YouTube crosses 2 billion viewers a month

YouTube has crossed into 2 billion logged-in viewers every month, a milestone that’s been just out of reach for at least a year, CEO Susan Wojcicki said Thursday.

In February, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said YouTube was almost at 2 billion monthly logged-in users, after the company said it reached 1.8 billion monthly logged-in viewers a year ago.

Wojcicki also said viewers spend 250 million hours watching YouTube on TV screens every day, up from 180 million hours in the middle of last year.

YouTube made the announcements Thursday at a presentation to advertisers in New York known as Brandcast. It was the so-called Newfront this year, a four-day series of events thrown by digital media companies to drum up advertiser interest.

For years, YouTube has grappled with balancing the “brand safety” expected by its advertisers versus the presumption of freedom of speech and creative license held by YouTube’s uploaders. At the same time, YouTube has faced ongoing scrutiny that it fails to adequately rein in misinformation and shocking videos, like footage of a deadly New Zealand mosque shooting in March.