Big Changes Announced for YouTube’s Product Teams

Photo Credit: Bhautik Patel

Big changes are on the way for YouTube as part of an AI-focused reorganization. New reports suggest the video streaming giant is offering employees voluntary exit packages with severance—should they be ready to take flight elsewhere.

A new memo from CEO Neal Mohan reveals that YouTube believes AI is ‘the next frontier.’ YouTube’s major product team will be reorganized into three groups—Subscriptions Products (Christian Oestlein), Viewer Products (Johanna Voolich), and Creator & Community Products (no lead yet). This reorganization of the product team looks to be positioning YouTube for an AI-centric future.

“Looking to the future, the next frontier for YouTube is AI, which has the potential to transform every part of the platform,” Mohan told YouTube staffers in an internal memo first reported by Sources AI. “We need to set ourselves up to make the most of this opportunity.” This shift is where the voluntary exit packages are coming as YouTube says no layoffs are on the way—though should you want to depart YouTube is happy to let you go.

A rep confirmed YouTube is offering voluntary exit packages with severance for U.S.-based employees. The move follows Amazon’s drastic headcount reduction, which saw 14,000 corporate jobs cut—far less than the rumored 30,000 cut. Mohan’s memo comes after Alphabet’s Q3 earnings report, which saw YouTube ad revenue increase 15% year-over year to $10.26 billion.

Meanwhile, recent DMN Pro data reveals how YouTube Music is struggling to gain subscribers against other dedicated digital service providers (DSPs) like Spotify, Apple Music, and even Amazon Music. YouTube is dominated by free, ad-supported access which gives it a wide net of reach—but makes it harder to convert those free users into paid listeners. YouTube Music has grown 13% year-over-year in the United States alone, but that growth is still well below Spotify’s 276 million paid subscribers.