YouTube’s impact on Brazilian GDP was US$1.2 billion in 2021

At the beginning of this trend, it was necessary for courage and a camera to venture as a YouTuber; today, the platform is increasingly appropriate for specialized businesses that choose video production as a product. In short, YouTube is no longer for amateurs.

This finding is part of the most recent study on the economic impact of YouTube in Brazil, produced by Oxford Economics, which shows the site as a generator of R$6 billion (US$1.2 billion) for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2021, almost double that of 2020, resulting in more than 160,000 jobs.

The survey details how YouTube supports an entire ecosystem of creators and generates revenue on and off the platform, encompassing employees, third-party companies, and freelancers who receive a substantial portion of the earnings made possible by the site.

Such is the case with Allison Seidi and her partner Hideki Uehara of the Go Han Go channel, who, in 2019, decided to video record information about Asian cuisine that they themselves could not find on the internet.

Soon, the channel that started with comfort food recipes, as Seidi tells, did not take long to gain professional pomp, with well-scripted and edited cooking tutorials.

As early as 2020, they started posting short videos with 30-second tips and recipes and longer videos with skits and more detailed recipes.

As the channel grew, they expanded the team to include four hosts (all members of different Asian ethnicities). They also set up their own studio, invested in materials and equipment, and established a portfolio of partner brands, advertising, and contracts. The channel today already has more than 800,000 subscribers.

“When we started, we thought it would be at least two years talking to the wall. But it wasn’t like that. As soon as we structured the channel, we saw the audience coming. We could understand who those viewers were, then we presented that to potential advertisers and solidified a content platform that spread to other networks,” Seidi says.

As an engine for new business, YouTube is also proving itself capable of turning the most experienced content producers into platforms in their own right. English teacher Carina, from the English In Brazil channel, is one of the examples of those who reached this mark and ‘overflowed’ outside YouTube.

Publishing language classes and tips on the platform since 2013, Carina left her academic career to dedicate herself entirely to YouTube in 2017. Four years later, she saw her channel reach the mark of over 1.6 million subscribers.

With such a large audience, it became easier to make money outside the platform: she published a best-selling book, opened a company, and started selling language courses. Currently, around her, about 20 people work full time.

“Today, I have a complete English course with more than 12,000 students. But all this demand was only possible because I captivated an audience through YouTube over the years,” says Carina.

RELEVANCE IS KEY

The data on YouTube’s impact also supports how the growth of the channels hosted on the site is still booming—indicating that there is room for other successes, such as Go Han Go and English In Brazil.

To give you an idea, over 20,000 channels from Brazil had at least 100,000 subscribers in 2021, a 25% growth from the previous year.

In addition, 2,000 Brazilian channels will have at least 1 million subscribers in 2021, indicating a 20% growth in comparison.

For Patrícia Muratori, director of YouTube in Brazil, the platform is aware of the scale it can still take. Therefore, in addition to already booking internal teams to work alongside increasingly professionalized content producers, the site also tries to leave the doors open for newcomers.

The highlight in this regard is the Shorts short video format, which does not require the elaborate production of the traditional video model, and can be a means for newcomers from leaner teams to monetize production and gain authority on the platform.

“What we want to do is generate opportunities for different types of channels. Regardless of the format they choose. Shorts, in this case, comes in with the mission of democratizing a platform that already has a journey of evolution and maturity,” says Patrícia, who adds:

“It doesn’t matter if the video is short or long; the relevance of the content continues to be the factor that determines success.”

With information from Exame

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