Its initial partners include music collection society COMPASS, leading sports rights agency World Sport Group, music distributor Valleyarm / Music Services Asia, and production companies Interactive SG, Oak Media, and Refinery Media.
The YouTube Partner Program opens in Singapore, allowing local video creators to earn income from their work on YouTube through sharing advertising revenue.
Singapore, October 20, 2011 – YouTube, the world’s largest online video sharing community, today announces the launch of a localized service for Singapore. Users can visit this localized Singapore site by choosing “Singapore” as the location setting at the bottom of the YouTube.com homepage or going directly to
http://youtube.com.sg. The brand new YouTube Singapore offers a local interface to easily and quickly find videos most relevant to Singaporeans, including expanded content from local and global partners. The site will create a new online space for the national community and give Singaporean creators the opportunity to increase their exposure.
Adam Smith, Director of Product Management for YouTube in the Asia-Pacific region said, “Even though we’re only launching a localized site for Singapore today, Singaporeans have already been an extremely large and important audience on YouTube. Through localizing YouTube in Singapore, the site will deliver more of the content Singaporeans want to see, and we hope the world will continue to discover the amazing culture and talent that exists in Singapore today.”
In conjunction with this launch, YouTube has forged partnership agreements with top Singaporean media companies, including Interactive SG, Valleyarm / Music Services Asia, World Sport Group, Warner Music Group, Refinery Media, and Oak3. These partners are establishing a strong presence on YouTube to easily distribute their content and grow their audience. YouTube has also secured a masthead advertisement on the Singapore home page for opening day from local telecom SingTel.
Ash Singh, Founder & CEO of production company Interactive SG (http://www.interactive.sg) said, “We are excited to be one of the first local content partners on YouTube and put our transmedia project, The Angel’s Gate (http://www.angelsgate.com), on the site. YouTube is a dynamic video platform that makes our content available anytime, anywhere for any device. YouTube gives us a flexible, global way to monetize our videos, and the custom channel gadget allows us to create the best possible experience for our users. If you are thinking about a regional multi-screen strategy, YouTube needs to be part of your mix.”
In anticipation of the localized service for Singapore, YouTube has signed a licensing agreement with the Composers & Authors Society of Singapore Ltd (COMPASS) that will allow music artists to earn revenue on YouTube. Revenue is generated when advertisements are displayed against YouTube partner’s videos. Under this agreement, Singaporean authors will now receive payments from their associations when rights holders distribute them.
“The decision by YouTube to establish their presence and strategically position itself in Singapore, I believe, is informed by the need to be closer to its numerous potential clients in Singapore and the region and ultimately bring its services to the doorsteps of its esteemed customers,” says Dr Edmund Lam, CEO & Director of COMPASS. “Reaching an agreement with YouTube is a step forward that creates major new opportunities for our members and affiliates. From now on, they will receive fair payment for the use of their works on YouTube which is a very positive step for our songwriters and publishers, and, more broadly, the Internet.”
With the localized site in Singapore, the YouTube Partner Program will also open to Singaporean video creators. This program enables content creators in Singapore who make original, high-quality videos on a regular basis to become content partners with YouTube and monetize their work on the site through advertising. Content creators will be able to apply online for the program at http://www.youtube.com/creators/partner.html.
