YouTube CEO speaks out on “cringey” Rewind 2018 video

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has spoken out on the site’s widely-criticized ‘YouTube Rewind 2018’ video, acknowledging that the project failed to meet fans’ expectations in a big way.

Wojcicki addressed the issue in a Creator Blog post on February 5, admitting that Rewind did not feature some of 2018’s biggest moments on the platform – and even claimed that her children called the video “cringey,” to boot.

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“We hear you that it didn’t accurately show the year’s key moments, nor did it reflect the YouTube you know,” Wojcicki wrote. “We’ll do better to tell our story in 2019.”

https://youtube-creators.googleblog.com/2019/02/youtube-in-2019-looking-back-and-moving.html

Wojcicki went on to explain YouTube’s reasoning for straying away from the likes of the KSI vs Logan Paul fight, or  PewDiePie’s ongoing battle against Bollywood label T-Series – despite their major impact on the platform.

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“Last year, we also saw how the bad actions of a few individuals can negatively impact the entire creator ecosystem, and that’s why we put even more focus on responsible growth,” she said, likely referencing Paul’s ‘Suicide Forest’ scandal and PewDiePie’s promotion of an allegedly anti-Semitic channel.

YouTube Rewind 2018 became the most disliked video in YouTube’s history on December 8, 2018, surpassing the likes of Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’ and Jake Paul’s ‘It’s Everyday Bro.’

Major YouTube personalities expressed immense satisfaction with the video, creating their own iterations that received a record number of likes – with PewDiePie’s own rendition breaking the record for the most-liked non-music video on the platform with over seven million likes and counting.