It’s content creators like 20-year-old
Mota — who produces videos on hair, makeup and fashion — that have
helped YouTube build its selection of channels with a new type of
professional content, and grow to over a billion monthly active users.
“Six years ago, telling people you were a
YouTuber, they looked down on it, and thought it was just kind of
cute,” Mota told CNBC at the MAKERS conference on Tuesday in California.
Now, an elite group of YouTubers are pulling in big money for their
content, and YouTube says the number of creators earning six figures is
up 50 percent year over year.
On Monday, Google’s parent company
Alphabet reported fourth-quarter earnings that far exceeded analyst
estimates. Part of the quarter’s strength, according to the company’s
CFO Ruth Porat, came from YouTube, which she said “continues to grow at a
very significant rate.” On the company’s earnings call, Porat said
YouTube’s revenue was “up 7 percent year on year and 12 percent
sequentially.”
Google CEO Sundar Pichai also
highlighted YouTube’s strength, saying people are watching millions of
hours of content on YouTube every day, and that “the time people spent
watching YouTube in the living room more than doubled in 2015.”
Mota, whose videos have racked up more
than 800 million views, according to tracking site VidStatsX, credits
YouTube with providing a creative landscape to jump-start her career.
“I’m so thankful and grateful to YouTube, because without YouTube
specifically, I would have never gotten to where I am,” she said.
While Mota has branched out beyond
YouTube, with a clothing line at Aeropostale, and appearances on ABC’s
“Dancing With the Stars,” she says her main goal when venturing into
traditional media is to drive viewers back to YouTube.
“I’m totally open to new opportunities
and doing things in traditional, as long as I can make sure it brings
people back to the home base,” Mota said. “They’re really changing the
way people consume content, so I want to continue to be loyal to YouTube
because I feel like they’ve done so much for me.”
YouTube’s push to change the way people
consume content took another step forward on Wednesday, when the company
announced the premiere date for its first slate of four original
programs on YouTube Red, its paid subscription service. The shows, which
feature content from YouTube stars like PewDiePie and Lilly Singh, aim
to help those stars “tell bigger and bolder stories” to their “massive
audiences on YouTube,” according to a blog post by YouTube’s head of
original content, Susanne Daniels.
Those videos are driving big ad revenue for YouTube, as well.
Those videos are driving big ad revenue for YouTube, as well.