YouTube CEO Neal Mohan on AI, Censorship & the Future of Creators

The conversation opens with a montage of claims about YouTube's reach. YouTube is described as "by far the biggest streamer in the world," and Shorts is said to have recently crossed a daily view milestone. The introduction presents Neal Mohan as one of the pioneers of internet advertising, now responsible for keeping the world's largest creator economy running. It frames YouTube as still being in "the early days" of its growth and states its mission as to give everyone a voice and show them the world.

Shorts, I think, has just surpassed 70 billion views a day.

Before the questions start, there is a short exchange about how the hosts' own show does on YouTube. The rough answer is that about half of the audience watches on YouTube, and the channel is described as close to a million subscribers, with watch time and views rising.

The first challenge concerns money. YouTube does not pay for content upfront. Instead it runs a 55% revenue split with creators and keeps 45%. The questioner asks directly whether YouTube is taking too much money from creators and whether the creator share could improve so that YouTube's cut falls to 30%.

The response defends the model by its total payouts and how long it has run. YouTube is said to have paid more than $70 billion to creators, media companies and music partners over the past three years, through the YouTube Partner Program, which is described as more than a decade old and as the original and largest creator economy. The term "creator" is used broadly to cover all of these partners.

we've paid out in the last three years over $70 billion to the creator economy

The defense compares YouTube with traditional media. On YouTube a creator is "betting on yourself," and monetization grows as the audience grows. The response acknowledges that not every creator will become Mr. Beast or Dude Perfect. It cites more than three million creators in the partner program earning revenue.