London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

YouTube more representative of Britain than television, says UK boss

YouTube more representative of Britain than television, says UK boss

YouTube’s UK boss has said his platform is more representative of modern Britain than broadcasters such as the BBC, saying that television channels are falling behind because they do not provide material that speaks directly to all parts of the country.
The Google-owned video service is on the cusp of overtaking the BBC as the dominant media source for 16- to 34-year-olds in the UK, with the average adult internet user watching 46 minutes of YouTube per day.

Its growing dominance of the UK media market has focused government attention on the site’s impact on traditional broadcast outlets and whether it should have similar public service obligations to traditional television channels.

Ben McOwen Wilson said a key part of his platform’s success was that it offered audiences material from “different races, genders and regional diversity that just isn’t available in traditional media”.

He highlighted the beauty presenter Patricia Bright, along with Folkestone PE teacher Matt Morsia, who quit his job to become a full-time YouTuber and “now earns way more than you or I will ever earn. I don’t know that traditional media was ever looking to cast someone from Folkestone in fitness videos.”

McOwen Wilson argued that while traditional British TV channels were still essentially elitist and London-centric in their outlook, his site was creating global stars. These include Colin Furze, a science presenter from Lincolnshire, who gets a cut of the site’s advertising revenue. Instead, YouTube is working with the BBC to help the broadcaster increase its on-screen and off-screen diversity in terms of race, geographic and economic background.

“It is just not accurate to depict us as something that is only taking from the British creative industries,” says McOwen Wilson. “Consumers get to view content that they can’t find anywhere else.

“What we create, which the public service broadcasters do not, is an export opportunity.” He added that 84% of the views on UK-uploaded content came from outside the UK. “Their success is global. It’s not limited to these shores.”

Unlike the UK’s public service broadcasters – the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5 – YouTube is not legally required to invest in original news content. YouTube has also spent years grappling with the radicalising effects of its algorithm and reputation as a home for conspiracies and extremist material.

Last week, the new BBC director general, Tim Davie, told an Ofcom panel on the future of TV that he admired YouTube. But he said its approach of serving specific niches with user-created created content would not work for the BBC: “That is different to a public service brief curated in a way that’s meant to be universal, with all its trauma and angst.”

One regular criticism of YouTube from the UK’s broadcasters is its appropriateness for young children. The BBC regularly emphasises the thought and effort that goes into its children’s programming. This includes ensuring it is psychologically appropriate for age groups. YouTube’s children’s programming is created by third parties.

McOwen Wilson instead said the site was filling a gap for parents after many UK channels reduced their investment in original British children’s programming.

“I care about British television,” he said. “The reality is that at a time when volume of hours was going down, platforms such as YouTube and Netflix and others were bringing content forward. He acceptied the programmes may not be created to the same standards as that found on CBeebies.

“We are not the commissioners of that content. We are not sat there ensuring the quality of that content compared with the BBC or others. It’s not us who’s making the commissioning decision. Our role is about making sure the platform is safe for parents and children.”

He said that while the site removed tens of millions of videos a year for breaching its rules, its approach to unpalatable content that did not break rules was to reduce its audience by tweaking the site’s recommendation algorithm, rather than banning them altogether.

“We recognise that in the UK we have a long tradition of liberal speech. There is that sense that we should not be overreaching in terms of closing people down because of how we would like to shape their views on the platform.

“We will absolutely remove content that is in breach of any of our policies on hate speech. But also we have a view that while we may respect free speech in terms of allowing content to be uploaded on to the platform, we will reduce that flow of viewership. Access to the YouTube algorithm is a privilege.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×