YouTube Is 'a Greenhouse of the Future of Creativity,' Says VP Pedro Pina

"The number we have for the U.K. only so far is that about 85% of the people that have a creative career in the industry have started their career on YouTube. So, it's a greenhouse of the future of creativity, which can express itself on the platform or anywhere else."

That was Pedro Pina, YouTube's vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, speaking at the Iberseries & Platino Industria conference to a full house. His presentation traced the platform's evolution over 20 years into what he described as a powerhouse for creative careers.

Pina walked through the milestones. There was the first viral video, of baby Charlie biting his brother's finger. There was Susan Boyle's rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from "Les Misérables," an audition that aired on Britain's Got Talent and kept being re-uploaded to YouTube despite repeated takedowns at the broadcaster's request.

"The most interesting thing is that the broadcasters all of a sudden found out that, hang on, there's something about fandom that is important. Fans love content and they kept going back to Britain's Got Talent because they were in love with videos like that. So, this was the first time the overall broadcaster industry understood that it should be working with YouTube because it helped build a fanbase," Pina said.

Then came South Korea's "Gangnam Style," the first video of its kind to make a trans-national impact despite being in Korean. Artists led by Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran broke out on the platform. Live sports proliferated, along with athletes' back stories. Now audiovisual hits exemplify YouTube's reach: genre features "Backrooms" and "Obsession," which originated on the platform, have achieved extraordinary box office success.

Pina was frank about why he came to the event. "The majority of people in the industry, fortunately, don't understand it as much and that's 100% our fault. We never spend enough time explaining to the industry how we work, how you can monetize," he said.

"A lot of people were afraid of YouTube, mostly because they did not understand how the platform works, how their content could be protected, how it could reach new audiences and, more importantly, how they could monetize. Once you start breaking down that information, providing examples and showing the way, you see more and more people starting to work with us."

The panel that followed featured executives who have tapped YouTube's advantages: Roger Rofín Sanglas of Catalan streamer 3Cat, Minerva Pictures Chairman & CEO Gianluca Curti of Italy, and RTP's Hugo Figueiredo of Portugal.

"Three years ago, we began a transformation to adapt to the way audiences consume content. It's no longer just through our linear channels. We've made our content available on the platform and on social media to attract our audiences there as well. And we believe we should be on platforms like YouTube," said Rofín Sanglas.

"We launched this platform precisely to respond to these changes in how our audiences are consuming content, and we believe it's all compatible. YouTube is our destination, but at the same time, it's our gateway to our own platform. Our platform is the third most chosen by Catalans, after Netflix and Prime Video in Catalonia, so we have an important path ahead of us to keep attracting audiences," he said, singling out the success of 3Cat's children's content on YouTube.

Minerva's Curti offered a longer perspective. "We started working on YouTube about 15 years ago, right at the beginning. Even in our best year, we sold less than 10% of our catalog, so we started thinking about how to optimize our income. At first, people told us, 'You're kind of pirates,' but within a few weeks we understood that YouTube was, for real, the place to be."

The Italian company has since built an environment with more than 180 channels, in more than 25 languages, offering around 7,000 movies. "We keep working with broadcasters and platforms, but we also started producing our own YouTube Originals. So far, we've produced 15 independent movies, and our plan is to release 150 a year—roughly one per week."

Curti also addressed the industry's most contested question. "We're delivering content made with real people and real studios, but we're also exploring AI. These two worlds have to learn to live together, because you cannot stop the wind of the future or innovation with your hand," he said.

For Portugal's public broadcaster RTP, YouTube is recent territory. Figueiredo stressed that public services cannot forget their mission, especially in information, and that legacy companies long tied to TV and radio need to move beyond them.

"Young audiences are on YouTube, and we cannot ignore that and try to push them back to linear. It's true for entertainment, kids, talent shows, and now also sport. We started last week with live football, first the Champions League and now the Nations League, and it's proving really successful. We're starting from zero, but the numbers are very good, and it's not affecting the broadcasting of those games," he said.

With streamers, public broadcasters and independent producers all now building on the platform — and YouTube-originated features reaching box office success — Pina's greenhouse metaphor looks less like rhetoric and more like a business model the European industry can no longer afford to misunderstand.