We interviewed the CEO of YouTube

Dubbed by ElevenLabs

00:00 Who is YouTube CEO Neal Mohan?
01:04 A marker in our careers
02:54 Neal’s YouTube journey
05:56 What qualifies you to be the CEO?
07:41 What YouTube offered to Samir growing up
08:39 The $100M man
09:15 Shorts monetization
13:42 Creator funds vs revenue share
16:59 Tracking source material in the clipping universe
19:37 AI - challenges vs benefits
22:26 Protecting against deepfakes
24:49 Future of AI generated content
30:01 Measuring the creator-to-fan connection
32:05 Do subscribers still matter?
34:07 Would YouTube ever hide views?
34:48 Our issues with the comments section
36:19 Creator business models and going off platform
39:29 Why YouTube doesn’t take a cut of brand partnerships
41:25 Emma Chamberlain’s exclusive Spotify deal
44:24 The NFL Sunday Ticket deal
47:20 The NBA’s TV rights
49:44 What Neal watches on YouTube
50:44 If Neal was CEO of Colin & Samir…
53:24 Thumbnails

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ABOUT US
We’re Colin and Samir, creators based out of Los Angeles California. We make videos about the creator economy, and the lessons we’ve learned over 10 years of being on YouTube. We also interview creators and try to get to the bottom of what’s working on YouTube and where the creator economy is headed.

[MohammedMuaawia]

This man asked almost as many questions back to you guys as you did to him, you can really tell this was a mutually beneficial interview, and with his sort of inquisitive mindset it's very easy to see how he got the position he's in.

[joeingram]

My takeaways

1. Embrace shorts and monetization opportunities
3. Be cautious of AI generated content
3. Engage with your audience! Respond to comments! Key for long term success.
4. Subscribers still matter
5. Engage w/ YouTube updates and help to shape the platform
6. Collaborating with other creators is very important for your success.
7. Adapt to changes and evolve as YouTube evolves

[dorazd]

IMA JUST INTERVIEW THE ALGORITHIM SO THEN IT GET PUSHED

[JaredOwen]

He didn't seem to want to talk about the 30/70 membership split with creators.🤔 Dodged that one nicely...

[Donny_B]

This really changed the way I feel about Neal. When he first took the role of CEO there was alot of bad publicity but I genuinely feel like he wants nothing but the best for YouTube and Creators. Colin and Samir, thank you for asking (and suggesting) the right questions. The community needs you guys!

[LiamJamesKay]

37:24 Why would you want to put all of your eggs in one basket? It's way better to have your community on different places, like on Discord or in your email list. Just think, if something goes wrong on YouTube, like your channel gets taken down or they the algorithm, you've still got your people in other spots. It's not really smart to let YouTube handle every single way you talk to your fans. It's giving them too much control.

[hirostvjapan]

It's so hard to get monetized. I was once but got deleted the channel for monetized. I have over 70K subs, over 300 million watched, for shorts 20 Million watched, but still can't get monetized. It's so hard trying my best every day.

[InternetAnarchist]

You guys keep stepping it up every video. Really impressed with your guests and grind, this is definitely one of the most well made channels on the platform. Keep up the fantastic work!

[ProntosHere]

I’ll give Neil a A+ for question avoidance

[fearlessandfar]

Loved this Interview. As a YouTube creator, It's so helpful to hear Neal speak. Even the non-answers are answers, and seeing the enthusiasm of on different topics shows where the platform is headed. A+

[JobOthoniel]

Amazing Interview Colin and Samir, keep the good work, Also i notice Mr.Mohan do very honest answers for all the questions. thank you.

[TruthDoHurts]

They should add in a function whereby viewers from shorts are able to report or inform/tag the relevant videos to the channels that have their videos reuse by other creators. That would be more practical than having an ai capturing and recognizing audio, easier to be done and could be pushed out earlier too.

[RoadToAesthetics]

Neal Mohan thank you for joining Colin and Samir for the interview, this has been a huge help.

[HoopxBasketballOfficial]

Subscribers is not important anymore, you need to produce high quality, long retention videos in your niche in a consistent basis so YouTube always push your contents, missed one week not uploading you will experience a huge decline of your views, so better plan ahead and never loose your momentum. Be a good employee of Youtube.

[jacob.feehan]

This is nuts you’re talking to the YOUTUBE CEO!?

[vandalorian]

As a YouTube viewer I can tell you that I absolutely hate shorts. They clog it the feed and there should be a toggle to turn off shorts.

[butterfliesinspace]

The big problems with youtube now, is that the Algorithm plays favorites. Its no longer working for the viewers or creators, but instead based on pushing channels that are already grown so that they can grow even more. It creates an inequality among creators and really puts the small creators and new channels at a huge disadvantage. I wish @youtube and @creators would push more independent small creators.

[benguin_]

Typical CEO interview. Don’t give specifics. Don’t be controversial - tap into both sides of the audience. Push your agenda. Deflect or defer questions you don’t want to answer.

All I took away from this with any certainty, is that YouTube are bullish on Shorts, and creators need to get on board.

[thy]

Really glad Neal asked questions back for opinions, feels like he’s the kind of guy who’d be in a CEO role and yet would listen to individual people and walk away with a new thought and idea, like he wouldn’t throw that away if that makes sense. Very fun interview interesting period we’re all in when it comes to content’s meaning right now and glad to get Neal’s views on that current ecosystem:) <3

[hiitsizumi]

The fact the CEO is asking creators their opinions on things and how they've experienced things makes me feel so seen and like my opinion matters. wow. 👏💗