London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 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
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×