YouTube Launches Dedicated Canadian Spotlight And Creators Features
If some of your favourite things include viral videos, poutine, and foods with maple, YouTube has you covered.
The massive video-sharing site announced today the launch of a brand new way for Canadians to discover leading and original Canadian content. YouTube Spotlight Canada will showcase some of Canada’s brightest stars in both English and French, as well as promoting some up and coming talent.
“We’ve had this huge surge in terms of interest in watching Canada,” says Nicole Bell, Google’s communications and public affairs lead. “There’s a momentum around our Canadian creators, and this is a great time to focus and harness that energy and focus it around discovering the best Canadian content on YouTube.”
Every month the new spotlight will highlight creators and videos that Canada has been watching and sharing. The channel will also include some themed playlists in case you are not sure what you want to watch and just want to explore trending topics or news stories.
Canada is the first country to have its own Spotlight channel that’s dedicated to local creators. Canadians have a vibrant imprint on the YouTube landscape, and watching time in the country has grown 30 per cent over the last year alone.
The first edition of YouTube Spotlight Canada prides itself on being a celebration of the best the country has to offer. You can meet the best YouTubers, check out Canada 150 highlights and even dive into Canadian history
There is also a separate list dedicated to exploring some phenomenal Indigenous music.
“We’ve seen a lot of interest in Canada’s Indigenous communities on how the internet can help them find both a local and global audience,” says Bell. “We want to enhance discoverability and have you find out about someone you’ve never heard before, so you’re not just looking at the same old folks.”
The videos are selected algorithmically, so what you see right now are the most popular videos from selected creators. As the spotlight progresses, there will be themes each month, such as beauty, allowing niche local creators to have a focus.
YouTube is also launching the popular Creator on the Rise feature in Canada on Aug. 2. It will identify new Canadian video creators with talent and drive then showcase their videos on the trending tab, exposing their work to a massive audience. YouTube’s global market will allow Canadians to spread their work without barriers, allowing them to reach an international market that at one point was hard to break through. Today, 90 per cent of views on Canadian channels now come from outside the country.
Total watch time for videos from Canadian creators in the US, France and Australia has grown 40 per cent in the last year, and the amount of Canadians with over 100,000 subscribers on the video site has grown 65 per cent in just one year. It seems that the Canadian infiltration on YouTube is just beginning.
