UK gets its own YouTube

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By Alun Williams in Paris

Posted on 19 Jun 2007 at 11:46

YouTube is going local. Specific versions of the massively popular online video sharing site will be available in nine countries, including the UK.

The announcement was made by YouTube founders, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, speaking at Google's first European press day, which is being held in Paris.

The first stage of the rollout towards full localisation involves local homepages and search functions. The intention is to add country-specific video rankings and comments, as well as the Video, Channel and Categories sections.

"Video is universal and allows people around the world to communicate and exchange ideas," says Hurley. "YouTube will now be more accessible and interesting to a worldwide audience, and we look forward to rolling out in other countries in the months to come."

In preparation for the localised launches, content deals have already been signed with broadcasters such as the BBC and France 24. Football clubs including Chelsea, AC Milan and Real Madrid have also created their own channels.

Chen also stressed the issue of "deep localisation" - that localisation should be more than about just translation of existing content - and that YouTube's ambition is global: "If we had the resources, we'd launch in 149 countries, not nine," said Chen.

"We have the goal to put YouTube on every screen - on mobiles, on the living room TV. We want to take this content and deliver it to more devices."

Of course, localisation also presents new revenue generating opportunities for YouTube, with advertisers in the nine countries having specific markets to aim at. Ireland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Brazil and Japan are the other eight countries involved at this stage.