Amol Rajan has taken a swipe at the BBC, insisting the broadcaster is going to 'get smaller at an accelerated rate' in the next few years.
When declaring his departure from the flagship Radio 4 programme, Mr Rajan said he was jumping ship to 'unleash [his] inner entrepreneur' in the creator world.
It comes as the BBC faces £500million worth of cuts in the next two years as it grapples with the falling value of its licence fee and fewer people paying for it.
The UK's public service broadcasters argued their content should be safeguarded and given priority to protect the 'shared social fabric of the UK'.
Proposals to give media firms greater prominence on such platforms were revealed in June as ministers warned misinformation on social media could become 'existential for our democracy'.
It comes as viewers have been turning away from their televisions and have, instead, been increasingly consuming content on sites such as YouTube and TikTok.
Speaking to the Political Currency Podcast, Mr Rajan declared Radio 4's Today show as 'the last big mass-market news programme' in an increasingly digital-focused world.
Amol Rajan said the BBC is going to 'get smaller at an accelerated rate' in the next few years
'I've worked for 20 years in the media,' he said, explaining that he had always been 'a bit behind the curve' during his career.
'And I feel that I've always been basically in areas of rapid and accelerating decline,' he said.
'The Today programme… does not fit with this argument, so I'm arguing against myself, but the BBC and BBC News is in the years to come going to get smaller at an accelerating rate, and I want to go to where the action is, and that's YouTube.'
Earlier this year, the broadcaster announced a landmark deal with YouTube where it would make content focused for the site's younger audience. The content will also be made available on BBC iPlayer and Sounds.
The head of YouTube for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Pedro Pina, has also maintained the global video-sharing site is 'not the villain' with the aim of tearing apart the TV industry.
Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Wednesday, he said: 'That is how the story usually goes, like a well-scripted tragedy.
'We have our once great hero, we have their terrible downfall, and – in platforms like YouTube – we have an obvious villain. It's a powerful story. An emotive story. The trouble is that it is not true.'
And while he maintained broadcasters could thrive on digital platforms, he also warned against making it legislation that they have prominence on sites like YouTube.
He argued that 'forced prominence would impair the public interest' because it would take away focus from creators and independent production companies.
'UK viewers will have to wade through content they may not want, which in itself could undermine the trust that UK public service broadcasters have built up,' he said.
'Forced prominence won’t help anyone succeed – not new independent talent, not viewers and definitely not public service media.'
Content creators had previously expressed anger over the proposals, with some branding it 'the end of YouTube', as they believe it would reduce their visibility on the algorithm.
Meanwhile, Kevin Lygo, ITV’s managing director of media and entertainment, said at the same festival that YouTube's £3million promise to invest in the country's creator economy 'made him chortle' when compared to ITV's £1.2billion investment into content this year alone.