YouTube Chief Engineer: VR is the key to YouTube's future

After Matthew Mengerink became a new engineer at YouTube, he tried a series of virtual reality applications. Although Google has also begun to dabble in virtual reality, it has not yet been released to the public. In a media interview, he described the feeling of using VR as follows: "I feel like something fills my entire head." But he did not reveal many details about what he saw specifically. However, he showed what VR can do, such as when you are just riding a bicycle, you can have a sense of sight across the Alps, or let you feel like Godzilla trampling a city. Mengerink said that VR is the key to the future development of YouTube. But how to change users' viewing habits has become the next problem to be solved.

Nowadays, many technology companies such as Facebook and Samsung have begun to experiment with virtual reality technology. Silicon Valley is also gradually realizing the dreams of video game manufacturers, and it is expected that the market will reach $7 billion in the future.

YouTube, which has 1 billion visitors per month, already provides a large number of cat videos, sports events and makeup tutorials with its powerful video services. In addition to its achievements, they also want to catch up with the trend and apply VR technology to make the website stronger.

Mengerink was full of emotion when he first joined the company. He said that the challenges he faced at the beginning were not only technical, but also somewhat awkward for him to sit in the position of the former chief engineer Venkat Panchapakesan who has passed away. Because during the transition period, executive engineer John Harding had been acting as the interim person in charge. For YouTube, whether to choose someone from outside the company as the chief engineer became the most controversial topic at the time.

Mengerink is also helpless about such controversy. He said: "If I were them, I would think this is very discordant. However, the new attempt is a rare opportunity for the company, and I hope it will succeed. Although there are many doubts, I am willing to stick to it." Mengerink is 43 years old and has previously worked for eBay and PayPal.

Last Wednesday, Google launched YouTube Red, a subscription service that lets you watch videos without ads, as well as YouTube's original shows and top-rated movies for $10 a month. In August, Google also launched YouTube Gaming, a hub dedicated to video game-related content. Now that Google is a holding company, it still plans to occupy the streaming center in the virtual reality field.

At the same time, YouTube has a lot of video makers, casual video uploaders and creators who are trying to make money. "We need to make sure that monetization does not interfere with the enjoyment of watching videos," Mengerink said.

YouTube is already a big part of Google. When the search giant reported earnings last week, YouTube was a big contributor. As it has improved in mobile advertising, people are watching 60% more videos online this year than they did last year. Meanwhile, companies like Facebook and Amazon's Twitch, which are looking to make video games, are increasingly targeting YouTube as a competitor. YouTube still faces a lot of pressure in the future.

As for the virtual reality mentioned at the beginning of this article, Google released a Cardboard last year that can turn your phone into a VR headset. In May of this year, the company announced that users can watch VR videos directly on Cardboard through YouTube. All you need to do is select the VR function from the YouTube mobile app. YouTube is truly integrating virtuality and reality.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.