YouTube Expands With Country-Specific Sites

Online video sharing site YouTube is expanding its international reach with the creation of a series of localised channels.

The expansion will see country-specific YouTube sites created for nine countries – Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK.

The websites will be translated into the native languages of each country and YouTube will highlight videos that appeal to their respective audiences.

By opening up its programming to people who don’t speak English, YouTube is hoping to build its usage from outside of the US, as well as increasing its appeal to advertisers.

YouTube, which is owned by Google (see Google Buys YouTube), has worked out licensing agreements with more than 150 content providers in Europe and is negotiating for more.

The site continues to add users, with the latest Nielsen/NetRatings data for April reporting that YouTube has more than 7.9 million unique users in the UK, up from just over 2.2 million in May last year.

However, the site has recently run into some problems, with Viacom Media in the States saying it will sue Google and its website for $1 billion, for illegal use of its shows.

Viacom says that around 160,000 unauthorised clips have been uploaded to the UGC website and have been seen more than 1.5 billion times, meaning that the company has been deprived of advertising revenue. (see Viacom Sues YouTube For Copyright Infringement).

YouTube is also under attack from groups such as the Premier League in the UK, which has launched a class action against the site, accusing it of illegally hosting thousands of clips from its football matches.

At the beginning of March, YouTube struck a deal with the BBC to create branded BBC channels on the site, operating under separate BBC and BBC Worldwide agreements (see BBC Does Deal With YouTube).

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