EXCLUSIVE:YouTubehas been racking up milestones lately.
That makes 12 consecutive months for YouTube at No.
Combined, they have spent more than 30 years at the company.
Nicky Rettke, left, and Tara Walpert LevyCourtesy of YT
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
DEADLINE:What has enabled YouTube to become a force on the biggest screen in the home?
TARA WALPERT LEVY:Its been a long time coming.
A YouTube billboard in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)Sean Gallup/Getty Images
I remember when Nielsen first announced that we were No.
1 in streaming last year.
It was like, My God, a decade ago, who would have imagined?
I think its really two things.
One is the content.
The second thing is the viewing experience itself.
NICKY RETTKE:YouTube just turned 19 and Ive actually been here for 15 years.
Were continuing to innovate with ad experiences that are really designed for connected TVs.
RETTKE:It is very dynamic, so we can tweak it based on the channel.
A recent example is, we just introduced Shorts ads on connected TVs.
And so that is a very different experience.
DEADLINE:What role do your distribution partners play?
DEADLINE:Is there any way to put numbers to that?
I think it was up 400% last year.
There are some parts of that that we did not expect.
For example, Shorts has taken off in the living room.
Its fascinating to think about how behaviors are fundamentally changing.
The most powerful content partnership recently is with the NFL.
Part of our distribution partnership with the NFL included content commitments.
Has that been borne out in Year 1?
But theres creator of the week Shorts episodes every week on the NFL channel.
Theyve had creators at the draft and with behind-the-scenes access.
Its a really powerful integration.
DEADLINE:What have the implications of that effort been on the ad side?
Were seeing some great traction with that on ads on Shorts.
DEADLINE:Stepping back for a moment, I want to get your perspective on the broader ad market.
How is 2024 shaping up?
Anything keeping you up at night?
Last year was a huge upfront.
I think the understanding of their transformational role in entertainment is much stronger.
