YouTube is restructuring creator management teams

YouTube‘s partnerships side is undergoing its first corporate restructuring in a decade–one that’ll see changes to the creator management and operations teams, and will result in around 100 people’s roles being eliminated.

This reorg is following a strategy laid out by Mary Ellen Coe, who took over as YouTube’s chief business officer when Robert Kyncl left in early 2023. Coe previously led Google Customer Solutions, where she oversaw global ads for midmarket and small businesses, and before that spent 12 years with management consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

With the restructure, YouTube will bring its content creator management teams (which, up till now, were spread around the globe and loosely connected, so a partner manager in India may have been reporting to a leader in the Asia-Pacific region) together under dedicated central leadership in each individual country.

People familiar with the matter tell Tubefilter that this change will not result in any creators losing partner manager support, and that in general YouTube will be able to support more creators, since the focus is now on scaling these core, country-specific teams.

YouTube is changing up several other teams, too. While it’s spreading out and localizing creator management, it’s doing the opposite with its music and sports/media/film/TV teams.

It’s consolidating all music teams into one global force reporting to Google/YouTube’s head of music Lyor Cohen, and consolidating its various sports, media, film, and TV teams into a single global team as well. The latter team will focus on things like YouTube TV and the platform’s big bet on the NFL Sunday Ticket.

One last change: it’s splitting its support team in two. From now on, there will be a creator-facing support team, and a customer/user-facing support team–something that will ideally allow creators quicker access to more specialized support.

In an internal staff memo sent out this afternoon, Coe indicated these changes are intended to streamline YouTube’s business as it handles an ever-growing creator base as well as new formats like Shorts and new technology like generative AI.

“As we have seen the past few years, our creator base is broadening and diversifying, from our most experienced creators to a new generation of casual creators posting on YouTube for the first time,” Coe wrote. “Gen AI tools will further fuel new forms of creativity and bring even more creators to the platform. At the same time, our subscription businesses have momentum, powered by partnerships with music, sports and media companies. As the business evolves, we have an even greater need to ensure we’re running the business effectively and meeting the needs of all of our users.”

The 100 people whose roles are being eliminated will have a chance to apply for other roles at YouTube, according to people familiar with the matter. It’s not clear if they are guaranteed new positions within the company.

“I am deeply grateful for the work these YouTubers have done to make YouTube the best place for creators, partners, and viewers,” Coe said. “Each one of you has been a valued and meaningful part of our team, and we’ll be here to support you as you consider next steps…Change is never easy, but I am confident these will help us invest our capabilities and expand our impact for YouTube for many years to come.”

We asked whether executives within the affected teams will see any changes to their roles with the reorg. YouTube declined to comment.