Aims To Dominate For Next 20 Years
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With YouTube increasing its lead over traditional TV companies and other streamers in the May edition of Nielsen’s Media Distributor report, its clear that YouTube CEO Neal Mohan must be one of the TV industry’s most important leaders.
Mohan spoke last week at Cannes Lions. For those of us who didn’t go to Cannes, or watch Mohan speak via YouTube, here’s how he sees 20-year-old YouTube becoming even more dominant over the next 20 years.
At this point, everyone knows that YouTube is filled with more than short videos of children and pets. It’s becoming a home for a bunch of traditional video formats.
“Creators are pioneering the new TV ... and it doesn’t look like the old TV, Mohan said. But it looks enough like what we’re used to seeing on TV to make the traditional studios and networks nervous.
Neal Mohan (Photo courtesy of YouTube)
Mohan said original, serialized shows are being made for YouTube, The Broski Report, a weekly show about pop culture (Access Hollywood anyone?)
And what he described as a dark comedy series, The Amazing Digital Circus, grabbed 300 million views for its pilot.
Mohan also pointed to a creator who created a documentary about his attempt to climb Mount Everest. The creator, Inoxtag hired a full crew of screenwriters, graphic artists and a lead director for Kaizen, which in addition to appearing in cinemas racked up 17 million YouTube views in less than 48 hours.
Podcasts are exploding and increasingly feature video. Mohan pointed to Stephanie Soo’s Rotten Mango podcast, noting that it gained more than 2 million new subs in a year after adding video.
Overall YouTube now owns podcasting as well with over one billion viewers watching podcasts each month.
And then there’s shorts. YouTube Shorts are now averaging over 200 billion daily views, Mohan exclaimed according to YouTube’s transcript.
Mohan noted that YouTube creators are among the earliest adopters when it comes to using artificial intelligence tools like Google Deepmind’s Veo video generation model and auto dubbing, which translates videos into nine languages (soon to be 20).
Will YouTube lead the march of robots taking over the TV business? Sounds like it aims to have a role in that. But at the same time, Mohan envisions YouTube being the foundation for a new generation of Hollywood startups.
“Creators are reimagining the industry that inspired them and creating new jobs for writers, editors, actors and producers. Some are even building state of the art studios,” he said.
Mohan predicted that over the next 20 years, creators like the ones making videos for YouTube today will “flip formats, blend genres and push deeper into the mainstream–as brand ambassadors, big business venues and visionary storytellers.”
He added that “my biggest bet is that YouTube will continue to be the stage where it all happens. Where anyone with a story to share can turn their draw into a career … and anyone with a voice can bring people together and change the world.”
The TV world is fairly warned.
As far as May is concerned, YouTube was the top media distributor with a 12.5% share of total television usage, up from 12.4% in April.
For most of the other top companies on the list, the sports schedule was a big factor in their fortunes.
No. 3 NBCUniversal and No. 4 Paramount lost share. In April Paramount had the NCAA basketball tournament and The Masters, and lost ground when they ended.
No. 5 Netflix was flat with a 7.5% share.
No. 6 Warner Bros. Discovery and No 7 Fox added shares. WBD (7% share) had NBA playoff games including eighth featuring the New York Knicks, which amassed nearly 7 billion viewing minutes combined. For Fox (also a 7% share) most of its gain came from its Tubi streaming service, which was up 25% among 18 to 24 year olds, according to Nielsen. But Fox also had NASCAR races on its FS1 cable channel.
Amazon was No 8 with a 3.6% share, up 0.1 percentage point and The Roku Channel posted a new high with a 2.5% share, up from 2.4%, with double-digit gains in the younger demos.
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Chris Maccaro, former CEO of Beachfront Media, has joined JWP Connatix as chief revenue officer.
Formed by the merger of JW Player and Connatix, JWP Connatix is a video technology and monetization platform.
Chris Maccaro (Photo courtesy of JWP Connatix)
“We are looking forward to benefiting from Chris’ years of experience driving revenue growth, including the broad perspective from his tenure as CEO at a CTV focused platform, ” said John Nardone, CEO of JWP Connatix.
Maccaro succeeds Jenn Chen, who will transition into an advisory role at JWP Connatix.
“We’re fortunate to have Jenn’s continued guidance. Jenn created a strong foundation. Chris will help us expand to the next level,” Nardone said.
As CRO, Maccaro will oversee global revenue strategy and execution across the company’s video technology and monetization solutions.
“JWP Connatix is uniquely positioned at the intersection of infrastructure, data, and monetization, three forces reshaping the future of video,” said Maccaro. “As a longtime believer in the power of technology to unlock better outcomes for media owners, I’m excited to join this exceptional team. We have a real opportunity to drive value through innovation, execution, and partnership.”