The new YouTube CEO is a friend of the crypto industry

Little is known about the manager, who joined in March 2008 after helping sell his ad tech company DoubleClick to Google for $3.1 billion. One of the few one-on-one interviews with Mohan dates from August 2021.

Publications like Decrypt now point to a post last February in which Mohan, then YouTube’s chief product officer, argued that non-fungible tokens offer “incredible potential” for its busy creator economy to preview new products and features give that come on the platform .

“We believe new technologies like blockchain and NFTs can enable creators to form deeper relationships with their fans,” he wrote at the time.

“Giving fans a verifiable opportunity to own unique videos, photos, artwork, and even experiences of their favorite creators could be a compelling prospect for creators and their audiences.”

How YouTube challenges TikTok in short videos

Enabling digital payments has already garnered a lot of interest after Elon Musk revealed plans to integrate payments into Twitter and reward influencers for content – a business model pioneered by YouTube in 2007.

Mohan takes over from veteran CEO Susan Wojcicki at a critical juncture for YouTube, the largest ad-based video-on-demand service in the world with over 2 billion monthly active users.

ByteDance’s viral phenomenon, TikTok, is changing the social media landscape with its focus on sharing short user-generated videos that have become a threat to established names. Other competitors, including Musk’s Twitter, could also be pushing into YouTube’s territory.

With the popular streaming platform traditionally selling ads running during long-form creator-targeted videos, finding a way to monetize content no longer than 60 seconds has been particularly difficult — just ask Meta Managers tasked with launching Instagram Reels.

In September, YouTube responded with its own bespoke concept called YouTube Shorts. Since ads only appear between videos, the company has opted to share 45% of revenue based on their share of total views, instead of the traditional 55%.

Section 230 legal challenge could turn the industry on its head

Monetizing short video content amid a broader industry exodus of social media users to TikTok is just one challenge Mohan faces — albeit one that’s partially under his control.

The Supreme Court is expected to begin hearing arguments in the case this week Gonzalez vs Googlethat could remove the protections enshrined in US law. Under Section 230, digital media are considered neutral platforms and not publishers responsible for the content on their sites, which is often cited as a card for the industry to “get out of jail free”.

YouTube itself is at the heart of the debate. The family of Nohemi Gonzalez, a 23-year-old California woman who was murdered during the 2015 Islamic State terrorist attack in Paris, has accused the Google subsidiary of unlawfully recommending videos on its platform.

“Section 230 is fundamental to the Internet. It protects freedom of expression and helps platforms fight harmful content more effectively,” Mohan wrote in January. “The stakes couldn’t be higher.”

Despite the various challenges YouTube faces, outgoing CEO Wojcicki argued that Mohan would be a “great leader” with a “wonderful grasp” of the business, as well as its creators and users.

“YouTube’s most exciting opportunities lie ahead, and Neal is the right person to lead us,” she wrote last week.

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