At its 7th annual Brandcast event — and its first presentation to be held at Radio City Music Hall — YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki touted the astronomic growth of the world’s largest video site, all while affirming its intention to “grow responsibly” and remain “on the right side of history.”
YouTube today counts 1.8 billion monthly logged-in users — up from the 1.5 billion it announced last June — and is currently operating in 90 countries and 80 different languages. But Wojcicki added that “there isn’t a playbook for how open platforms operate at our scale,” and reiterated the actions that the company has taken to protect viewers and advertisers from inappropriate and hate-filled content. (Ahead of Brandcast, for instance, a CNN report found that the video giant was still running ads against videos that promoted Nazism, pedophilia, and conspiracy theories.)
Wojcicki didn’t announce any new measures to crack down on violative content, but did reiterate prior actions, including the effectiveness of its machine learning technology and its intention to hire 10,000 people by year’s end to address the issue.
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At Brandcast, YouTube also touted several additions to its Google Preferred ad tier — which enables brands to advertise against a human-verified consortium of YouTube’s top channels. In addition to some YouTube TV channels, the company is also adding its “complete music universe, including all Vevo videos,” to the Google Preferred offer, said chief business officer Robert Kyncl. This includes streams of the Global Citizen Festival and Coachella (with which it has re-upped its livestreaming pact for another three years). The music offer arrives on Preferred after YouTube inked licensing deals with Universal and Sony in December.
Brandcast was headlined by popstars Camila Cabello and Ariana Grande — who teased that she may have some projects in the works at YouTube ahead of an album release this summer. Veteran creators Tyler Oakley and Anna Akana also took the stage to share how the platform has catapulted their careers. The presentation also featured appearances by Trevor Noah, OKGO, Rudy Mancuso, Postmodern Jukebox, Madilyn Bailey, Matt Steffanina, and more.
Finally, YouTube shared some impressive growth stats. Users watch 150 million hours of video on TV screens, Wojcicki said — the company’s fastest-growing consumption format, and seven in 10 viewers say they watch YouTube on a TV. Kyncl also bragged that the company’s ad-supported original series, announced at last year’s Brandcast, have amassed more than 700 million views.
