The Covid-19 lockdowns were good for platforms like YouTube which recorded an increase in users between September 2020 and September 2021.
This was revealed at the YouTube is for Everyone Festival which took place at Summer Place in Johannesburg on Thursday.
Back for the first time in two-and-a-half years, the festival shared research insights with the audience, as well as the internet platform’s growth locally and across the continent.
YouTube has an impact on its users, creators, and advertisers, and the festival examined three pillars: effectiveness, creators, and audience.
Zeph Masote, lead for YouTube partnerships in South Africa, said many content creators have been empowered through different YouTube initiatives including the YouTube Black Voices Fund.
Masote shared that the number of first-time creators using YouTube has increased between September 2020 and September 2021, and said the creators now have 10 different ways to make money on the platform.
Asha Patel, head of marketing at Google South Africa, said people around the world always find something they love on the platform. “Creators from different backgrounds attract diverse audiences across South Africa and the world,” said Patel.
“A good reference of this is media personality Lasizwe Dambuza, who started shooting videos in Soweto after he got his first smartphone. He was able to reach the Gen Z to 55-plus audience.”
Alistair Mokoena, country director of Google, spoke about how YouTube enhances the television experience base on a variety of choices that people are able to pick from, adding that the platform helps brands reach audiences.
“We wanted to come out and explain in person to content creators on YouTube what more they can do to achieve greater success in what they do,” said Mokoena.
“We also spoke to marketers who are connecting with consumers to really help them understand what the possibilities are that lie behind the YouTube brand.
“With unemployment on the rise, we do need platforms like these where people can actually start businesses and use their own creativity, that’s why we say YouTube is for everybody, because of the diversity of our country.
“Television too has become a preferred channel for a lot of users and we have over 5-million South Africans streaming YouTube on their televisions.”
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