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Pedro Pina, YouTube’s vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, used this year’s James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival to challenge the narrative that the platform is a villain in British
television’s decline. Instead, he argued that it is increasingly feeding the sector with talent, audiences and revenue — and backed that pitch with a fresh £3 million ($4 million) commitment to the U.K. industry.
The speech comes at a crucial moment for YouTube in Europe, as the European Commission reviews the rules governing the audiovisual sector and considers how to create a more level playing field between traditional media groups and newer digital serices. The process has put renewed focus on whether platforms such as YouTube should face more of the obligations imposed on broadcasters and streaming services, including requirements around investment in European content.
Netflix has been among those pressing the case that YouTube should no longer be treated as a different business. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos argued in Brussels earlier this year that YouTube had become a “straightforward competitor” to streaming services.
Against that backdrop, Pina’s speech asserted the platform should be regarded as a partner to television, rather than a tech giant extracting audiences and value from it.
Pina described the prevailing account of the industry’s predicament as a “well-scripted tragedy,” with British television as the fallen hero and online platforms as the obvious antagonist. “It’s a powerful story. An emotive story,” Pina said. “The trouble is that it is not true.”
The $4 million will be invested over the next three years in supporting new entrants and re-skilling mid-career professionals. YouTube will also expand its partnership with the National Film and Television School, with capacity on its sponsored Creator Incubator set to increase tenfold.
The executive, who was born in Portugal but said he was raised on British television, drew a parallel with the invention of photography and how it disrupted the world of painting, ultimately benefiting it. “Far from destroying visual art, photography helped it mature as a medium,” he said.
He suggested that YouTube and traditional television are now experiencing something similar, and urged producers and broadcasters to just “focus on the things TV does best.”
Pina also said Britain may be on the cusp of a third golden age of television, and argued YouTube is one of the key driving forces behind this upward trend, pointing to a wealth of creative talent and rising audience demand.
Pina framed both previous television “golden ages” as products of disruption rather than stability. The emergence of television forced Hollywood to adapt in the 1950s, while the proliferation of cable and satellite channels in the ’80s and ’90s prompted fears that fragmentation would undermine quality.
“In reality, more competition meant more appetite for risk, and more space for new voices,” he said, citing “The Sopranos,” “The Wire” and “Breaking Bad.”
YouTube talent have also been poached by TV producers who see that the platform is “effectively a database of up-and-coming talent.” He cited Nella Rose and Amelia Dimoldenberg becoming primetime TV fixtures, George Clarke appearing on “Strictly Come Dancing“ and Angry Ginge winning “I’m a Celebrity,“ alongside filmmakers who began their careers on YouTube.
He said 75% of U.K. creators who say they have a career in media and entertainment began that career on YouTube.
Pina also said YouTube supports more than 45,000 full-time-equivalent jobs in the U.K., and contributes more than £2.2 billion ($2.9 billion) to the U.K. GDP.
While the platform has been called out for not commissioning content, Pina pointed the benefits of its revenue-sharing model. “YouTube shares, video-by-video, more than half of advertising revenue with creators,” he said.
He also cited collaborations with broadcasters, such as the BBC, whose “Gavin & Stacey” clip has accumulated millions of views across BBC Studios, BBC and BritBox YouTube channels.
As YouTube faces heightened scrutiny in Brussels, the lecture also had some lobbying purposes. Pina attacked proposals for “forced prominence” for public-service media on platforms such as YouTube, warning that such measures could disadvantage independent creators and production companies. He said audiences already move between broadcast, streaming and online video organically.
For Pina, the greater danger is an industry becoming too defensive to adapt. “A story is unfolding before our eyes. It is not a tragedy,” he said. “YouTube is not the villain… This next chapter of British television will not be a tragedy. It will be an epic.”
