YOUTUBE enhance TV experience because of the millions of free choices users can pick from.
This is the view of Dr Alistair Mokoena- Country Director of Google South Africa, at the recent You Tube festival held at the swanky Summer Place.
The fundamental message of the fest was to celebrate the growth of YouTube across mzansi and Africa, whose theme was ‘YouTube is for everyone’ and focused on Effectiveness, Creators and Audience.
The bespectacled Dr Mokoena, firstly addressed a packed audience that comprised key industry players, advertising agencies, companies and decision makers within the industry.
“YouTube is an effective advertising platform. Globally, last year alone, YouTube video ads led to 2.8 Billion conversion for brands that advertise on YouTube,” said Dr Mokoena.
“This number is a combination of many things. One of them being, the fact that users can access YouTube on any screen. Whether that’s on their mobile phones or TV. And TV continues to be a preferred channel for a lot of users, in May 2022 alone, over 5 million South Africans streamed YouTube on their TV.”
On audience, he said over 25 million people use YouTube in South Africa and this number keeps increasing which means that 61% of all internet users use Youtube.
During session with members of the press, both Dr Mokoena and Lorraine Landon, Specialist Lead for SSA, shared the growth of internet penetration and the access of cheaper devices for users that are currently available on the market and so on.
Zeph Masote, YouTube Lead for Southern Africa, says South African creators come from different backgrounds and have been empowered through different YouTube initiatives like YouTube Black Voices Fund and also have partners at YouTube who help them maximize their audience.
The festival comprised a range of speakers from Google, YouTube Content Creators who use the platform for different things from creators sharing their creativity and stories to advertisers reaching the audiences.
Since its tagline ‘YouTube is for everyone’ the on demand Zakes Bantwini made it everyone’s business to dance to his favourite hits- as sundowners hit Jozi.
