YouTube self-policing isn't working
With IBC on the horizon in September and Streaming Media’s stateside show Streaming Media 2025 following shortly thereafter, one emerging theme in both conference programmes is the continuing convergence of the creator economy with traditional broadcasting, and the intertwining of social and shortform streaming with more mainstream and linear platforms. If the convergence isn’t always as warmly and fuzzily embraced as in, say, IBC’s Spotlight Keynote “YouTube x Channel 4: Better Together,” the time for maintaining the categorical separation of these once-separate categories is now behind us.
In the UK, last week brought the premiere of Barb’s YouTube on TV-inclusive audience reporting, with some 200 prominent YouTube channels ranging from Peppa Pig and Bluey to FIFA and WWE and MrBeast assessed for reach, reach percentage, total weekly minutes, and Duration/Exclusivity. Barb and its partner Kantar Media also provided demographic data on the age and sex of viewers on each of the selected channels. With 43% of all YouTube viewing among the 16-and-older set happening on smart TVs in Q2 2025—compared to 32 percent on smartphones—the case for treating YouTube as part of the TV ecosystem for measurement purposes and its value for advertisers planning campaigns are hard to dispute.
But far more controversial—as Ofcom’s Media Nations report released the same week finds YouTube both the second most-watched media service in the UK (behind the BBC) and a driving force in the growth of streaming relative to linear TV viewingis the question of whether YouTube advertising should be regulated in the same manner as its new neighbors in the TV ecosystem.
As investment and cryptocurrency scams and deepfakes featuring AI impersonations of recognizable public figures including celebrities, politicians, and even members of the r flood YouTube’s airwaves, Britain’s Liberal Democratic Party argue that YouTube adverts should meet the same rigorous standards applied elsewhere in the ecosystem in which YouTube now operates. Industry bodies Clearcast and Radio Central vet the majority of ads broadcast on TV and radio before the air, while YouTube remains free to regulate itself.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) regulates adverts in the UK. Its ad codes theoretically set the same rules for YouTube adverts as broadcasters and streaming platforms are required to follow, but there is no vetting, pre-approval, or monitoring for YouTube advertising. Nor does national media watchdog Ofcom’s screening for harmful and misleading content currently apply to YouTube.
As BBC.com reported on 6 August, the ASA weighed in through a spokesman who sided with the Lib Dems: “Ofcom under the Online Safety Act, which is designed to hold platforms to account for tackling and deterring fraud on their services. We readily support Ofcom's efforts to carry out this work and will continue to and play a disruptor role by reporting them and working with platforms to have them removed.”
Defiantly asserting the channel’s right to police itself, a YouTube spokesperson was having none of it: “YouTube is not a broadcaster and it should not be regulated like one.”
On February 11, 2025, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan declared YouTube “the new television.” As such, it seems, the channel is entitled to play by its own rules.
The same week that Barb began including 200 YouTube channels in its reports, YouTube announced that it would no longer be a Barb Audiences subscriber. Although this decision has no effect on whether Barb will continue to report on YouTube channels’ marketshare, it may well reflect the fact that the first Barb report that included YouTube channels didn’t reflect well on YouTube’s channels, with its top performer, Peppa Pig, capturing less than 1% of the UK population.
As a performance indicator, that arguably says more about the drawbacks of analyzing YouTube’s impact on a channel-by-channel basis than an aggregate. One week in, the Barb’s capacity to measure YouTube marked- and mindshare remains a work in progress.
But that indicator in no way minimizes the damage disreputable advertisers on “the new TV” can do, or suggests that they shouldn’t be subject to the same scrutiny they would face in the “old TV” world.
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