YouTube Struggles To Dive Into NFT And Web3 This Year, Along With Metaverse

JAKARTA - This year YouTube will work hard to launch new products and features based on Web3, blockchain and non-fungible tokens (NFT), as well as its interest in the metaverse.

In this case, the company reasoned it would take advantage of currently evolving technology to fend off scams in the fast-growing digital art market and offer a viewing experience for gaming content.

YouTube's Chief Product Officer, Neal Mohan, in his official blog post hinted at future Web3 integration. He cites the potential of NFT to allow creators to build deeper relationships with their fans, and further monetize their YouTube content.

“Providing a verifiable way for fans to have videos, photos, art and even unique experiences from their favorite creators can be an exciting prospect,” said Mohan.

An NFT is a digital token that exists on a blockchain network, such as Ethereum, which is used to verify ownership of an asset. Typically, NFT denotes ownership of an image, video, piece of music, or even virtual land.

Further, Mohan adds that he wants to take a thoughtful approach to any Web3 integration.

"There's a lot to consider in making sure we approach this new technology responsibly, but we think there's tremendous potential as well," said Mohan.

While Mohan didn't go into details, it's possible YouTube could integrate NFT in such a way that certain NFT collection holders could gain exclusive access to content creator or special badges during livestreams.

Selling videos, or NFT-based video segments, can also provide an additional monetization mechanism for content creators.

Elsewhere, Mohan said YouTube has also prioritized the metaverse, an element of the Web3 movement that describes a shared virtual world where people typically interact via avatars.

But the company doesn't have a solid idea yet, one might allow users to watch videos together in the metaverse.

In general, for now, YouTube will only focus on videos related to, "games, where we will work to bring more interaction to the game and make it feel more alive," said Mohan.

This isn't the first time a YouTube executive has hinted at the Web3 feature coming to the video platform. Last month, YouTube CEO Susan Wojicki said she was looking at ways to expand the YouTube ecosystem and could include additions like NFT.

Lastly, Mohan mentioned some of the new features planned for YouTube creators this year, such as Channel Guidelines, sorting comments for live streams, and Super Chat (tips) for YouTube Shorts. This was quoted from Reuters, Friday, February 11.