YouTube UK Blog

#MadeForYou

Sunday, 6 November 2016

An engine for your creativity and a home for your culture.
Each year in the UK, we work with a handful of YouTube creators and celebrate the fact they took to YouTube to tell their stories. In the past, we’ve used these campaigns to call out the uniqueness of a creator’s voice, like VICE, or the ingenuity of their storytelling, like Copa90, or the breathtaking breadth of their appeal, like Zoella. Mostly, we’ve used this moment to celebrate the talent and tenacity of the people and channels who’ve done it entirely on their own, and resolutely, in their own way.

This year, when we thought about who to spotlight, we tied ourselves in knots. Which creator? Which channel? Who’s emblematic of the platform? Who’s super fly? Who’s funky fresh!? And every time we got close to making a decision, we felt like we were missing something really important. The fact being: a focus on one or two creators is the tip of a creative iceberg; the tip of a universe of popular culture that’s driven by you, users and creators. There are close to 200 UK-based channels that have over a million subscribers each. Each! Great Britain’s YouTube stars rank on influence lists that feature Presidents, Olympians and Hollywood royalty. And the content created on YouTube is at the cutting-edge of pop culture, exposing us to new passions, new trends and new faces, daily.
Should we spotlight Joe Sugg, whose Whisper Challenge is now a global phenomenon picked up as a regular bit by Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show? Do we call out Humza Arshad who, aside from being plain funny, is using his mega-popularity to spread a message of positivity and peace. Or do we go big on Dina Tokio, who’s taking a totally new type of content - modest fashion - to the masses? We hair pulled. We beard stroked. And finally, we had a brainwave.

There’s no one story that can sum up YouTube - we’re what users and creators make us. You decide what is important. You set the agenda. We are #madeforyou. Which incidentally, is this campaign’s name and we’ve built it around as many creators as we can decently fit into one spot. Eighteen to be precise: Colin, Dina, Humza, Suli, Caspar, Scola, Oli, Kaushal, TomSka, Jemma, Vikkstar, Joe, Patricia, Emma, Lindy, Louise, Marcus and Tanya. Some you’ll already know and love; some you might not yet. But between them, they’ve racked up over 48 million subscribers to their channels - and they couldn’t be more different. From mad scientists to spoken word poets, they reflect the vitality of the UK’s creative spirit and the diversity of our tastes. Which feels like a lot to celebrate. So forgive us for breaking with our own tradition on this one. And for going a little overboard. But it felt like a fittingly YouTube thing to do.
Rich Waterworth, Director of YouTube Marketing in EMEA recently watched Caspar Lee’s Singing Lessons w/Justin Timberlake & Anna Kendrick.
#MadeForYou

That’s music to my ears: watch the BRITs live on YouTube

Thursday, 18 February 2016

Jarvis Cocker crashing Michael Jackson’s performance. Madonna’s badly behaved cape. Sam Smith silencing a whole arena with his incredible voice. The BRIT Awards with MasterCard has given us some of the most memorable moments in music history. For the third year, you can watch this must-view music moment streamed live on the BRITs channel if you’re based outside of Great Britain. Just tune in at youtube.com/Brits on whatever screen you find yourself closest to: mobile, tablet or TV.

Some of your favorite YouTube stars will be there live to bring you yet more action. YouTube stars Dan & Phil will present the official BRITs YouTube live stream featuring backstage action and more fun and games. Kingsley will be on the red carpet, rubbing shoulders with the biggest stars as they arrive to create more content for the BRITs YouTube channel.
And what stars! This year, international artists like Rihanna will join breakthrough British artists like James Bay for an unforgettable night of live performances. Not one, but TWO holders of YouTube’s prestigious “billion views” club will also perform: Adele and Justin Bieber. That’s alongside live performances from Coldplay, Jess Glynne, Little Mix and The Weeknd. After the live broadcast, individual artists will upload their performances to their own YouTube channels for you to relive again and again, plus there will be catch-up content on the BRITs channel itself.
So, tune in on February 24 at 3 p.m. ET to the official BRITs channel, kick back and as they say in good ol’ Great Britain, prepare yourselves for a right royal knees-up.
Christophe Muller, Head of International Music Partnerships at YouTube and Google Play Music, just watched “Dan and Phil’s Wheel of Wonder With Jack Garrett | BRIT Awards 2016.

