- YouTube’s CEO, Susan Wojcicki, has announced her departure, and Neal Mohan will take the reins of the company.
- As chief product officer, Mohan pushed for the integration of NFTs into the video platform to give creators more opportunities to earn.
- Mohan has been vocal about his belief in web3 and transforming YouTube into an immersive platform.
The chief executive officer of YouTube, Susan Wojcicki, on Thursday announced her departure from the company after nine years as CEO and will be succeeded by Neal Mohan, her CPO, who pushed for the integration of NFTs last year.
Susan Wojcicki Steps Down as YouTube CEO
Susan Wojcicki, YouTube's chief executive officer and one of Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)'s first employees, has announced that she will be stepping down from her role at the video streaming company after almost nine years as CEO and 25 years with Google.
Wojcicki, who was Google’s 16th employee, said her leaving YouTube will allow her “start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about.” She tweeted:
Her long-term lieutenant, Neal Mohan, will take over as CEO of YouTube.
Who Is Neal Mohan?
Neal Mohan is a Stanford graduate who joined Google in 2008 when the tech giant acquired DoubleClick, an integrated advertisement platform. Mohan is currently the chief product officer (CPO) at YouTube and served as Wojcicki's deputy.
As YouTube's chief product officer, Neal Mohan proposed the integration of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into the streaming platform.
For a long time, YouTube's new CEO has been a big advocate for Web 3, the future of the internet. At the launch of YouTube NFT, Mohan reckoned that “Web3 opens up new opportunities for creators."
YouTube to Become More Immersive, like Web3 and the Metaverse
The YouTube CEO has said that he "thinks there’s incredible potential." Is this enough to expect more integrations on YouTube? During his time as CPO, Mohan said it was impossible to talk about innovations with the Metaverse.
Mohan has been working to make YouTube more immersive, much like the metaverse. In an interview in 2022, Mohan said “the first area in which you can expect to see an impact is gaming, where we’ll work to bring more interactions to games and make them feel more alive.”
He also expressed his excitement to see how YouTube can help in turning the virtual worlds in the metaverse into reality, but noted developments were still in the “early days." With his appointment as CEO, perhaps we could see more web3 features hit YouTube.
On the Flipside
- The CEO change comes after YouTube's advertising revenue fell for the second consecutive quarter amid intense competition for viewing time and the rise of TikTok, Facebook (NASDAQ:META)'s Reels, and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX).
Why You Should Care
Although Mohan hasn’t provided specific details on how his plans will be actualized, it will be interesting to see how YouTube embraces web3 and the metaverse.
For the best info sources on YouTube, read:
Top 10 Crypto YouTube Accounts to Follow in 2023
Read more about Mohan’s Web3 plans for YouTube below:
YouTube Outlines Plans for Web3 and NFTs to Benefit Content Creators