VidCon: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki unveils new initiatives

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki came to her first VidCon bearing gifts.

The newly minted boss of the Internet’s No. 1 video site addressed a crowd of industry attendees Thursday evening at the Anaheim Convention Center, where she stressed the importance of keeping YouTube’s content creators happy.

“You guys are the real stars,” she said.

The 46-year-old longtime executive, who previously headed advertising and commerce at Google, said one of her first actions after joining the Google-owned video giant was getting to know the creators. And part of that included taking stock of what some of the site’s weaknesses were from a content producer’s perspective--and trying to manage them.

On the language front. In noting that many YouTube views come from outside a creator’s home country (who can forget Psy’s viral sensation “Gangnam Style”?), Wojcicki said the site will combat language barriers with “fan subtitles.” The feature allows a video to be uploaded in any language, and fans can create a subtitle track in a different language.

“Our goal is to make it that every video uploaded to YouTube will be available in every language,” Wojcicki said.

On the music front. The video-sharing site that has helped propel the careers of Justin Bieber and Macklemore will pick up where MTV’s “TRL” left off. The site will launch “The Youtube 15,” an hourlong music countdown show on Sirius XM’s Hits 1 channel. The show, which will spotlight tunes from emerging and established artists, will be hosted by popular YouTube personality Jenna Marbles.

On the business front. Wojcicki said YouTube would introduce new interactive cards that link YouTube viewers directly from videos to a creator’s crowd-funding campaign, should he or she have one, on Indiegogo, KickStarter and other sites. For those without a funding campaign or a special project, YouTube has created something called a Fan Funding feature that allows fans to “tip” a creator any dollar amount between $1 and $500.

On the user-friendly front. YouTube is rolling out the ability for users to upload videos to YouTube in up to 60 fps (frames per second), a benefit for those who upload video games or videos with intense action. Additionally, the site will launch a mobile app for users to access analytics and channel management from any device.

VidCon will continue through Saturday; check back here for more.

Twitter: @villarrealy