YouTube prepares to help Kiwis become online stars

YouTube is set to give Kiwis a few tips on how to make online content that keeps audiences coming back for more.

The company announced this week that it will host official creator workshops around the country, hoping to reach creatives in the regions as well as in larger cities.

Speaking to the Herald, YouTube’s content partnerships manager for New Zealand, Daniel Stephenson, said big cities don’t have an exclusive hold on talent.

“You don’t have to be based in a central hub, and location isn’t indicative of talent,” he said.

He said New Zealand had a huge amount of raw talent that would resonate not only in this country but even beyond our borders.

“New Zealand already has nine channels with over a million subscribers,” he said.

Those channels might already be well established, but there are others who could use a bit of guidance.

“100 Kiwi YouTube creators now have at least 100,000 subscribers, that’s the point where many turn their content into a career, whether full or part-time. We want to encourage and nurture local talent, to find their place on the global stage that is YouTube.”

Stephenson said the workshops would vary, depending on the skill level of those in attendance.

Some workshops, he explained, might only offer basic steps on how to get started, but others will go more in-depth, offering a guide on how to grow an audience, tips to make content more discoverable and how to make money from their online work.

Beyond YouTube’s revenuesharing model, Stephenson said there was decent money to be made in working with brands in the local market.

He said that there might well be some creators out there who had well-established channels but weren’t sure of how to take the next step towards monetising what they created on the platform.

Stephenson also said that it was important for creators to learn the importance of consistency and releasing their content periodically to feed audience interest.

YouTube has provided support for Kiwi creators previously via Skip Ahead, a joint funding initiative with New Zealand On Air to help successful Kiwi YouTube creators reach new audiences and develop their storytelling skills.

Three web series were funded by Skip Ahead this year. These include Finding Jeremy, the story of a Christchurch family’s search for a US serviceman who was trapped inside the Hotel Grand Chancellor following the 2011 quake. The others are Housewives, a South-Auckland dramedy with a soap-style “whodunnit” plot, and Rainbow Buddies, an animated educational series for toddlers.

Stephenson hopes that the workshops will help to uncover even more Kiwi talent.

Further details about the workshops will be released in due course.