YouTube/BRITs www.brits.co.uk#BRITs

Celebrating what you created, watched and shared in 2015 with #YouTubeRewind and YouTube’s new Trending tab

Tuesday, 8 December 2015

In 2015, you introduced the world to the latest dance crazes, opened up discussions about diversity and inclusion, and lip-synced in cars and onstage in front of millions. The trends you participated in and the creativity you shared defined the year on YouTube in a bigger way than ever before.

Rewind is our way to help you celebrate some of your favourite moments on YouTube through our official top trending videos of 2015, based on the amount of time people spent watching, sharing, commenting, liking, and more. Topped by one of the year's biggest dance trends, these videos were watched for over 25 million hours and were created by powerhouse channels with over 40 million subscribers between them.

For the first time, not just one, but four television moments made the top Trending Videos list. Three are late night TV videos of widely popular YouTube trends: the lip sync battle, the in-car singalongs, and the reading of mean tweets. You all love late night TV on YouTube—the time people spent catching up on late-night clips like Corden, Fallon and Kimmel nearly doubled in the last year alone!

Silento- Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) #WatchMeDanceOn by Tianne King

When it comes to music, 2015 saw some of our fastest-rising videos of all time. Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again" reached over 1 billion views in just 6 months and Adele reached the year's top 10 in just a few weeks. The top 10 music videos collectively have more than 66 million subscribers, and people spent over 37,000 years playing them in 2015.

Wiz Khalifa - See You Again ft. Charlie Puth [Official Video] Furious 7 Soundtrack

Maroon 5 - Sugar

Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do (Official Video)

Silentó - Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) (Official)

...and check out even more top music videos.

In the UK, we also went mad for lip syncs, in-car singalongs and poignant play-days, while we topped and tailed our lists with breathtaking moments from Britain’s Got Talent. Our obsession with Frozen’s “Let it Go” continued for (yet) another year through a brilliant real-life tribute, while FIFA’s “Play Beautiful” commercial and The Force Awakens trailer had us glued to our screens and excited as hell. And of course if wouldn’t be YouTube without some full-on fun courtesy of a marvellous PIXAR-inspired makeup transformation and two mad UK scientists and a giant water balloon.... hit click and enjoy!

Golden boy Calum Scott hits the right note | Audition Week 1 | Britain's Got Talent 2015 by Britain's Got Talent

Big hits mark out our UK music lists, but with a strong showing from UK artists, including Ellie Goulding, (the legendary) Paul McCartney, Little Mix and of course - Adele ...

Wiz Khalifa - See You Again ft. Charlie Puth [Official Video] Furious 7 Soundtrack

Rihanna And Kanye West And Paul McCartney - FourFiveSeconds

And if you love staying on top of the most-anticipated new trailers, hottest music videos, and viral clips from YouTube creators, today we unveil the new YouTube Trending tab. This new tab in your YouTube app delivers the top trending videos directly to your Android, iOS, and desktop device. It's the best way to catch the videos, creators, and trends that people watch, share, and talk about each and every day. See 'em as they take off and before they appear in YouTube Rewind 2016. aAnd for more Rewind fun, check out the YouTube Rewind channel!

Kevin Allocca, Head of Culture & Trends, and the YouTube Rewind team recently watched

“YouTube Rewind: Now Watch Me 2015 | #YouTubeRewind”

YouTube Kids comes to the UK and Ireland

Tuesday, 17 November 2015

A world of family-friendly video to explore, created with parents and children in mind

For years, my family and I have watched countless hours of videos on all kinds of topics. We use video to learn and listen to nursery rhymes, to enjoy the shows we love and to ask and answer questions on maths, science, space and beyond … With a world of video in our pockets, there’s a world of possibility and knowledge at our fingertips.

Today, we’re launching YouTube Kids in the UK and Ireland - an app built with parents and children in mind that makes it easier for kids to find videos on topics they want to explore. Since we launched YouTube Kids in the US, it’s been downloaded more than 10 million times by families who rate it among the top kids apps available. This local version of YouTube Kids puts the content we love in the UK and Ireland front and centre - think Captain Barnacles at the touch of a button and CGP Grey on hand to answer tricky questions from curious minds. It’s our first step in reimagining YouTube for families and it’s now available to download for free on Google Play and the App Store. Here are some of the key features:

Bright and playful design
Your 4-year-old may already be a swiping expert, but the app’s design makes it even easier to find Little Baby Bum or the latest video of In The Night Garden. With larger images and bold icons, it’s fast and simple for little thumbs to navigate. And we’ve built in voice search so that even if your child can’t spell or type, they can still find videos of things they’re curious about.

