YouTube is a video platform, not social media or linear television
Neal Mohan · Nikhil Kamath x YouTube CEO, Neal Mohan | People by WTF Ep. 9 · Nikhil Kamath · May 24, 2025 · at 14:05
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan discusses platform identity and audience purpose with Nikhil Kamath.
0:00 / 0:12exact quote · 12.7s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“We're not social media. We're not a place where you go To connect or share with your friends. You're primarily there to watch video. And we're not sort of linear, traditional television either.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Neal Mohan
YouTube's recommendation system reflects user interest, not narrative control
“There's obviously, we endeavor to show a diversity of content, but it's generally oriented around what we know to be of your personal interest based on your viewing habits, et cetera. So you, as the user, really are in the driver's seat in terms of what type o…”
Podcasters and independent commentators played a major role in recent elections
“News commentators, podcasters, or whatever you want to call them, played a big role in that election. And I do think that candidates that got the word out as a result of engagement in what, you know, in generations past or years past would have been overlooked…”
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan admits YouTube Originals was a failure
“We've tried in, in the past. We had something called YouTube Originals. It wasn't successful. So we don't do that.”
Most U.S. YouTube content is now consumed on television screens
“Well in the U.S., the majority of content Is actually consumed on television screens. And, you know, that could happen in the rest of the world. It's our fastest growing screen.”
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan says he votes for both political parties
“I've been, I've, Voted on both sides for a very long time, let's put it that way.”
News consumption won't be binary between legacy media and creators
“I really don't think it's going to be one or the other... Five years from now you should expect to see more of that diversity, not less. I think if I were predicting anything, I don't think it would be a one or zero between those two types of options. I could …”