Google South Africa revealed in Montecasino, Johannesburg, that in 2012 South African YouTube views grew by 80 per cent.
At an event dubbed “YouTube Stars”, SA YouTube “stars” gathered on the redcarpet and talked about how they have managed to earn a living through YouTube and increase their popularity.
Present at the event were SA YouTube stars such as SixPackFactory and Caspar Lee.
Jared Molko, YouTube partnership manager at Google South Africa, said: “From discovering global pop sensations, to reinventing the classroom, the YouTube community is transforming entertainment and shaping the culture of our times. It’s great to see South Africans playing an active role in this.”
Molko added that in 2012, YouTube views in South Africa increased by 80 per cent, whilst the number of video uploads grew by 30 per cent.
Also, in Sub-Saharan Africa: “YouTube views rose by 90 per cent and video uploads grew by 40 per cent from the previous year, with South Africa leading the region with the most playbacks. Globally, viewers watched a staggering four billion hours of video footage a month.”
Luke Mckend, Google SA country manager, said: “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 per c more than a year ago, which shows the potential of YouTube as a business tool.”
Six Pack Factory’s Peter Cilliers, who makes approximately ZAR50,000 (US$5,500) from his YouTube channel a month, took part in a panel discussion.
He uploads one exercise video a week to his channel. Cilliers said: “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 more than one million views per month and has more than 135 000 subscribers.
Also participating in the panel discussion was Caspar Lee (viedo below), a South African teenage sensation with more than 570,000 subscribers.
This is more subscribers than the UK’s BBC Worldwide YouTube Channel. Lee explained thanks to YouTube he is already financially independent.
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.
Caspar Lee and Martin Lorton joined the Montecasino event via Google+ Hangout from London and Cape Town respectively.
