YouTube CEO, Susan Wojcicki has said that the video-sharing platform is considering Web3 technologies, including NFTs (non-fungible tokens) — a way to certify digital assets stored on the blockchain — as a means of helping YouTube creators make money.
The CEO said this in a letter on its official blog titled, ‘Letter from Susan: Our 2022 priorities’
Wojcicki referred to the innovations taking place in the Web3 world as a source of inspiration to continue innovating on YouTube though no concrete plans were shared on when exactly to kickstart.
What the CEO is saying about NFTs
Wojcicki highlighted an update on key priorities which the platform is focused on as; the state of the creator economy, innovation, supporting the work of creators, and protecting the YouTube community.
Noting that the company is looking further ahead to the future and have been following everything in Web3, she said, “The past year in the world of crypto, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and even decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) has highlighted a previously unimaginable opportunity to grow the connection between creators and their fans.
“We’re always focused on expanding the YouTube ecosystem to help creators capitalize on emerging technologies, including things like NFTs, while continuing to strengthen and enhance the experiences creators and fans have on YouTube.”
Other key areas of innovation to expect in 2022
Shorts: YouTube started rolling out a new remix feature that lets users create Shorts using audio from other YouTube videos. In the months ahead it says there will be expansion in this capability with even more exciting ways to remix YouTube’s content.
Music: the company passed a milestone in last year, crossing over 50 million and premium subscribers, including trailers. Similarly, it also said it paid more than $4 billion to the music industry over the previous 12 months. In 2022 however, the platform said it is poised to do more.
Gaming: In the first half of 2021 alone, YouTube saw over 800 billion gaming-related views, over 90 million hours live-streamed, and over 250 million uploads. According to the video-creation content, coming up this year, it will roll out one of its top-requested features, Gifted Membership.
Shopping: While the platform has introduced a creator tagging pilot program that gives viewers the chance to browse, learn about, and shop products featured in their favourite videos, this year, it says it is bringing shopping to more creators and brands by partnering with commerce platforms like Shopify to build a more interactive and entertaining experience for users.
Living Room: YouTube is exploring more ways to bring the best of YouTube to TV and help viewers use their phones to more easily interact with YouTube videos they’re watching on TV as TV remain its fastest-growing screen last year.
What you should know
- The move by YouTube to consider NFT is coming a week after Twitter launched its first NFT feature, by adding support for NFT Profile Pictures.
- The feature lets creators set an NFT they own as a hexa-shaped profile picture which, when clicked, will allow others to learn more about the art.
- Instagram too has said it was exploring NFTs and from indication, according to a recent report, Facebook may be building an NFT marketplace.
