YouTube is undergoing a major reorganization of its product teams, with veteran executive Christian Ostrien taking the reins of the newly formed group that will house all of the video giant’s subscription products.
Mr. Oestlien was previously Vice President of Product Management and is currently Vice President of Subscription Products at YouTube, reporting to CEO Neal Mohan. Mr. Oestlien will also oversee YouTube TV, YouTube Music and YouTube Premium, as well as podcasts, commerce and the YouTube Primetime channel.
Previously, Mr. Oestlien oversaw product management for YouTube TV, connected TV, sports, and infrastructure. Adam Smith, who left YouTube to join Disney last year, was the platform’s vice president of product management for music and premium.
YouTube’s subscription business includes more than 125 million YouTube Music and Premium customers, and YouTube TV is estimated to have more than 10 million subscribers, making it the leading Internet pay-TV service in the United States.
“We have incredible opportunities across music, podcasts, media, sports and television,” Ostrien said in a statement to Variety. “This will enable us to move even faster, learn from each other’s successes, and expand our resources. I’m honored to lead this team and believe that together we can create a unified vision that delivers even more value to our users and partners.”
Oestlien joined YouTube in 2015 from Twitter, where he served as vice president of product management. Prior to that, he spent seven years in various product management roles at Google and previously worked in product management at Yahoo.
In another change, former YouTube chief product officer Johanna Voolich will lead the newly formed Viewer Products group as vice president (also reporting to Mohan). The Audience Products team will focus on the audience experience, including the YouTube main app, Living Room, Search and Discovery, YouTube Kids, Learning, Infrastructure, and Trust and Safety.
In addition, YouTube is creating a third separate product organization called Creators & Community Products. The group will focus on supporting creators of all sizes, fueling creation through generative AI tools, YouTube Shorts, YouTube Live, and building community across the platform. Currently, YouTube has separate people responsible for creator products (Amjad Hanif) and new experiences and community products (Toni Reid). These teams will be combined into one organization, and YouTube is in the process of hiring a new leader for the combined team, who will report directly to Mohan.
