The Philippines is now considered as one of the most vibrant and fastest growing markets of the American video-sharing website YouTube, due to the increasing number of people watching videos and creator channels, and the company’s partnerships with telcos, media companies and creators.
This was announced in the first-ever Brandcast event in the Philippines where YouTube shared new insights, platform growth, and opportunities for brands, businesses and media partners.
YouTube’s operations in the Philippines registered growth in the last three years. From 2016 to 2019, the number of creator channels with more than 100,000 subscribers has grown 20 times. There are currently over 750 channels with more than 100,000 subscribers. In three years since 2016, the number of media channels with more than one million subscribers has increased by 10 times. There are now over 20 media channels with more than one million subscribers.
“The Philippines is an important market for YouTube. Over the years, we have seen an immense growth not only in the number of people watching videos but also in creators starting their own channels and brands going digital to engage their customers,” said Vishal Sarin, director of YouTube Content Partnerships in Southeast Asia.
YouTube also invested in forming partnerships with telcos, media companies and creators. The video-sharing platform partnered with Smart Communications when the telecom firm launched in 2018 the Free YouTube Every Day program to provide a free hour of YouTube access daily for its mobile prepaid subscribers. The program resulted to the growth of Smart’s mobile data usage by more than twice year-on-year and service revenues from mobile data rose by 62%.
When Cebu Pacific launched its month-long anniversary campaign earlier this year, the airline company utilized YouTube to engage its target market and reported three times growth in the number of booked flights.
YouTube is also being utilized by broadcast firms ABS-CBN, GMA Network and WishFM to reach more audiences especially in the cross-screen world today. ABS-CBN and GMA Network, with more than 10 million subscribers each are part of the top 50 YouTube channels being watched globally, entitling them both to receive the Diamond Creator Award.
