Interesting facts about the new YouTube Philippines

Last week, I noticed that the YouTube homepage is showing some filtered contents showing Charice in the Music portion. I haven’t realized yet that there’s already a localized version YouTube in the country. I just learned about it when I typed in “Youtube Philippines” on the Google Search toolbar of Firefox. And now, I decided to compile the relevant results of my search:

According to The Philippine Star:

• The Pinoy-flavored site is YouTube’s 34th local version dedicated to a specific country, but the first of its type in Southeast Asia (SEA).
• Users can go to the localized Philippines site by choosing “The Philippines” as the location setting at the bottom of the YouTube homepage.
• YouTube likewise launched two presidential channels for President Benigno Aquino III – www.youtube.com/govph and www.youtube.com/rtvmalacanang – which the Philippine government can utilize to reach out to the online Filipino community within the country and around the world.
• In addition to the Presidential channel, YouTube has forged partnership agreements with local media companies, including ABS-CBN, GMA Network Inc., and TV5.
• Among the popular Filipino uploads in YouTube’s history are the Dancing Inmates, singers Charice Pempengco and Arnel Pineda, including the Cebu Pacific dancing stewardess.

From The Philippine Inquirer:

• Official content from Filipino media companies ABS-CBN, GMA Network Inc., and TV5, which have partnered with YouTube, would be available at the localized site, officials said at a press conference in Taguig City.
• VIVA Records, PinoyTuner, Vicor Records, Star Records, and Oak3 and other partners are also establishing a strong presence on YouTube, according to Google executives.
• The launch of the localized site had Google establishing a sales team for the Philippine market, executives said. This team would deal with content creators through the YouTube Partner Program  (www.youtube.com/creators/partner.html).
• Filipino musicians and composers represented by the collecting society, Filipino Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (FILSCAP), are already partners of YouTube. FILSCAP general manager Debbie Gaite announced on Thursday a licensing agreement that would allow FILSCAP members to be paid if their music was accessed on YouTube.

From Business World: Online:

• “Filipinos account for a lot of views in the Southeast Asia with tens of millions of views in a day,” said Adam Smith, Google’s director of product management.
• The localized service will allow for monetization of video views in the Philippines, said Gautam Anand, Google’s director of content partnerships in the Asia-Pacific.