Pedro Pina: YouTube Is Not “Invested In Producing Content”

That was the message today from the platform’s European chief Pedro Pina, as he continues his tour of the biggest TV events in the world convincing traditional TV gatekeepers that they should work with YouTube.

Pina was speaking alongside RTL Deutschland CEO Stephan Schmitter, telling the audience that YouTube is a distributor and revenue sharer, not a producer trying to take work away from the traditional players.

“We believe there are incredible companies around the world who know what beautiful content looks like,” said Pina. “The audience is in command of their own choices and the only thing we need to make sure is that the content can be delivered [on our platform]. We want RTL and partners to understand the YouTube platform really well. As a platform we are not invested in producing content.”

YouTube and RTL have been working together for more than a decade. Last year, RTL became one of the traditional broadcasters that signed up for a new tool allowing them to better surface full episodes and seasons of shows. It has full episodes and news channels on YouTube.

Pina pointed to the success of RTL shows on YouTube like long-running action series Cobra 11, which “speaks to the core of what we know about YouTube, being all about fandom.” “You are activating fandom and the people that are fans of Cobra 11,” he added.

He had a message for potential new partners like RTL, pointing out that “we cannot be successful if our partners cannot be successful and that stems from our revenue model, video by video, minute by minute, where we share revenue that we generate from content that stays on the platform.”

YouTube good for democracy

The likes of RTL and the BBC air plenty of news on YouTube and Pina argued today that YouTube can help with democracy in this regard.

“YouTube is a huge platform where all voices can be represented, all arguments presented and what’s important is to make sure all voices are there,” said Pina. “The more traditional players start being on YouTube, the more a cross section of voices can be heard and that can only be good for democracy.”

YouTube is one of the big talking points at MIPCOM and Pina has been to several of these big events of late. At the recent Edinburgh TV Festival, he argued that the Google-owned behemoth is not a “villain” for the traditional broadcasting business.