YouTube is the leader in ad-supported video online, but there are always new ways it can work with its content partners. Today at the CODE/Media Conference in Southern California, YouTube content head Robert Kyncl said top partners will receive benefits to help them out.
Over the last few years, YouTube has been combatting complaints from some partners that it takes too large a share of ad revenue and provides too little value to creators. Those complaints mostly surround the 45 percent of ad revenues it takes, as well as relatively low CPMs from videos distributed on the platform.
One of the ways YouTube has done that is the launch of Google Preferred, which makes it easier for advertisers to connect with top creators on its platform. Kyncl said partners participating in that program are seeing 70 percent revenue growth rates. But that’s just the start of what YouTube plans to offer its most popular video publishers.
“If you’re at the top of our partner pyramid, you’ll see yourself better taken care of,” Kyncl said.
That positioning comes as more and more creators are looking for new methods of monetization outside of YouTube. Kyncl argued that’s nothing new, that creators who have built their own personal brands will then generate revenue in other places based on their audience.
“Every time you create a brand, you want to leverage it across multiple platforms,” he said.
One of the reasons YouTube is in a position to pamper its top creators is that it continues to grow fast. Kyncl said it’s been growing 50 percent year-over-year for the last three years. And growth has been accelerating as opposed to decelerating, even as more video is moving online and more players are entering the market.
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“We never felt alone,” Kyncl said. “Every time you own a space that’s worth it, you will have a lot of companies that will try to own a piece of it.”
