Google-owned YouTube has appointed Web3-friendly executive Neal Mohan as its new CEO following the departure of Susan Wojcicki this week.
Worthy, who stepped down on Feb. 16 after nine years at the helm of YouTube, outlined plans for a "new chapter" focused on family, health and personal projects. During her tenure, she oversaw the key introduction of the revenue sharing model, among other things.
Going forward, she will continue to serve as an advisor to Alphabet, Google's parent company. Before becoming the new CEO, Mohan served as YouTube's chief product officer and oversaw the removal of the controversial video dislike button, the launch of TikTok-rival YouTube Shorts, and YouTube Music.
On the Web3 front, Mohan outlined tentative plans in February 2022 to integrate a range of new features, such as etaverse-based content experiences and content tokenization via non-fungible tokens (NFTs), much to the dismay of NFT-haters at the time. The community is very frustrated. In particular, Mohan emphasized that NFTs can offer creators a new way to engage with audiences and develop additional revenue streams. He cited the potential for creators to tokenize their videos, photos, art and experiences as examples.
“Web3 also opens up new opportunities for creators. We believe new technologies like blockchain and NFTs can allow creators to build deeper relationships with their fans. Together, they will be able to collaborate on new projects and earn money like never before, ’” he wrote in a blog post on February 10, 2022.
Although intended to launch last year, plans related to Web 3 have yet to materialize, but given that Mohan now leads the company, another push may be in the near future. Following the news that Mohan was the new YouTube CEO, there was surprisingly limited FUD from active NFT skeptics on Twitter, who typically quickly ignited any reports of mainstream tech ties.
