Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is counting on the man who helped build the Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) entertainment juggernaut to bring order to its YouTube video play and help set the plate for the day that YouTube becomes a routine part of a television viewing experience.
Robert Kyncl, whose been aboard since last September as head of TV and film for Google and YouTube, is charged with bringing order to a website where 48 hours of new unrelated footage is uploaded every minute. The first step is to sort through all the material and recommend videos based on subscriber preferences.
"The more videos are relevant to you, the more you will be immersed in that experience, the more time you spend with us--which is precisely the goals," Kyncl told the Los Angeles Times.
That, of course, is only the start. For YouTube to be profitable it needs more than amateur short-form videos, it needs the type of content that will play well on television. And for that it needs a Netflix-like connection with those who hold the keys to entertainment video--the studios. And that's where Kyncl's experience comes in.
"We've had many very interesting conversations with YouTube about things we could do," Warner Bros. Digital Distribution President Thomas Gewecke said. "Robert was able to bring those conversations to specific closure."
For more:
- the Los Angeles Times has this story
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