YouTube's Focus Is Being a Platform, Not Producing Premium Content, CEO Says -- Update

By Jack Nicas 

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- While Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are increasingly producing their own premium content, YouTube Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki said the world's largest video site is mainly focused on being a platform for other creators.

Ms. Wojcicki suggested Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube would likely stay away from producing the sort of high-end shows that have lifted Netflix's and Amazon's streaming service in recent years. That is in part because it's harder to financially support such expensive shows with an ad-supported service, a spokesman said.

"It doesn't make sense to do it in the same way that...Netflix and Amazon are doing," Ms. Wojcicki said on Tuesday at The Wall Street Journal's WSJDLive 2016 tech conference. "It is a competitive market. I don't think we've ever seen this much content being produced as ... right now."

Still, YouTube is creating some original content for its year-old, $10-a-month subscription service, YouTube Red, which offers ad-free music and videos among other perks. But that content is centered around YouTube's existing stars, who can attract tens of millions of views on their videos -- some about videogames or makeup -- largely from young viewers.

"We're focused on the YouTube experience and the YouTube audience," she said. "We're working with the YouTube stars to take that content to the next level."

Ms. Wojcicki said she is "optimistic" about the initial reaction to YouTube Red. She declined to provide audience figures.

While YouTube has more than a billion monthly users, it has no meaningful profit. Ms. Wojcicki told the Journal this spring that her focus was on growth not profitability.

Write to Jack Nicas at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 25, 2016 16:37 ET (20:37 GMT)

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