In spite of the rising temperatures during this year’s VidCon, the conference gathering all the big players in the online video production business and their fans, thousands of teenagers didn’t mind standing in line for hours just so they could get selfies with their favorite YouTube stars.
But besides the throngs of fans rushing from one Web-celebrity to another, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki had the honor of giving the keynote speech, saying that this past year has been the best in YouTube’s decade-long history, a bold statement with real numbers to back it up.
The online-video entertainment platform continues to reach more teenagers and youngsters than any other media outlet, as it currently boasts more than a billion global users. Not only that, but the average YouTube viewing time has gone up with 60 percent over last year’s stats.
According to the short overview that Wojcicki presented, each minute sees more than 400 hours of footage uploaded on the platform – a striking figure in itself. Meanwhile, another growth was noticed in the number of channels that make at least six figures a year in YouTube revenue – this category saw a 50 percent rise.
YouTube’s growth has yet to be matched by another social media platform; not even Facebook can rise to its level, not for a while longer, at least. But the video market is expanding on a high rate, and Facebook is witness to that: according to April reports, the milestone of 4 billion video views per day has been passed in just 5 months.
Even though there are many YouTube stars who casually experimented with uploading their videos on other platforms – mostly Facebook – Wojcicki said the company welcomed competition as being “complementary to our business.” She is confident content creators will eventually come back to the place where success is guaranteed.
One of YouTube’s hallmarks for years now is sharing the revenue generated through advertising with video makers – but even this front has been threatened, as Facebook plans on starting a similar revenue-split model by giving 55 percent to content creators and 45 percent to the company.
Wojcicki also talked about the power that YouTube has in making people celebrities, as the community chooses who deserves the popularity vote – a phenomenon she called “the reinvention of television.”
New kinds of entertainment were possible in the flexible environment YouTube offers, giving creators the opportunity of expressing themselves outside the traditional rules of television. And above all, YouTube stands by engagement and community.
Image Source: Mashable
Joe Hennessey
