YouTube South Africa launches

YouTube, the site where anyone with a video camera and an Internet connection can share their life, art and voice with the world, announced on Monday the launch of their South African version and domain, youtube.co.za.

The local site features a South African flag combined with the well-known YouTube logo, but redirects to the “.com” site where local users will see a customised version that puts emphasis on local content. The videos remain hosted overseas.

YouTube South Africa joins the dominant local video and photo-sharing site Zoopy.com, which is part-owned by mobile service provider Vodacom. MyVideo, another local, smaller video-sharing site, is an independent start-up.

The video-sharing site now exceeds more than two billion views per day — with 70% of YouTube’s traffic coming from outside the United States (US). More than 400-million videos are viewed each day in countries where YouTube has launched in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. YouTube is one of the world’s top five sites, according to Alexa.

YouTube says the local version makes it even faster and easier for local users to find and view the videos most relevant to them, by tuning search and discovery algorithms such as featured videos and homepage and category spotlights.

The local YouTube offers South Africans video content from around the world through a local interface that promotes the content most relevant to them.

Content uploaded by users locally will show up as “browse pages” on the YouTube South Africa site, creating a new space for the national community and giving locals the opportunity to increase their exposure.

“There’s something on YouTube for everyone, from amateur to professional content, the unexpected to the emotionally affecting, the educational to the entertaining,” says Chad Hurley, YouTube Co-Founder.

“We’re very excited to bring a local version of YouTube to South Africa and we look forward to continuing to improve the YouTube experience for our South African users.”

“YouTube is a fascinating platform where people from different cultures and countries all over the world are active participants in a global conversation,” says Khaya Dlanga, a South African video blogger who has been using YouTube since July 2006.

“By giving people the power to broadcast themselves, YouTube helps increase our understanding of each other, one clip at a time.”

“Our students are covering South African issues that are often under-reported in today’s media landscape,” says Alette Schoon, television Lecturer at Rhodes University Journalism and Media Studies.

“We see YouTube as one of the most powerful mediums for telling dynamic stories and reaching a broad audience. Through RhodesTV, the Rhodes Journalism School’s new YouTube channel, we will raise awareness about serious issues that cannot be ignored.”

Before the launch, YouTube signed partnership agreements with a number of South African media companies including the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and e.tv.

These broadcasters, like other YouTube partners, have established a presence on the site to easily distribute their content and grow their audience.

Over the years, the public broadcaster SABC has built up an extensive archive of TV shows. Its current broadcasting schedule also contains gems that are well-suited for this new platform. The SABC will be piloting a variety of older and current content on the channel. If the pilot proves successful the content offering may be extended to include a variety of its news, sport, soaps, dramas and comedies.

YouTube says that one of its key priorities, in addition to the making the platform a comprehensive destination, is ensuring that videos load and play quickly — even in places where bandwidth is at a premium.

In addition to the standard YouTube experience, users have the option to watch videos with YouTube Feather. The beta offering is a stripped-down version of the page on which any video plays: it only includes the site’s most basic features to help ensure that those with low-speed Internet connections are able to play videos faster.

YouTube Feather can be found in TestTube, the area on the site where new products are tested.