YouTube chief Neal Mohan has been named Time CEO of the Year for 2025.
“The entire dynamics of the entire media industry are changing before our eyes,” Mohan said in an interview with Time published Dec. 4. “It’s incredibly disruptive, and if you don’t adapt, you can be left by the wayside.”
Over the past 20 years, Google-owned YouTube has become the undisputed most-watched video platform in the world. It’s the preferred starting point for countless self-made influencers, podcasters, commentators and entrepreneurs and over time has made it into the big leagues of TV through rights deals with the NFL, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal.
Mohan described the video platform as “a metropolis with lots of interconnected dependencies, and what you do on one street impacts what happens on another street.” “In the early days, it was much more like a village, where lots of the creators knew each other,” Mohan told Time. And I think that if you’re the leader of one vs. the other, you’re forced to think about decisions in maybe a different way.”
Starting with the 2023-24 season, YouTube became the exclusive U.S. retailer for the NFL’s Sunday Ticket out-of-home package, replacing DirecTV — and beating out other highly interested parties, including Apple, for the rights.
“I would say Neal is very well prepared,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told Time. “He understands what he’s trying to build. He’s got a deep understanding of the media landscape and where YouTube fits and where content can help him advance his strategies.”
