YouTube targets Southeast Asia as viewer numbers spike

YouTube reports a strong growth trajectory in Southeast Asia, with 7,600 channels in the region claiming at least 1 million subscribers each.

- SUCHIT LEESA-NGUANSUK

This growth is driving creator-led marketing and video commerce in the region, said the company.

Video commerce accounts for 20% of the e-commerce gross merchandise value in Southeast Asia, a four-fold increase over the last two years, according to a study by Google, Temasek and Bain.

"After 20 years, YouTube is moving faster than ever," said Sapna Chadha, vice-president for Southeast Asia and South Asia Frontier at Google, the owner of YouTube.

She said YouTube is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance user experiences through personalised recommendations and deep content analysis.

"This technology is already benefiting creators, brands and viewers alike. The future of content creation and advertising fuelled by AI isn’t coming in the future. We're already living it," said Ms Chadha.

The platform's scale is staggering, with more than 20 million videos uploaded globally every day, while YouTube Shorts are watched by 2 billion users monthly.