YOUTUBE’S NEW INCENTIVES HIGHLIGHTS DEMAND FOR VIDEO CONTENT CREATORS: YouTube redesigned its mobile app in an effort to keep its top content creators from publishing videos on rival video streaming sites, according to The Wall Street Journal. The new mobile app will showcase content produced by popular YouTube personalities and will allow viewers to expand vertical videos to take up the entire mobile screen. Both capabilities aim to increase the amount of views each video will receive. The redesigned mobile app marks YouTube’s latest move in its battle to retain top video creators amid growing competition from Facebook. YouTube’s top creators post five times as many videos on YouTube than Facebook, but Facebook’s recent plans to potentially offer the same monetization scheme as YouTube has increased pressure on YouTube to keep its creators happy. While the new strategy won’t actually keep content creators from posting videos elsewhere, YouTube is trying to retain its position as the most attractive video site for these creators.

YouTube’s top content creators are an essential part of its video strategy for two major reasons:

YouTube’s top creators drive a loyal base of users to the site. PewDiePie, one of YouTube’s most popular creators, tallies nearly 40 million channel subscribers. This loyal user base will be essential as YouTube invests more in its original content offerings. Last week, YouTube hired MTV’s former programming chief to head its original content division, which plans on creating original series around popular content creators.
Popular content creators will help the company further monetize its platform. If YouTube can keep popular content providers exclusively on its platform, it could boost interest in the video streaming site’s proposed ad-free subscription service.