YouTube sets out four priorities for 2026 as it reshapes entertainment and creator tools
Chief executive Neal Mohan says the platform will double down on creators, children’s safety and AI-powered creativity, as YouTube tightens its grip on streaming and online video
YouTube has outlined four strategic priorities for 2026, signalling how it plans to remake entertainment while expanding tools for creators, parents and viewers.
In a company post, Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief executive, framed the agenda around four themes: reinventing entertainment, building the best place for kids and teens, growing the creator economy and advancing AI-powered creativity. The plans come as YouTube continues to blur the line between traditional television, social video and online shopping.
The company paired its strategy with headline figures that underline its scale. Shorts, YouTube’s short-form video format, now averages 200bn daily views. Over the past four years, YouTube said it has paid more than $100bn to creators, artists and media companies. In 2024, its ecosystem contributed $55bn to US gross domestic product and supported more than 490,000 full-time jobs.
YouTube also said it has been the number one platform in US streaming watch time for nearly three years, citing data from Nielsen. The company added that YouTube TV will soon introduce fully customisable multiview options and more than ten specialised subscription plans, as it pushes further into live and bundled television.
For a lay reader, the emphasis on “reinventing entertainment” reflects how YouTube increasingly sees itself not just as a video website, but as a primary destination for watching everything from creator-led shows to live sports and long-form programming on connected TVs. The expansion of YouTube TV features is part of that effort to compete directly with traditional broadcasters and streaming services.
A second priority is children and teens. Mohan said YouTube wants to become the best place for younger audiences, while giving parents more control. According to the company, parents will soon be able to set up and switch between children’s accounts more easily. They will also gain finer controls over how much time kids spend scrolling Shorts, including the ability to set the timer to zero.
These changes are aimed at responding to concerns about excessive screen time and the addictive nature of endless scrolling. By allowing parents to limit or disable Shorts, YouTube is trying to show it can offer safeguards without removing popular features altogether.
Growing the creator economy remains central to YouTube’s pitch. Mohan reiterated that the platform’s success depends on enabling new creators to build sustainable careers. When asked who the next big YouTuber will be, he said: “My answer is always the same: it’s someone you’ve never heard of and that person is starting their channel today.”
To support that pipeline, YouTube said it will continue expanding monetisation and commerce features. Shopping tools will be rolled out more widely, allowing viewers to buy products directly within videos without leaving the app. For creators, this is designed to open up additional revenue streams beyond advertising and subscriptions.
The final pillar is artificial intelligence. YouTube said it will keep rolling out AI-powered tools to help creators produce, translate and adapt content. More than one million channels were using YouTube’s AI tools daily in December, according to the company. In the same month, more than 20m users used the Ask tool, which lets viewers ask questions about videos, and over six million daily viewers watched at least ten minutes of content that had been automatically dubbed into another language.
For non-specialists, auto-dubbing uses AI to translate and recreate spoken audio in different languages, making videos accessible to wider audiences. YouTube is positioning this as a way for creators to reach global viewers without manually producing multiple versions of the same video.
The focus on AI-powered creativity reflects a broader shift across the platform. Rather than presenting AI as a replacement for creators, YouTube is framing it as a set of tools that can lower barriers, speed up production and expand reach. At the same time, the company is under pressure to balance innovation with concerns about authenticity, copyright and trust.
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Taken together, the four priorities point to a platform that is trying to be many things at once: a television network, a creator marketplace, a shopping channel and a family-friendly app. The challenge for YouTube will be managing those roles without diluting its core appeal.
As competition intensifies across streaming, social video and e-commerce, Mohan’s message is that YouTube’s advantage lies in its scale and diversity. Whether that strategy succeeds in 2026 will depend on how well the company can keep creators rewarded, parents reassured and viewers engaged, while integrating AI in ways that feel helpful rather than intrusive.The Recap
- YouTube announced four strategic priorities to guide 2026 operations.
- Shorts now averages 200 billion daily views worldwide.
- Parents will soon control Shorts time, including a zero timer.
