The online video viewing trend in South Asia continues: YouTube launches localised versions in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal

The world’s largest online video platform, YouTube will launch localised versions in Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

With over 1 billion monthly users worldwide, YouTube is the world’s largest online video sharing community, and is now available in 88 countries locally, as well as in 76 global languages, including in Urdu, Nepali, and Sinhalese.

The internet consumers in Pakistan were able to access “YouTube” following the orders from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) after a period of almost three years. The video-sharing website was blocked in Pakistan on September 17, 2012 over blasphemous material, which sparked furious protests around the world.

This launch will provide internet users in these countries with a more tailored YouTube experience to be “informed, entertained, educated and inspired by high quality content for their own culture and language”. Visitors to YouTube from each respective country will see their country-specific YouTube site by default

This launch will also provide more people from Pakistan     Nepal, and Sri Lanka the chance to share their own stories and videos with the rest of the world.

 “We aim to provide an even more tailored YouTube experience by launching versions that are optimised for Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. We also hope that this will pave the way for the work of local creators, personalities, and musicians to shine on the world’s largest and most vibrant video community,” said a Google spokesperson.

British Council narrative.

Online video is the 4^th most common activity in Pakistan. With 3G having a large user base in the region, including in Nepal, it is the rapid infrastructure development that is giving rise to the digital real estate development in these countries.  Sri Lanka is one of the pilot countries for Google Loon and South Asia continues its astounding internet and social media growth story in the world.

We continue to engage with industry, governments, and civil society groups globally to ensure the Internet remains open, safe, and secure. Government requests to remove content will continue to be tracked, and included in our Transparency Report.

Under the new version of YouTube, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) can ask for access to offending material to be blocked, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom said in a statement.

The internet penetration in Pakistan is 15% of the total user base of 29.1 million with a 44% growth, and every seven minutes 80% of the internet users spend more than an hour online daily. Nepal on the other hand has a growth rate of 20% with a relatively high penetration of over 30%. Sri Lanka has a growth rate of 22% with a penetration of 24%.

This is the right time to reach out to the key influencers in the Education sector though the Digital Marketing Services (DMS) that SIEM Pakistan offers.