ANALYSIS

Why public media are turning to YouTube

5 June 2026

After several major public broadcasters signed special partnerships with YouTube, what do these collaborations mean for public service media and their relationship to big platforms, and what are the costs? 

– By Charlotte Pion, Journalist & Researcher 

A major shift is underway. In the last few months, the BBC, PBS, S4C and France Télévisions have all announced the start of new partnerships with the online video sharing platform, YouTube. As public media continue their quest to reach younger audiences, might such partnerships be an answer?

YouTube and traditional broadcasters have long seemed like two distinct worlds, but the last few years has seen increasing cooperation and crossover. What was once seen by traditional media as a shop window used to draw audiences to their native platforms now seems to have become a content destination and revenue stream, in of itself. But at what cost?

Read more: Switching off: Young audiences, streaming and public media

In such a different ecosystem, how can public media protect their financial sustainability, political viability, and their public service mandate, and ensure that their mission and values remain intact?

How PSM are engaging with YouTube

YouTube has become a key player in the digital media ecosystem, with its platform offering a variety of formats that allows a creativity of production and a wide audience reach. While public broadcasters have invested huge amounts into their own streaming platforms and mobile apps, there is still a struggle to reach certain audiences, including younger and less educated audiences. Ofcom urged “endangered” public broadcasters to move more of their content onto YouTube, making the most of their audiovisual dominance. The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism warned they risk “decline and ultimately irrelevance” if they failed to find a solution.

Might an industry realignment on the relationship with YouTube be one of those solutions?

The French public broadcaster stated this strategic alliance was meant to “broaden access to public service content and combat disinformation”, a step forward that would not only take the public broadcaster’s “streaming first” strategy to the next level, but also see France Télévisions produce “native” YouTube content and share a large part of its news offering and its flagship current affairs programmes on the platform. The ultimate aim is to “increase the reach of France Télévisions’ news content to all audiences, including those who are least engaged with traditional media” according to France Télévisions’ CEO, Delphine Ernotte Cunci.

The BBC also struck a landmark deal with YouTube with the intent of producing tailor-made content for the video streaming giant. This deal adds another layer to their first partnership, where the Corporation was sharing content with the video streaming giant on different YouTube channels since 2007. But this is not just a two-way partnership. With ambitions to “redefine the boundaries of storytelling” and invest in the next generation of creators, the alliance will also see the National Film and Television School hosting workshops and events to develop skills. According to YouTube UK’s managing director, Alison Lomax, “This partnership will bring together the BBC’s heritage of trusted storytelling, the NFTS’s world-class technical mastery, and YouTube’s next generation talent and access to global audiences.”

Choosing YouTube is not just about reaching more young people; it’s also about tapping into the sense of community and engagement that the platform offers – something the other major streaming giants lack.

In the same vein, PBS expanded its already significant YouTube footprint with an alliance with the documentary producer ITVS. Together, they created the channel “PBS Documentaries” which will host long-form documentary filmmaking. Built on their previous channel PBS Voices which already shared movies and TV programmes, it will now expand to feature-length documentaries to support the sector that has been struggling for year. For Maribel Lopez, head of PBSDS, this expansion would “not only allow us to discover new viewers and tap into a younger audience, but we’ll also over time allow those audiences to get more familiar with everything that PBS and stations … have to offer.”

These sorts of partnerships aren’t necessarily a new endeavour. In 2010, ARTE signed a partnership with YouTube to share high-quality cultural and educational content covering a wide range of topics, while the UK’s second public broadcaster, Channel 4, has been uploading thousands of hours of programming onto YouTube since 2022.

The inclusion of YouTube in their strategies does not only allow public media to reach young audiences. There’s an element of futureproofing as well: working with YouTube means content innovation, experimenting with formats and talent, while also ensuring that public service media remains relevant in both the present and future informational and entertainment environments.

Why YouTube?

Public broadcasters around the world face a combination of challenges, including severe budget cuts, increased political scrutiny, polarisation, and questions of waning relevance and legitimacy. Add to this an increasingly fragmented media landscape and the disruption of their traditional models in the digital era, times are tough.

And yet, some of these key challenges are because of the presence of big tech platforms and global streaming platforms. It may then seem paradoxical that public media shake the hand of the ones that are threatening the industry itself. But there is an unavoidable reality that public broadcasters acknowledge: young people are largely missing in their audience. Where can they be found?

In the UK, the streaming giant became the second most-watched service and has an increasing presence on television which is becoming people’s preferred device. An international study has revealed that on average, people spend 99.1 minutes per day on YouTube, surpassing Netflix. And it does not only attract young viewers. Ofcom reported that in 2024, those over 55-years-old almost doubled their time consuming YouTube on their TVs. YouTube has also been quick to adapt to changing audience habits and  has become the most popular online audio service in the UK and the US, ahead of Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

The instinct to go where the audience seem to be a logical strategy. In such a context, as EBU director general, Noel Curran, said “maintaining a presence on YouTube is no longer about promotion; it is increasingly about public service delivery itself”. According to Curran, more than half of European public broadcasters intend to expand their activity on the video streaming platform, with 55 percent producing dedicated native content and 60 percent live-streaming.

Although this new venture in the audiovisual landscape holds great promise in terms of high-quality, trusted news and entertainment content that could reach a wider audience, it still involves certain risks.

Being present on YouTube can help public broadcasters fulfil their core remit of ensuring trusted public service journalism is available, within an online information environment flooded with disinformation and misleading content.

According to Sacha Khari, Channel 4’s Head of Digital Commissioning, YouTube offers a real opportunity to support the sector: “growing this digital network has created incredible opportunities for my team to collaborate with UK producers, creators and brands – bringing Channel 4 values and award-winning content to young audiences,” she said. Channel 4 has long embraced YouTube, with digital first youth brands publishing their content across YouTube. Channel 4 reported that this strategy with genre-specific channels and key programmes led to a doubling of their audience on social platforms in 2024.

Choosing YouTube is also about more than just reaching young people; it’s also about tapping into the sense of community and engagement that the platform offers — something the other major streaming giants lack. It’s a convergence of the user-generated content aspects of social media, with the streaming and production quality capabilities of a streaming platform.

As a result, YouTube offers a highly personalised and far richer variety of content formats than its streaming competitors, who are more firmly rooted in traditional films, series, reality shows and documentaries. Its accessibility, the abundance of independent creators, and the variety of content plus horizontal and vertical formats, offer public broadcasters the possibility to not only diversify their offering but also invest in new creators. Public media are strong supporters of the creative sector of their countries, and YouTube is one of the nests of tomorrow’s creators.