Image Credit: YouTube

Following one of the wildest years in recent memory, YouTube’s CEO has looked back at 2020 and speaks on what their plans are moving forward.

2020 was a year that contained a global pandemic which shook up the lives of people across the globe, one of the most significant and dramatic elections the US has seen, global marches protesting against the continuation of systemic racism; and that’s only to name 3 of the huge, world-shaking events of the last year.

As such, it has given YouTube’s team and their CEO Susan Wojcicki a lot to think about in terms of their platform and the future. Largely, it has been a year where social platforms have looked at their responsibilities more than ever in the wake of fake news and misleading propaganda and alongside platforms like Facebook and Twitter, YouTube are considering their own responsibilities in managing the information that they host and how they prioritise content.

YouTube’s Responsibility

Taking into consideration the turmoil of the last year and the long-increasing worries surrounding misleading and false information online, Wojcicki took the time to re-iterate YouTube’s responsibility in the content they allow on their platform and how they will manage this moving forward.

  • YouTube will remove content where necessary based on guidance by experts suggesting content could lead to harm
  • Trusted and authoritative content will be raised on the site
  • Borderline content will have its visibility reduced
  • YouTube will reward creators who meet their bar for monetisation
YouTube’s 3 Key Priorities

Moving forward, YouTube have narrowed down three primary areas where they want to focus on progressing and making their platform a better place to visit and contribute to for creators and viewers alike.

Policy transparency: As most creators and even viewers who regularly use YouTube will know, their policies are often a point of controversy. They want to provide more support from their team and provide better transparency in their policy changes.

Wojcicki wrote: “We take these issues seriously, and we’re making changes this year to help creators. Some of the work we will be doing to address this area of concern for the community includes: more transparency in our policies, more support available for creators, and improvements to the appeal process for creators.”

More ways to earn: YouTube are looking at how they can increase the ways that YouTubers get paid. In recent years, they’ve added features like Super Chat, Super Stickers, and channel memberships to provide creators with extra ways to earn.

Wojcicki told of the success story of Rachana Ranade. She uses her channel to inform people on managing and understanding finances. After enabling channel memberships last year she earned over $100,000, making memberships her primary source of income.

Supporting every creator: YouTube will begin asking creators in the U.S. to voluntarily provide them with their gender, sexual orientation, race, and ethnicity. They want to use this information to make their platform a more equal space with opportunities for all demographics.

2020 in Roundup

Looking back at the year that we’ve just survived, YouTube saw an amazing year for growth in content. With so many people at home more than ever and looking for things to watch and do from the comfort of their living rooms and bedrooms, engagement boomed.

Learning From Home

Educational content really thrived in 2020, as many students adapted to home-schooling. Alongside them, many adults took the newfound abundance of free time to learn new skills and pick up hobbies, aided by YouTube and its plethora of creators and content providing lessons and guides. They report that videos with “beginner” in the title have been viewed over 1 billion times since mid-March.

“One of the things about YouTube that makes me proudest is the role we play in enabling people to learn new skills. I hear so many stories about people who learned something new on our platform, so it’s no surprise that 77 percent of respondents to an Ipsos study say they used YouTube during 2020 to learn a new skill.”

Susan Wojcicki, YouTube CEO
Going Live On Air

Our enhanced separation in 2020 gave us cause to discover new ways to connect. Livestreaming played a huge part in that and had already been a large focus for YouTube before 2020. Last year more than half a million channels tried their hand at livestreaming for the first time and they were streamed over 10 million times.

Livestreaming also provided a much needed source of live music whilst we were all prevented from going to our local bars and venues. Big artists like Miley Cyrus and The Roots took to livestreaming concerts with fans, amongst many, many more.

Brazilian artists Jorge & Mateus put on a livestreamed concert from their very own garage. The performance gained 40 million views in total, showing the appetite for live music was strong.

Looking to the Future

Wojcicki outlined three primary areas of technology that they will be looking at expanding and improving in 2021. Whilst there will no doubt be many things to come in the next year, these are the areas they are focusing on primarily.

Mobile creators: YouTube use on mobiles is only increasing. As such, YouTube want to make their mobile platforms better for creators to use. They’ll be bringing more editing tools to mobile creators and expanding their short form content Shorts, which they’re beta testing in India.

Commerce: A study by Talk Shoppe showed that a whopping 70% of consumers they surveyed had bought products from a brand after seeing it on YouTube. With that in mind, YouTube will be looking to integrate shopping into their site more with new features coming soon.

Living room watching: In 2020, the TV was the fastest growing screen for video consumption. YouTube will be looking to improve their TV experience, make themselves available on more living room devices, and enhance their voice control capabilities.

You can read the full “letter” from Susan Wojcicki here outlining their last year and the company’s prerogatives as we enter another year with optimism about things improving.