TORONTO – Some 70% of Canadians say that YouTube is their first stop for learning and how-to content, which in turn has spawned a wave of new Canadian content creators, says new research from the Faculty of Communication and Design (FCAD) at Ryerson University.
Watchtime Canada examines the role of YouTube in Canada's media ecosystem, and suggests that the platform is a unique service that has achieved significant positive outcomes with respect to diversity, employment, domestic popularity, global export and global access.
According to the study, YouTube has facilitated the rise of a new group of 160,000 Canadian creators, including 40,000 who have achieved sufficient audience traction to monetize their channels. About 15% of YouTube channels generate more than $50,000 annually in gross revenue; 12% generate $75,000 or more; 9% generate $100,000 or more; and 6% report $150,000 or more. And while YouTube costs an estimated $6B+ per year to maintain, the platform is free for creators and consumers, incurring no technological or administrative cost to Canada's media ecosystem.
"Our findings show that YouTube is not a broadcaster and it's not social media – it has no equivalent in the media ecosystem," said FCAD associate dean and co-author Charles Davis, in the report’s news release. "Consumers don't use YouTube as their first stop for entertainment or music or news, but they do rank it as their first media choice for learning."
The study added that Canadians value the diversity they see on YouTube, including genres, perspectives, voices, languages, geographies, genders, and ethnicities that are not as visible on other media.
YouTube is the world’s largest online video sharing platform with more than 500 hours of uploaded video per minute. The platform has 2 billion monthly logged in users, including 24 million Canadians.
