YouTube Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan delivered YouTube's keynote at the VidCon conference in ... [+]
In the past year, YouTube has faced an onslaught of issues around objectionable content and misinformation, including pedophiles “hiding in plain sight,” pervasive harassment, and accusations that it’s radicalizing viewers.
But in a keynote at the 10th annual VidCon—a conference for digital video creators and their fans—YouTube’s chief product officer Neal Mohan focused not on contrition but opportunity, announcing a handful of new ways for YouTube’s top stars to make money.
YouTube is rolling out new options for channel memberships (creators can now make multiple subscription tiers between $0.99 and $49.99 per month, where they could previously only have a single $4.99 membership), custom stickers that users can pay to make appear in video chats, and several new merchandising partners.
“We’re really focusing on rewarding the creators that are generating value,” Mohan told Forbes in an interview before the keynote. “It’s an ongoing process.”
The openness of the massive video platform, which reaches more than 2 billion viewers per month, is both the key to its success and its biggest struggle. YouTube exists on massive amounts of user generated video (500 hours are uploaded per minute), yet failing to coral that content—through its frequently refined policies and moderation efforts—are what earn it scathing headlines and sense of toxicity.
Mohan’s message on stage on Thursday was that giving top creators ways to increase their revenue would encourage more quality posts as the site continues to fight controversial content. It's a strategy YouTube has been following for several years (with mixed success and often sparking outrage), as it has raised the bar regarding which creators can earn advertising revenue and used "demonetization" as a punishment for bad behavior. YouTube's latest money-making tools will also require channels to pass certain eligibility requirements, like minimum subscriber counts, and creators can lose access based on a strike system.
While he declined to give hard figures, Mohan said that the number of YouTube creators earning between five and six figures a year grew more than 40% and Super Chats are the top YouTube revenue stream for nearly 20,000 channels (a 65% increase from last year).
Mohan also said that the amount of revenue made from non-advertising products like memberships, paid chats (called Super Chats), and merchandise has taken off. YouTube takes a cut of both the advertising and non-advertising revenue it pays creators so the boom in user spending is a boon for Google, too. (Despite investor entreaty, neither Google nor parent-company Alphabet have revealed YouTube’s revenue figures.)
Beyond the new monetization tools, Mohan also announced new “Learning Playlists” that will let a select group of YouTubers create topic-based video sequences and said that it's rolling out its donation button to more YouTubers.
YouTube’s not the only platform dangling new money-making tools to entice talent. Facebook just announced fresh ad products and direct payments and Snapchat launched an upcoming slate of star-studded shows.
