When Susan Wojcicki took over YouTube in February, she received almost as much unsolicited advice as there are YouTube videos. One open letter not-so-subtly pleaded with Wojcicki, "So please, I'm begging you, please, please, please, don't f*** it up."
"There were lots of letters, public letters," says Wojcicki when we meet in her office in mid-June at YouTube's San Bruno, California, headquarters. "'Open Letter to Susan Wojcicki.' 'Do These Five Things.' There were videos from creators." Even her family got in on the act. "My mom is a high school teacher, so she would tell me, 'Oh, the students liked the video you posted today. Oh, the students didn't like the video that you posted today.' As though I, personally, posted a video!" she says, laughing.
Her four kids gave her a YouTube crash course. "I was just starting to get to know a lot of these videos, and they'd be like, 'Oh, no, Mom. That video came out like six months ago.' And then they would go on about the whole backstory of this content and this creator. I didn't know how much time they were spending watching YouTube."
The ambush of advice was, she admits in her amiable way, "a little overwhelming." Wojcicki, 46, is a consummate insider--she's Google employee No. 16--and a publicity deflector who isn't used to being in direct communication with a fan base as vocal and passionate as YouTube's. (...)
Her skills as a leader and operator are going to be tested at YouTube like they never were during her 15-year career at Google. Although YouTube is one of the most important brands at Google, "there's a perception that YouTube is punching below its weight," says Ynon Kreiz, CEO of Maker Studios, one of the leading management-production companies that work with YouTube creators to help them be more professional and make more money. "I assume even Google and YouTube believe it can monetize better. This is something Susan is very focused on."
Analysts estimate YouTube's 2013 revenue at $5.6 billion. (Google does not break out YouTube's revenue in its financial filings.) Facebook, the other Internet phenomenon with more than 1 billion users worldwide, brought in more than $7 billion in 2013, almost half from mobile advertising. Indeed, Facebook has been far more swift and nimble than YouTube in migrating both its audience and its business to phones, which is reflected in its $170 billion market cap. YouTube, by contrast, is valued at only $15 billion to $20 billion.
Complicating matters, Wojcicki joined YouTube amid a rising chorus of concern that creators cannot make a living producing content for the video site. The complaints: that YouTube takes a hefty 45% of revenue from ads that run with videos; and that there is such a glut of content--YouTube brags that 100 hours of video are uploaded to the site per minute--that it depresses ad rates and inhibits even the most popular creators from selling out their inventory. (...)
With both creators and their management feeling disrespected and restless, bigfoot competitors such as Amazon, Disney, Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo are circling. If YouTube can't translate its longtime dominance of online video into converting the $212 billion global TV advertising market to digital, its would-be rivals figure that maybe they can.
To fend off the encroaching opposition, Wojcicki has to align the interests of Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and Silicon Valley--all of which play important roles in the increasingly complicated YouTube ecosystem. At the same time, she may also have the most daunting job at Google. Inside the advertising giant, the perennial question is, Where is the next $10 billion in revenue coming from? Right now all eyes are on Wojcicki.
"There were lots of letters, public letters," says Wojcicki when we meet in her office in mid-June at YouTube's San Bruno, California, headquarters. "'Open Letter to Susan Wojcicki.' 'Do These Five Things.' There were videos from creators." Even her family got in on the act. "My mom is a high school teacher, so she would tell me, 'Oh, the students liked the video you posted today. Oh, the students didn't like the video that you posted today.' As though I, personally, posted a video!" she says, laughing.Her four kids gave her a YouTube crash course. "I was just starting to get to know a lot of these videos, and they'd be like, 'Oh, no, Mom. That video came out like six months ago.' And then they would go on about the whole backstory of this content and this creator. I didn't know how much time they were spending watching YouTube."
The ambush of advice was, she admits in her amiable way, "a little overwhelming." Wojcicki, 46, is a consummate insider--she's Google employee No. 16--and a publicity deflector who isn't used to being in direct communication with a fan base as vocal and passionate as YouTube's. (...)
Her skills as a leader and operator are going to be tested at YouTube like they never were during her 15-year career at Google. Although YouTube is one of the most important brands at Google, "there's a perception that YouTube is punching below its weight," says Ynon Kreiz, CEO of Maker Studios, one of the leading management-production companies that work with YouTube creators to help them be more professional and make more money. "I assume even Google and YouTube believe it can monetize better. This is something Susan is very focused on."
Analysts estimate YouTube's 2013 revenue at $5.6 billion. (Google does not break out YouTube's revenue in its financial filings.) Facebook, the other Internet phenomenon with more than 1 billion users worldwide, brought in more than $7 billion in 2013, almost half from mobile advertising. Indeed, Facebook has been far more swift and nimble than YouTube in migrating both its audience and its business to phones, which is reflected in its $170 billion market cap. YouTube, by contrast, is valued at only $15 billion to $20 billion.
Complicating matters, Wojcicki joined YouTube amid a rising chorus of concern that creators cannot make a living producing content for the video site. The complaints: that YouTube takes a hefty 45% of revenue from ads that run with videos; and that there is such a glut of content--YouTube brags that 100 hours of video are uploaded to the site per minute--that it depresses ad rates and inhibits even the most popular creators from selling out their inventory. (...)
With both creators and their management feeling disrespected and restless, bigfoot competitors such as Amazon, Disney, Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo are circling. If YouTube can't translate its longtime dominance of online video into converting the $212 billion global TV advertising market to digital, its would-be rivals figure that maybe they can.
To fend off the encroaching opposition, Wojcicki has to align the interests of Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and Silicon Valley--all of which play important roles in the increasingly complicated YouTube ecosystem. At the same time, she may also have the most daunting job at Google. Inside the advertising giant, the perennial question is, Where is the next $10 billion in revenue coming from? Right now all eyes are on Wojcicki.
by Nicole Laporte, Fast Company | Read more:
Image: Adam Fedderly
