Like all digital platforms, YouTube’s business model is built around keeping users connected for as long as possible. The Google-owned video streaming service has accomplished that predominantly through its recommendation algorithms, which aim to follow one video clip with another similar one, based on a user’s tastes.
According to Tim Katz, head of sports partnerships at YouTube, global users of YouTube’s mobile app record an average session length of 60 minutes each time they open YouTube’s main app on their phone. “A user might come to watch a Taylor Swift music video, but we can actually recommend a 49ers highlight to that user based off what we know about them,” Katz said at last week’s Horizon Summit at Levi’s Stadium.