YouTube's Focus Is Being a Platform, Not Producing Premium Content, CEO Says -- Update
October 25 2016 - 4:52PM
Dow Jones News
By Jack Nicas
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- While Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.
are increasingly producing their own premium content, YouTube Chief
Executive Susan Wojcicki said the world's largest video site is
mainly focused on being a platform for other creators.
Ms. Wojcicki suggested Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube would likely stay
away from producing the sort of high-end shows that have lifted
Netflix's and Amazon's streaming service in recent years. That is
in part because it's harder to financially support such expensive
shows with an ad-supported service, a spokesman said.
"It doesn't make sense to do it in the same way that...Netflix
and Amazon are doing," Ms. Wojcicki said on Tuesday at The Wall
Street Journal's WSJDLive 2016 tech conference. "It is a
competitive market. I don't think we've ever seen this much content
being produced as ... right now."
Still, YouTube is creating some original content for its
year-old, $10-a-month subscription service, YouTube Red, which
offers ad-free music and videos among other perks. But that content
is centered around YouTube's existing stars, who can attract tens
of millions of views on their videos -- some about videogames or
makeup -- largely from young viewers.
"We're focused on the YouTube experience and the YouTube
audience," she said. "We're working with the YouTube stars to take
that content to the next level."
Ms. Wojcicki said she is "optimistic" about the initial reaction
to YouTube Red. She declined to provide audience figures.
While YouTube has more than a billion monthly users, it has no
meaningful profit. Ms. Wojcicki told the Journal this spring that
her focus was on growth not profitability.
Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 25, 2016 16:37 ET (20:37 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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