At the D:Dive Into Media conference Tuesday, YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar gave his opinion on how the video marketplace is flourishing both online and off. The way consumers approach and consume media is transforming rapidly, Kamangar believes, and YouTube is evolving to accommodate it.
“We are embarking into the third wave of media,” Kamangar said during an on-stage interview with AllThingsD’s Peter Kafka in Laguna Nigel, Calif., Tuesday. “The first wave was the televisions networks. The second wave was cable networks. Now it is about empowering people exactly what they want to watch today.”
YouTube SVP Salar Kamangar speaks about the future of YouTube at the AllThingsD media conference. Photo: Asa Mathat/AllThingsD
Kamangar contends that people have distinctive interests in a variety of topics – for instance, yoga and stand-up surfing–but it is pretty taxing to locate a seamless stream of video content delivered to those interests.
While much of the company’s focus was on advertising, with sponsored videos, ad-supported content, and pay-per-click overlay ads. But that might not be satisfactory, as the head of the viral video site has suggested there might be premium content on its way to YouTube, effectively ending the great legacy of 100% no-barrier, free-to-watch videos that made the site what it is today.
Now, the video-sharing outfit is looking to bridge that gap by developing channels that are more topically specific and interactive than what viewers are currently able to find through traditional, one-way broadcasting channels. However, YouTube is not entirely eliminating the possibility of launching subscription capabilities that content partners could leverage.
With some handful of video-on-demand sales, Kamangar said his company could possibly create a service that could empower content providers to formulate their own subscription-based video offerings on the YouTube platform.
Kamangar presented an example of being able to sign up for individual yoga channels, for instance. While he advised that it is a bit premature and that YouTube does not currently have a product to announce, it is definitely something YouTube is thinking about. “We are a media platform want to be biz model than media partners demand,” hes said.
Additionally, YouTube is also musing to develop a lean-back viewing experience. “Right now on YouTube, you watch a three-minute video, and every three minutes you have to decide what you want to watch next,” Kamangar said.
Besides, the video-sharing website wants its audiences to be able to watch more passively, he added–“The concept is that you will subscribe to a channel and you will go and just keep watching.”
The move comes as YouTube begins to rethink how it positions itself and as it is investing $100 million in more than 100 channels for developing premium content channels catering to subjects such as business news, food, dance, education, pets, fashion and fitness.
Kamangar said YouTube is making that investment as a way to catalyze something that is going to happen and to make it happen more quickly. In that way, he measured YouTube’s funding of original channels with how Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers is catalyzing iOS app investment with the iFund.
What we have treasured from our experience with YouTube is that you cannot predict what is going to be big. We are trying to place our bets far and wide, Kamangar said. We would rather be early than late, he added.