Family-focused content
We’ve built the YouTube Kids app to be a safer version of YouTube, a family-friendly place for kids to explore their imagination and curiosity. You can browse channels and playlists in four categories: Shows, Music, Learning and Explore. Search for videos of particular interest to your family, like why penguins waddle on National Geographic Kids, or watch favorites from Teletubbies, Wallace and Gromit, The Magic Roundabout and Postman Pat. And of course, your kids can watch new series from YouTube channels they already like, including Talking Tom and Friends or find new videos from beloved UK YouTubers like Stampylonghead and his Wonder Quest.

Parental controls
We’ve built options into the app that help you control the experience for your kids and put parents in the driving seat.

Learn how the app works: When parents open YouTube Kids, they learn upfront how our systems choose and recommend content and how to flag videos. We always try to make the videos available in the app family-friendly, but no system is perfect. So if you ever find a video you’re concerned about, please flag it. This helps make YouTube Kids better for everyone.

Search settings: We’ll also prompt you to make a choice about how broadly you want your child to explore - turn search on to access millions of family-friendly videos, or turn search off to restrict your child’s experience to a more limited set. Either way, parents decide the right experience for their family from the get-go.

Timer: Let the app be the bad guy with a built-in timer that lets you limit kids’ screen time. The app alerts your child when the session is over, so you don’t have to. (You’re welcome. ;)

Sound settings: Sometimes you need a little peace and quiet! You have an option to turn off background music and sound effects, so your kids can keep watching while you catch a breath.

Custom passcode: Parents have the ability to set their own passcode, and to access settings and other parental information in the app.

Logged out experience: The app is currently a signed-out experience with no ties to an account. We’ve also removed all features that are linked to an account like uploading, sharing, liking, etc.

YouTube Kids on the big screen:
You can now also watch YouTube Kids as a family on your big screen using Chromecast, Apple TV, game consoles or a smart TV.

We’re so excited to bring YouTube Kids to the UK and Ireland, and look forward to your ideas too so that we can better help your family explore, learn and sing along. And so from my family to yours, enjoy!

Posted by Greg Dray, Dad of one and Head of Kids and Learning Partnerships at YouTube, who recently watched TuTiTu's language learning series with his 2 year-old daughter to introduce her to Spanish. Hola!

FA Cup Nerdfighteria: Football Fan Culture on YouTube

Wednesday, 7 January 2015

Vlogbrother"The Fault In Our Stars""Paper Towns"VidConHankgamesAFC Wimbledon

However, John is also a passionate fan of Liverpool FC, and so found his allegiances tested when the teams drew each other in the FA Cup. His vlog of the trip to London for the fixture is a must-see, as are highlights of the game itself (which include a fantastic free kick from Steven Gerrard).

John isn't the only football fan choosing to capture his love of the game to share on YouTube, as the past few seasons have seen fan channels and content springing up and finding success. The Redmen TV has tracked the highs and lows of following Liverpool since 2010, Arsenal Fan TV has done likewise for the North London club (striking gold earlier this season when fellow fans clashed after a loss) and the Manchester United-backing Full Time Devils, whose post-match interviews have turned vocal fan Andy Tate into a YouTube and Vine star. This season has also seen The True Geordie get into his stride, documenting his reactions to Newcastle United's volatile Premiership run, picking up over 60,000 subscribers in the process -- six times the following of the club's official channel.

Life as a fan is also given a more traditional documentary treatment from football specialists Copa 90, who travelled to Seattle to capture the commitment of the Sounders' ultras, attended the most ferocious fixtures across Europe with the Derby Days series and sent Football Virgin Maya Jama on a personal quest to both learn about the game and find her team.
So there you have it: it's a great time to be a football fan on YouTube, so go join the conversation with fans (and rivals) of your team voicing their passion on the platform. You could even become 'internet famous' in the process...
Jamie Dolling, YouTube UK, recently watched "Nike Academy: Winter Training".

YouTube UK Blog

#MadeForYou

That’s music to my ears: watch the BRITs live on YouTube

Celebrating what you created, watched and shared in 2015 with #YouTubeRewind and YouTube’s new Trending tab

YouTube Kids comes to the UK and Ireland

FA Cup Nerdfighteria: Football Fan Culture on YouTube

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