Last fall, Mary Ellen Coe took on the role of YouTube’s Chief Business Officer, just as the company was experiencing a surge of activity. With her extensive experience at Google and McKinsey, Coe has made major headlines since joining YouTube. The company secured a $14 billion, seven-year rights deal for NFL Sunday Ticket, making YouTube TV one of the top pay-TV operators in the US. YouTube Shorts reached over 50 billion daily views in less than two years. And on the corporate front, there have been leadership changes with Susan Wojcicki passing the CEO baton to Neal Mohan and Robert Kyncl becoming the CEO of Warner Music Group.
During a recent visit to YouTube’s offices in New York City, Coe sat down with FilmmakerFocus to discuss some of the initiatives in her portfolio. She emphasized the importance of user-generated content on YouTube, which sets the platform apart from others. Coe highlighted the continuous stream of new ways that creators are telling stories, keeping the platform innovative and meeting rising user expectations.
One of YouTube’s recent aggressive moves was securing the rights to Sunday Ticket, offering subscribers access to network broadcasts of every Sunday afternoon game. Coe shared that the product experience has received incredible feedback, with features like Multiview being a big hit. Subscriber momentum has exceeded expectations, and partnerships with third-party companies have contributed to its success. While there may be discount offers for prorated subscriptions in the future, Coe emphasized the importance of pricing being relative to the user-value proposition.
Regarding fan feedback, Coe acknowledged the request for users to be able to select the games in Multiview themselves. While it is technically challenging, YouTube is listening to the feedback and plans to innovate in the future. They have insights into game combinations and fan interests, which they can use to improve the experience.
Overall, Coe’s vision for YouTube revolves around the power of user-generated content and continuous innovation. With exciting developments like the Sunday Ticket deal and the growth of YouTube Shorts, YouTube remains at the forefront of the digital media landscape.The upcoming football season is filled with must-watch games, and we’re making it even easier for you to catch all the action. We’ll preload those game combinations that you won’t want to miss. As the season progresses, we anticipate that the demand for customization will decrease because viewers will find the combinations they want available.
FILMMAKERFOCUS: At the start of this football season, a carriage dispute between Charter and Disney kept a lot of early college games and Week 1 of the NFL off of Spectrum TV in large swaths of the country. YouTube TV, which had more than 5 million subscribers in 2022 by your most recent official estimate, got a rare plug by both companies as a solution for frustrated customers looking for their games and shows. By promoting services like YouTube TV, Charter says it was able to keep broadband customers even though some moved their TV service to you from Spectrum. Did you see a subscriber bump during that period?
COE: It’s interesting to note that this dispute occurred during the Sunday Ticket ramp. We haven’t analyzed the relationship between the two yet. However, our growth has been incredible thanks to our partnership with the NFL and YouTube TV. It’s worth mentioning that both Charter and Disney recommended YouTube TV as an alternative for accessing content. This endorsement speaks to the positive user experience on our platform, which we greatly appreciate.
FILMMAKERFOCUS: Prior to the Charter-Disney situation, YouTube TV implemented a price hike, going to $73 a month from $65 for your base plan. Typically in these situations, a number of customers react by canceling their service. Did you see that initially or has some of that churn been offset by the NFL given that YouTube TV subscribers get a cheaper rate for Sunday Ticket?
COE: The growth of YouTube TV has been robust, and we attribute that to the NFL partnership. Our integration with creators has been a significant feature that draws fans into YouTube TV. Interestingly, when we announced the price increase alongside Multiview, which coincided with NCAA March Madness, we experienced an 800% increase in call volume, with 80% of it being related to Multiview.
FILMMAKERFOCUS: The internet pay-TV bundle sector has stabilized a bit but some early players are gone and overall cord-cutting is continuing. While you’re the leader, skeptics note that programming costs money, especially sports, so they say you are going to keep passing rising expenses on to the consumer. In the interest of transparency, I am a paying YouTube TV subscriber and have also covered the business since it launched in 2017, right across the street at Chelsea Market. So, the question that comes to my mind is: How do you avoid squandering all of its technological innovation and let this become just another TV operator annoying customers with higher rates?
COE: Let’s address the price point. It’s interesting that the media focused on the pricing of Sunday Ticket without considering the all-in cost of a two-year contract, a dish, and Sunday Ticket on top of that. By signing up with YouTube TV, users actually save 45% on the price. We believe that the growth we’re experiencing is a testament to the value our consumers see. Additionally, when it comes to content, YouTube offers unique and exclusive content that can’t be found elsewhere. Whether you’re watching Shorts, MrBeast, or accessing Primetime Channels like Sunday Ticket or Paramount, all the content you want is available on YouTube TV.
FILMMAKERFOCUS: I am glad you’re bringing up the relationship between YouTube TV and YouTube writ large. On the YouTube TV side, you have programming contracts to honor, so you need to maintain a wall between the vast, free, ad-supported world of YouTube and what subscribers pay for on YouTube TV. In the future, though, could there be a far different-looking bundle? MrBeast’s audience, since you mentioned him, is exponentially bigger than that of a lot of the cable networks you’re paying to carry. Maybe his channel will get swapped in for a lower-tier cable network?
COE: We believe that the consumer should have the power to decide what they want bundled and what they want unbundled. We’ll let them make that choice, and we’ll ensure that both options provide a great experience.
FILMMAKERFOCUS: YouTube TV already knows my favorite TV channels and serves them up to me on the home screen. Will it start to incorporate a dashboard of the YouTube channels I subscribe to, all integrated together within the same app?
COE: I’ll pass this feedback along to our product team. It’s possible that you may see this evolution in the future.
FILMMAKERFOCUS: Have you ever wondered about this before?, COE: You probably already know who our partners are and what our relationships with them are like. And you’ve definitely experienced the amazing subscriber growth of YouTube TV. But we don’t want that to be the only experience we offer. That’s why we have partnerships with NFL, Paramount, and other Primetime Channels. If you prefer a more personalized experience, you can easily choose channels à la carte if you’re a DirectTV or Comcast subscriber. We’ve even worked with our partners to include YouTube in their advertising. So, it’s really about following the user’s preferences. For our partners, it’s about exploring different business models to reach their target audiences.
