Overview
- YouTube EMEA vice president Pedro Pina told Iberseries in Madrid on Tuesday that this year’s theatrical successes from creators, notably Obsession and Backrooms, show creators can translate online followings into mainstream box-office hits and could push more YouTube-originated projects into awards conversations.
- Pina said the company has spent roughly three years changing industry perceptions by explaining how creators can be monetized and how content protection works, and that effort has led to more uploads by traditional studios and broadcasters to YouTube.
- YouTube is pitching a flexible distribution playbook that allows films to follow different paths, including theatrical-first release with windowing into other channels or immediate global digital premieres on the platform.
- Executives from Minerva Pictures, Amazon MGM, Portuguese public broadcaster RTP and Catalan digital arm 3Cat described concrete collaborations at the conference, including feature slates, coordinated OTT launches and live sports integrations with YouTube.
- Industry context: legacy fears about monetization and rights protection have driven YouTube’s outreach, and YouTube argues the platform can serve as both a launchpad for creators and a distribution gateway for broadcasters, building fandom that studios value.