YouTube looks to challenging year ahead as copyright changes loom
Earlier this year, the EU decided in favour of radial copyright reforms fit for the digital age.
YouTube faces an existential challenge, as it enters the next decade with potential hurdles from EU politicians on copyright changes for the digital era.
Earlier this year, EU member states gave the green light to new copyright measures in the latest step aimed at making tech giants more responsible for paying creatives, musicians and news outlets more fairly for their work online.
The Google-owned platform’s own boss, Susan Wojcicki, has previously warned that the move could cut some EU residents off from videos.
Speaking to the PA news agency, Roya Zeitoune, head of YouTube trending EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) said the focus for the company at present is keeping video makers in the know about potential issues.
“YouTube is home to incredible creativity and some really cherished communities – we want to ensure that continues for many years to come.”
Looking more positively to 2020, Ms Zeitoune expects to see a “new generation of global superstars originating from the UK”.
“Music is always massive on the platform and there are several breakthrough British artists currently generating hundreds of millions of views on YouTube around the world,” she explained.
“Similarly, ‘how to’ videos are always popular, and I think we’ll see a big trend in sustainable living advice and tips next year.”
YouTuber PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, has announced he is taking a break from the platform in 2020 because he is “feeling very tired”.
The Swedish internet megastar has 102 million subscribers on his YouTube channel.
