YouTube

Only a few days before Robert Kyncl sat down for his international keynote session at this year’s RTS Convention, he was on the red carpet in New York for that most exclusive of affairs, the annual Met Gala, presided over militarily by Anna Wintour.

It is testament to the cultural significance of YouTube’s chief business officer that the Vogue supremo invited Kyncl to fill a whole table at the Gala with his own guests, mostly super-­successful content creators on YouTube.

In a stirring session that set that the scene for the 2021 RTS Cambridge Convention, the event’s Chair, Ben McOwen Wilson, encouraged his audience to face up to the biggest challenges to the British television ecosystem. These included the audience shift to digital, the power of the streamers and the problems of how to represent Britishness accurately on the screen, both to UK audiences and overseas.

Los Angeles theatregoers may think they’re dream­ing when they turn up to a brand-new venue in Inglewood, in the heart of the city, and spot a familiar symbol on its façade – the bright red play sign of its owner, YouTube.  

Why would the world’s most-viewed website, and a celebrated pioneer in disruptive digital content, want to invest in something as old-school as a live theatre?  

Sky’s Group CEO Dana Strong is confirmed as the first international keynote for the conference, marking her first European outing since her appointment earlier this year.

The initial line-up of industry leaders also confirmed to speak at the conference includes Tim Davie, Director-General BBC; Alex Mahon, CEO, Channel 4; Carolyn McCall, CEO, ITV; Richard Sharp, Chair of the BBC and Mark Thompson, Chairman, Ancestry.com and Former President and CEO of The New York Times Company.

Further high-profile speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

The five short form shows will offer audiences unique and easily shareable comedy content and introduce upcoming talent. 

The two shorts for Dave’s YouTube channel include Big Zuu’s Wrap Clash, a new fun brand new food competition that will pit Big Zuu against social media stars to create the best wrap.

Cécile Frot-Coutaz, head of YouTube, EMEA, has urged broadcasters to form more partnerships with the Google-­owned platform, which this summer was revealed to be the third most-watched video service in the UK after the BBC and ITV.

Speaking at the RTS Digital Convention, the former Fremantle CEO emphasised that her company had plenty of evidence to show that legacy platforms seeking young audiences would be smart to cement their ties with the video-sharing platform.