AGENCY BIO

Founded: 2005.
Parent company: Google (since 2006)
Regional Head: Tarek Amin, Director of YouTube in the Middle East and North Africa
Global HQ: San Bruno, California, United States
Regional HQ: UAE and Egypt
Number of users worldwide: YouTube has more than two billion monthly logged in users.   

Description:  YouTube’s mission is to give everyone a voice and show them the world. We believe that everyone deserves to have a voice, and that the world is a better place when we listen, share and build community through our stories.

What’s the one thing you wish more marketers knew about your platform?

With billions of monthly users, YouTube reaches people on every screen across multiple formats. YouTube Shorts is now averaging over 70 billion daily views and on average viewers are watching over 1 billion hours of YouTube content on the big screen.  YouTube’s video ads powered by AI, give advertisers straightforward ways to connect with viewers across formats and devices on relevant content, which drives better results.

What makes a topic ‘trending’ on your platform?

YouTube considers a range of different factors including view count, how quickly a video generates views and how the video compares to recent uploads from the same channel to identify if content is trending. Recent trends from MENA include zero waste living and bringing online gaming to real life. There is also interest in mental health – 2023’s top trending video was of a Saudi gaming creator, sharing his mental
health journey.

What are the upcoming features or updates that users can look forward to?

YouTube announced new AI-powered tools that will take the friction out of content creation. This includes AI-powered insights on YouTube Studio and Dream Screen which allows creators to generate a background using a simple text prompt.

What makes a successful brand campaign?

Successful brand campaigns on YouTube combine effective creative along with creator engagement and YouTube’s AI powered ad solutions to reach the right audience at the right time. For example, Honor worked with top content creators to create their ads, and used YouTube’s Video Reach and Video Views campaigns to drive awareness and consideration for their latest launch.

What strategies do successful content creators on your platform use to grow their audience and engagement?

YouTube’s most successful content creators use a combination of experimenting with different formats, engaging with their audience (this includes listening to them) and being authentic.

How does the platform stay relatable?

YouTube has a community for everyone while offering creators multiple formats to engage with their community, reaching people on every screen. In fact, creators say that the connections they build on YouTube are deeper and more meaningful than any other platform.

What’s your views on engagement, attention and users really interacting with the content?

There are great signals for YouTube creators to learn what works best and what interests their community the most. It also reflects what’s top of mind for people in the region. The same is true for marketers – so it’s important to make sure that content really stands out and is authentic to the audience they’re trying to reach.