Many of Vessel’s most prominent content creators first made their names on YouTube, and now, it is hiring executives away from the world’s largest video site, too. Ivana Kirkbride, who was previously a member of YouTube’s original programming team, has departed the company to join Vessel in newly-created role.
Recode, which reported the news of Kirkbride’s move, explains that she will head up a new office in Los Angeles (Vessel’s headquarters are located in San Francisco.) In her new role, she will work with Vessel’s burgeoning creative community, which includes many people who are also big stars on YouTube. The long list of creators who are posting videos to Vessel includes Rhett & Link, Ingrid Nilsen, and Connor Franta.
At YouTube, Kirkbride was a key member of YouTube’s original programming team. When the video site’s content division shuffled its staff in October 2014, she was put in charge of unscripted programming. Her departure comes less than a week after YouTube announced Susanne Daniels, a former MTV programming exec, as its new VP of Originals.
Subscribe to get the latest creator news
Kirkbride joined YouTube in 2011. Before that, she worked at Generate, which was later acquired by Alloy Digital.
Kirkbride’s experience at YouTube should be a key asset for her at Vessel. As Recode tells it, Jason Kilar’s video platform is now looking to sign deals with “less prominent” content creators, who “are more likely to see the benefit of Vessel’s subscription-plus-ads model.” Kirkbride knows what these videomakers want, and with her help, Vessel will be able to strengthen what is already an attractive pitch to creators.
