Google’s YouTube to get new chief executive
The Internet’s most dominant online video site is about to get a new boss.
Google ad executive Susan Wojcicki appears will become the next head of YouTube, according to reports published by online sites The Information and Re/code.
The executive would succeed Salar Kamangar, who has run the unit since YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley left the company in 2010. A YouTube spokeswoman could not be immediately reached for comment.
UPDATE: Confirming the appointment, Google chief executive Larry Page said in a statement, “Salar and the whole YouTube team have built something amazing. Like Salar, Susan has a healthy disregard for the impossible and is excited about improving YouTube in ways that people will love.”
The appointment of Wojcicki, Google’s senior vice president of advertising, signals that YouTube is seeking to better capitalize on the site’s massive global audience of 1 billion monthly visitors, 40% of whom watch videos via mobile phones and tablets.
ON LOCATION: Where the cameras roll
Wojcicki leads all of Google’s ad products -- AdWords, AdSense, Analytics and DoubleClick. The mother of four has deep ties to the company’s founders: She rented her garage to Sergey Brin and Larry Page in the search engine’s early years and was the company’s 16th hire, according to Forbes.
Researcher eMarketer estimates YouTube brought in $5.6 billion in ad revenues last year. After paying advertising partners and content creators, it netted $1.96 billion -- an increase of 66% over the previous year.
Some of the site’s content creators have complained privately about their struggles in making serious money on YouTube, despite its traffic. Google last fall struck a deal with Nielsen to allow the independent service to measure online video views, much as it measures TV audiences. The decision was viewed as part of efforts to bolster advertising.
Various online news accounts speculate that Google elevated Wojcicki, in part, to keep her at the company. She reportedly had been looking to run her own operation, and had been solicited by outside recruiters looking to fill senior executive positions, Re/code reports.
It is unclear what the appointment would mean for Robert Kyncl, the executive who is YouTube’s main contact with Hollywood.
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