YouTube Pitches Itself as a Partner for TV, Including as a Place for Long-Form Content and Full Episodes

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YouTube can work alongside your business to help it thrive,” was how Andreas Briese, country director for Germany and regional director for Central and Northern Europe at the Google-owned video platform, presented YouTube as a collaborator rather than competition within the TV industry during his keynote speech at NATPE Budapest 2025 on Tuesday.

He contended that YouTube could serve as an ally for reaching new viewers, tapping into fresh income sources, and fostering innovation.”

Here’s another option:

“He proposed that working with YouTube would enable you to connect with fresh audiences, generate additional earnings, and spur invention.

He indicated toward a previously revealed statistic to emphasize YouTube’s expansive influence. This platform, which turned 20 this year, has disbursed more than $70 billion to content creators, artists, and media firms over the past three years, as he noted, finally adding: “No other platform is operating on that magnitude.”

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He gestured towards a prior number to underscore YouTube’s far-reaching impact. Having celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, this platform has paid out over $70 billion to content creators, artists, and media companies in the last three years, he stated, ending with: “No other platform is operating on that scale.”

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By gesturing towards a prior figure, he underscored YouTube’s vast influence. This year marking its 20th anniversary, this platform has distributed over $70 billion to content creators, artists, and media companies during the past three years, as he emphasized, concluding: “No other platform is operating on that level.

YouTube recognizes they aren’t great at choosing content, so they need partners for content creation instead.

Essentially, Briese stated that success on YouTube is mutually beneficial – “our success depends on your success.” This is achieved through YouTube’s revenue-sharing system where partners contribute high-quality content and talent that viewers desire. In return, YouTube enables monetization of this content and offers data-sharing tools for optimizing the content, among other advantages.

During his NATPE Budapest keynote, Briese pointed out that television has become the primary device for accessing YouTube in the U.S. This makes YouTube the most-watched streaming service on TV devices, surpassing competitors like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. It’s worth noting that this trend is also prevalent in other markets. Currently, YouTube is providing over a billion hours of television viewing time every day.

Additionally, it’s noteworthy that about half of the viewing time on this TV platform originates from content exceeding 20 minutes in length. This indicates that extended content is significantly influencing YouTube’s TV viewership, as mentioned.

As a dedicated YouTube enthusiast, I’d like to shed light on an often overlooked aspect of their advertising revenue model. Briese underscored the fact that we, YouTube, share our earnings with our partners – it’s the heart and soul of our business. The crux here is that revenues don’t simply increase with views on our platform; they escalate with watch time. The longer content gets watched, the more ad breaks we can sell before and during your content. That’s why the duration of watch time is so crucial, which is why content creators and broadcasters encourage viewers to engage more with long-form content on YouTube – because it drives watch time.

Briese pointed out an instance using Channel 4 from the UK as an example. This broadcaster published figures demonstrating a significant rise in long-form content on YouTube – up by 81%. Moreover, the overall time spent viewing on YouTube went up by 105%, full episode views skyrocketed by 169%, and their YouTube earnings increased by 78%. However, Briese did not specify the particular timeframe for which these statistics were gathered.

Regarding TV episodes from YouTube, “we’ve noticed creative methods being employed, ones that recognize it serves both as a distribution and marketing channel,” the executive shared at NATPE Budapest. To illustrate, Paramount+ released the complete first episode of their show Lioness on YouTube a week after its premiere, not just to boost viewer engagement but also to promote their service by raising awareness. This is how Briese described it.

In much the same way, Disney+ made the entire first season of Andor available on YouTube prior to the release of season 2. This was done as a token of loyalty aimed at generating interest and encouraging viewers to return to Disney+. It’s worth noting that while long-form content may only account for a small portion of their uploads, it typically generates the majority of their earnings and viewer time.

The YouTube executive additionally highlighted YouTube as a hub for innovation among content creators, referring to it as a “laboratory for experimenting with new formats.” In the gaming sector, this has certainly been the case. Moreover, he noted that in terms of live streaming, there’s a growing trend towards communal viewing of live videos.

At a recent gathering in Budapest known as NATPE, it was announced that this year’s event would be attracting over 750 attendees from more than 65 nations worldwide. Among these participants are over 400 potential buyers, an increase from the previous year. This international conference serves as a marketplace for deal-making, knowledge sharing, and content exploration, with a focus on fostering new TV formats, scripted series, and cross-border collaborations.

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2025-06-24 12:24