YouTube CEO on Facebook’s video ambitions: ‘They should get back to baby pictures’
As Facebook has been beefing up its video offering in what looks like a more direct assault on YouTube, Susan Wojcicki says that she’s staying focused on her own business, not what the competition is doing
By Jillian D’Onfro
Facebook should ditch its video ambitions and “get back to baby pictures and sharing,” YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki quipped on stage Tuesday night.
Wojcicki fielded a question on increasing competition from Facebook during Recode’s Code Media conference outside Los Angeles.
The social network has been beefing up its video offering in what sources have described to CNBC as a more direct assault on YouTube. Facebook has talked to advertisers about expanding its “Watch” video product to more individual creators and rolling out an advertising system similar to YouTube’s where all parties get a split of the revenue.
When Recode co-founder Kara Swisher asked Wojcicki on stage about whether she worries about increased competition from Facebook, the YouTube CEO returned a very diplomatic answer:
“I mean you always have to take your competitors seriously, but you don’t win by looking backwards and looking around,” she said, adding that she didn’t know anything about Facebook’s plans beyond what was reported in the media.