Kim Larson’s Post

Reflecting on a successful Vidcon Anaheim 2024. 📺 First off I was so pleased to share the stage with award-winning creator and entrepreneur Adam W - as well as Ian Trombetta, SVP Marketing NFL and Jo Cronk, President Whalar.  We discussed the success of YouTube and the NFL’s partnership, shared learnings from year one and our plans to go even bigger in year two. Note to self: preseason is only a month away! 😲 Here are my top three takeaways from this year’s event: 🤝SPIRIT OF CAMARADERIE AND PARTNERSHIP WAS STRONG. I saw competing platforms, talent and service providers interacting, sharing, partying  - all in celebration of the growth and success of creators.  I recall a time when it didn’t feel this way.  I left feeling so energized by the vibrancy of the ecosystem. 💻LIMITED AI DISCUSSIONS, LOTS ABOUT BUSINESS-BUILDING.  For a topic that’s taken us all by storm, there was remarkably little chatter (onstage or off) about the challenges/benefits of AI. The topic I heard the most is how do we provide creators with more holistic business-building support? 🚪THE BRANDS HAVE LEFT THE BUILDING.  Did anyone see any brands? I literally spoke to one brand advertiser over the course of 3 days.  I remember the days of creator and brand speed dating.  I don’t believe it’s just the draw to Cannes.  Could the lessened brand presence indicate a maturing of the sales landscape, where brands don’t feel the need to be on-the-ground striking up direct relationships with creators? Or, were advertisers missing a prime opportunity to support the creators that work so hard for brands? VidCon attendees, let me know what you thought about this year’s programming! What learnings did you take away from the conference? 👉 Hit me up in the comments.  #creators #vidcon #vidconAN24

The road to the Primetime Emmy’s for YouTube creators is here!  Tonight Late Night talk show host Seth Meyers sat down with the creators and producers of the hit YouTube show Hot Ones—Sean Evans, Christopher Schonberger, and Domonique Burroughs—at the Paley Center for Media to explore why A-list celebrities and millions of fans (3 billion views and counting) love this ground-breaking show. We hosted a happy hour beforehand for the press that was so affirming; the admiration and respect for this show is so palpable and so well deserved after 24 award-winning seasons. I’m not subtle about our Emmy aspirations for Hot Ones and other YouTube shows. As our CEO Neal Mohan says, "Creators are defining a new era of entertainment. And they deserve the same acclaim as other creative professionals." Here’s the awesome op-ed from Neal ICYMI: https://lnkd.in/g2egGXbj

One of the best aspects about my job is that I get to interact with super smart industry experts like Conor Begley and the CreatorIQ team.  We covered a lot of ground in the latest Earned podcast. I spoke about the complex work we do across geographies and the many differences that we see across the globe. Local and regional market differences are what makes YouTube so unique.  WIth 92% of the internet population on YouTube, there are a lot of diverse needs to satisfy and understand –but that’s what makes our work so interesting. We discussed our forward-looking priorities:  1) The transition to the TV screen and what it means for creators  2) Our role in helping the entertainment industry adjust to Creators as Entertainment and 3)  The non-sexy but effective ways we are leaning harder into AI to drive new features like A/B testing and support new forms of creativity. YouTube: https://ow.ly/rE1550SgbIH #creatoreconomy #YouTube

150 million people are watching 📺️ YouTube creators have always been the pacesetters of culture. It was only a matter of time and technology before YouTube creators transcended the genre of user-generated content and became serious competitors in entertainment. Thank you Alex Weprin from The Hollywood Reporter for spotlighting the high-quality production of creators and the pivotal role they play in creating Emmy-worthy programming. The full article is worth a read, but if you’re short on time, here are a few poignant excerpts: ⇒ “YouTube is marking one year as the most-watched streaming platform on Nielsen’s Gauge chart, which tracks what consumers are watching on TV, and the platform says that in the U.S. alone, 150 million people are watching on TV sets each month, totaling 1 billion hours daily.” ⇒ “We’re not making user generated content. We’re making independent television.” ⇒ “I think the beauty of what we do is that the only barrier to entry is the Upload button.” Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gXu7HbVn

2014 changed everything for creators. It was the year monetization blossomed, unknown young people became a new generation of celebrities overnight, and our modern day concept of “being online” was born. I spoke with Steffi Cao at The Ringer about keeping pace with how sophisticated creators have become in the past decade. And if you love a timeline like I do, you’ll have to read the full story:  https://lnkd.in/guf8GJVE An excerpt: Kim Larson, YouTube’s global head of creators, tells me that the creators who go viral now are entering a far more advanced market that offers new learning curves and opportunities. “There’s a sophistication difference,” she says. “If you hearken back to 2014, the primary way that creators made money was through AdSense. Now, we have over 10 ways for creators to monetize. You’re running a business, so your ability to use those different tools, to take advantage of them and connect with your audience, just requires a level of sophistication and commitment that I think is very, very different from what we had available for creators in 2014.”

Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking at the #IABNewFronts on a panel hosted by Influential's CEO Ryan Detert featuring my colleagues from Snap (Jim Shepherd), TikTok (Adrienne Lahens) and Meta/IG (Peter Shields). I think we could have talked for hours. It was great to feel the energy, support and enthusiasm for the creator economy. And you can't beat Alfonso Ribeiro as an emcee!

Hi there brainstrust - Meet Lyle Belger, junior at Stanford (heard of that school?) and close family friend who is looking for a summer internship somewhere in the entertainment industry (you should hear her sing and play guitar) or leadership & development or potentially the philanthropic arena. We've all been in this boat. If you have any leads, lmk. I promise you she's a complete rockstar. --

Proud to be an advisor to the dream team of Jason R. Klein and Asha Shivaji as they launch SeeMe. Understanding, quantifying and creating visibility for a brand's diversity efforts has been a perennial pain point for large and small advertisers. So proud of these two leaders bringing their unique combination of right + left brain expertise to the cause. Nothing but up and to the right.

I couldn't love this any more. Congrats to Susan Wojcicki and her sisters for this well earned place in girls' lives. https://lnkd.in/gAAvVned