Online video site YouTube said on Thursday, Sept. 30, that it posted year-on-year growth in the Philippines across the board including reach, watchtime, creators, and content uploads.
The video platform said it has now reached more than 45 million viewers in the Philippines aged 18+ as Filipinos continue to turn to YouTube for important content such as information, entertainment, and how-to videos among others.
YouTube said it also saw more than 25% rise in watchtime from April 2020 to April 2021, while total hours of content uploaded to YouTube by channels in the Philippines grew more than four times between 2020 and 2019.
Recipe videos grew by more than 50% in watchtime during the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same time last year. More people have also been indulging in self-care as watchtime for skincare videos jumped by more than 80% in the same period and interestingly, that for shampoo videos more than doubled.
Continuing to seek entertainment to cope with the prolonged isolation periods, watchtime for role-playing game (RPG) videos grew as well by more than 80% while that for drama television series grew by more than 70% in the same period.
The local creator community flourished, too. As of June 2021, over 3,000 channels have more than 100,000 subscribers, over 250 channels have more than one million subscribers, and 12 channels have more than 10 million subscribers.
“In the second year of the pandemic, more Filipinos turned to YouTube to use content that can help them with their everyday life. YouTube’s reach, creators, content uploads, and watchtime increased phenomenally and this ecosystem growth unlocked great possibilities for brands to drive results at scale, and deliver a fulfilling experience for viewers,” said Gabby Roxas, marketing head at Google Philippines.
