John Farrel, a YouTube regional director, has made a bold prediction saying that by 2020 some 75 per cent of audiovisual content will be consumed via broadband.

Farrel is YouTube’s Latin America director, and while he didn’t quite claim that YouTube would be the dominant supplier, he stated that “TV has been the leading media over the last 50 years, and [the change] will happen especially in digital platforms”.

He added “[This] will entail further investment in infrastructure, access lines and servers”, explaining that improved online EPG’s will further help broadband access.

“Pay channels account for an alternative that enable content creators to cash out, through micro-payments, an additional source to that of advertising”, he explained. However, Google, YouTube’s owners, were convinced that its main video site income source is still [dominated] by advertising. The executive also mentioned the need to [restructure] advertising budgets again. At present, advertisers allocate the 60 per cent or 70 per cent of their budgets to free-to-air TV, and the remaining percentage is divided between Pay-TV and digital platforms.

“We know, without needing to turn to market research or analysis, that video is the most powerful way to connect with viewers”, he stated, adding that many TV producers and firms have started to move towards online distribution, especially using YouTube. Some of the firms in his local region include Televisa, Azteca America, Univison, Telefe, TV Pública Argentina, Venevisión, Cartoon Network Latin America and TV Azteca, among others.

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