Youtube Tapping Into Emerging Markets With Youtube Go App

With a whopping 80% of youtube's views coming from outside the United States and many coming from emerging markets such as Indian, Taiwan, and Saudia Arabia, (90 million daily views from Saudia Arabia alone) Youtube, the second biggest social media platform in the world, has rolled out a new app specifically catered for emerging markets that lets people download and watch videos offline. 


Youtube ranks higher than other online video providers like Netflix and Hulu with 81% of people choosing Youtube as their #1 choice. Many people prefer getting media entertainment from Youtube because of the original content and the added social aspect. In order to stay at the top and maintain growth, the company had to introduce a creative solution to the connection perplexities of up and coming markets. Common problems in many areas of emerging markets are the poor access to the internet, lack of wifi-hotspots and very high data rates. 

 A study by Google and comScore found that 48 percent of online video viewers name YouTube as their top video site, followed again by Netflix at 29 percent.

Youtube plans to combat this by introducing Youtube Go, whose purpose is to give the viewer more control of their mobile experience by giving them the ability to choose how much data they want to use and the quality the video will play at. These new features were incorporated with a data-cautious youtuber in mind, they help drive the cost of watching Youtube down and give viewers media customizable to their connectivity circumstances. 

The Softonic Editorial Team defined it as,

YouTube Go is a free, official app from Google that's designed for mobile devices, in particular those that are on mobile networks. It's especially useful in areas with older 2G or 3G networks. It provides a variety of features that make the YouTube more bandwidth-conscious and help avoid buffering while on the go.

Source: Techcrunch

Not only does Youtube Go allow for downloading content but it adds an extra layer of data reduction by incorporating a "share nearby" feature that does not require access to the internet. If someone has a video downloaded that you want, they can simply share it with you via Bluetooth. A secure connection between phones is established using the phones' wifi hotspot capability and Bluetooth connectivity to let people share multiple videos at one time, all while not using data. 



Youtube has created an interface perfect for the needs of consumers in emerging markets and will only continue to improve the quality of their media until everyone is able to have access to their vast content library. With apps like Youtube Go leading the industry, it is interesting to see what other big-name companies like Facebook will do to stay relevant in the fast changing environment of emerging markets. 

Only time will tell...