Surveys reveal African youth big on YouTube

Balancing Act recently reviewed the increase in the number of internet users between 2010 and 2012 by country and realised that traffic has on average tripled.

Sylvain Beletre, analyst at Balancing Act talked to Julie Taylor, head of Communications and Public Affairs at Google sub-Saharan Africa about year-on-year growth for YouTube in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2012, YouTube views in South Africa increased by 80%, whilst the number of video uploads grew by 30%, according to Jared Molko, YouTube partnership manager at Google South Africa.

In sub-Saharan Africa, YouTube views rose by 90% and video uploads grew by 40% from the previous year, with South Africa leading the region with the most playbacks. "From discovering global pop sensations, to reinventing the classroom, the YouTube community is transforming entertainment and shaping the culture of our time. It's great to see South Africans playing an active role in this," comments Molko.

New site design

The site's new design underscores its focus on channels, which has led to an increase in engagement on YouTube.

"The creators of these YouTube channels are succeeding now more than ever before," says Luke Mckend, Google SA country manager. "Revenue from the YouTube Partnership Programme, where partners get a portion of the ad revenue generated on their sites, has doubled globally for the fourth consecutive year, and thousands of these partners are receiving up to six figures annually - in dollars. In South Africa, our partners are earning 60% more than a year ago, which shows the potential of YouTube as a business tool.

"The top 100 global advertisers on YouTube spent over 50% more on the platform in 2012 than in the previous year. YouTube has the power to directly target customers, a factor that is invaluable to any organisation. In addition, on average, spending on YouTube was approximately 2.4 times more efficient than the equivalent television spend."

Web fitness celeb, Peter Cilliers (creator of the channel, SixPackFactory), took part in a panel discussion about YouTube, along with the other stars. Cilliers, who has been a YouTube partner since 2010, earns over R50,000 a month by uploading one exercise video a week to his channel - this excludes the revenue made from sales of his own products through the channel.

"YouTube has evolved into so much more than a site to watch entertaining videos. It has become a means for many individuals to earn respect, success, acknowledgement and revenue for what they have to offer any audience or customer."

Six Pack Factory has just surpassed 1 million views per month and has over 135,000 subscribers.

Meanwhile, teen sensation Caspar Lee has over 570,000 subscribers, more than BBC Worldwide (538,000 subscribers) and already a quarter of the number of Top Gear (1.9m subscribers). At the age of 18, he is already fully financially independent - all from his diary entries on YouTube.

Other YouTube stars who attended the event included wildlife enthusiast Rob the Ranger; South African acapella group, The Soil; and energy expert, Martin Lorton at Solar Power and Electronic Measurement. Lee and Lorton joined the Montecasino event via Google+ Hangout from London and Cape Town respectively.

YouTube metrics at a glance:

South Africa in 2012

- YouTube visits in South Africa grew by 80%
- YouTube uploads in South Africa grew by 30%
- Revenue given back to South African partners increased by 60% year on year

Sub-Saharan Africa in 2012

- Sub-Saharan Africa video uploads have increased 40% year on year,with SA receiving the most playbacks in the region
- Aggregate views for the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa grew by 90%

Global

- 4 billion hours of video watched a month in 2012
- 75% of ads that appear in videos are now skip-able
- 1 out 4 YouTube views in the world come from mobile device
- Daily account sign-ups have doubled year on year
- The number of people subscribing to channels has more than doubled year on year
- On YouTube , our top 100 global advertisers spent over 50% more in 2012 than they did in 2011
- YouTube partner revenue doubled for the fourth consecutive year

- Thousands of channels are now making six figures annually