Related StoriesSalar Kamangar was Google's ninth employee, a Stanford biology graduate who was among the early core that helped set down the search giant's culture, and who also led the team that created AdWords, the search keyword advertising program that remains Google's largest single source of revenue.
About two years ago, Kamangar moved over to YouTube, becoming the video site's CEO in October following the departure of co-founder Chad Hurley. Given his importance at Google -- Kamangar also wrote the company's first business plan, started its early legal and finance functions, and helped found Google's product team -- Kamangar is among the least known in Google's inner circle of leadership.
In a rare interview, Kamangar recently sat down with the Mercury News at YouTube's San Bruno headquarters to talk about YouTube's plans, its standing within Google, and how YouTube could be a model echoed elsewhere in Google in future years. Here are some excerpts, which have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q Talk a little bit about your vision for how YouTube fits into the rest of Google.
A What we'd like to think of YouTube as, is a part of Google, with very overlapping goals and values. We're a fundamental part of the advertising business for Google. There is search and there is display and there is video. And when you think about where the big opportunity is on the advertising side, you think YouTube and video is a very large part
of that. We are very integral to Google's strategic goals, but we're also able to do things in a way that makes sense for the YouTube brand and culture for users. We're trying to find the right balance -- the details matter a lot -- but I think what we're heading toward and what we benefit from is both being a space where we can think and run like a startup, and at the same time being able to draw on the great resources of Google.AdvertisementQ How do you see the organization of YouTube's content evolving?
A We want to move YouTube from being a site that's organized around individual videos to one that's organized around sets of videos. You can think about that as channels, and you can think about that as two different kinds of channels. We want to deliver a personalized stream of videos for you that is specific to what you are interested in. That is one kind of channel -- the personalized channel. The other kind of channel is the channel in the more traditional sense. When you think about the impact cable had, we think we're in a position to have a similar impact for video delivery, like what cable has done with broadcast. In the early '80s, you had three or four networks. Now those three or four networks are responsible for 25 percent of viewership, and the cable networks are responsible for all the rest. Right now, the fraction of traffic that is Web video is small relative to broadcast and cable, but it's growing at a fast rate. What's amazing is that the Web enables you to build a kind of channel that wouldn't have made sense for cable, in the same way cable enabled you to build content that wouldn't have made sense for broadcast. You couldn't have done CNN with the broadcast networks; you couldn't have done MTV with the broadcast networks.
Q With Larry Page taking the reins from Eric Schmidt as CEO next month, will YouTube be a model for the more nimble Google that Larry hopes to create?
A YouTube has proven it can flourish in a model where there is more autonomy, and in that way I think it is an example and a potential model for other areas of the business. I don't think there are going to be big changes in terms of where Eric has started and where Larry is picking up on. Larry has learned everything in the last 10 years by watching Eric, and in the way they think and the way they operate, there is a lot of similarity. Larry is really focused on making sure that Google has a culture where impatient people can be successful, where we are doing bold things on the technology side that matter for end users. And I think YouTube is a good example of where, if you're an engineer, you can get things done quickly and you can have a big impact. I hope we're a good example for that. I think that's the challenge; I think when you have a bigger company you lose that. The most impatient people aren't able to be effective in that, and so you select out for those folks. And what we want to do is make sure those folks feel like they can get things done at Google.
Contact Mike Swift at 408-271-3648. Follow him at Twitter.com/swiftstories.
