YouTube TV’s Future Includes User Flexibility, Choice, Says Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan
In a recent appearance on Decoder, The Verge's podcast, YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan talked about what’s next for YouTube, including the company’s live TV streaming service, YouTube TV.
During the interview, Mohan was asked about the price structure for YouTube TV. Decoder’s host, Nilay Patel, mentioned the recent price increase, noting that YouTube TV may be nearing the price of a standard cable TV bundle.
“I shouldn’t talk about how we’re thinking about it in the future,” Mohan said. “What I would say is there’s the economic realities of how content pricing works and the like. A lot of what you’ve seen in YouTube TV in terms of the new channels that we’ve added have been driven by user demand. Users have asked for that content to be explicitly added to the bundle as it exists on YouTube TV. So that’s what you’ve seen there.”
Mohan continued, talking about the primary goals of YouTube TV.
YouTube TV
YouTube TV is a live TV streaming service with more than 60 channels for $72.99/month. This plan includes local channels, 32 of the top 35 cable channels, and regional sports networks (RSNs) in select markets. The service includes an unlimited DVR.
“We are also very focused on making it easy for users to add add-ons, to give them the flexibility of what else they’re looking for in the package. And we’re also doing more around either content-vertical type bundles or even feature type bundles,” Mohan said. “You saw that with the 4K bundle on YouTube TV. So we’re trying to bring more choice to our users.”
As for future decisions, including new features, updates, and more, Mohan said he relies on user feedback.
“A lot of it is, frankly, just driven by the feedback that we hear from YouTube TV users,” he said. “There’s not another price hike or anything in the near term.”
When asked about adding picture-in-picture viewing capabilities on YouTube TV, Mohan said there’s no set timeline for creating that feature. He said, “There’s lots of pieces that go into that.” He knows that it’s something users are interested in, though.
During the interview, Mohan also discussed YouTube’s algorithm, content creation, and the company’s new offering, Shorts, a competitor to TikTok. You can listen to the full interview here.