YouTube announced at YouTube Brandcast that its monthly user base in Japan had surpassed 80 million. The event was held in Tokyo, and data was also presented showing that young people spend more time watching YouTube than television.
YouTube's presence in Japan is said to have grown to rival that of television, and a report was presented on the YouTube Brandcast and YouTube Fanfest events held at Tokyo Garden Theater on 29 October. Brandcast announced that YouTube's monthly user base in Japan had surpassed 80 million, and that 95% of the online population aged 18 and over uses YouTube. In this context, it was also noted that TVer's monthly user base is approaching approximately 50 million.
YouTube is said to have become more familiar to younger generations than terrestrial television, and survey results were presented showing that more than 30% of one-person households in their 20s do not own a television, along with a relative comparison of viewing time among people aged 18 to 29. A comment from Fukada Ousuke (深田欧介) of Dentsu indicated YouTube's superiority as an information source by genre.
The Brandcast session proposed the view that YouTube could function as a new platform for mass marketing. Traditional mass marketing has focused on broadcasting to large audiences at once, but YouTube was said to make it possible to distribute messages closer to a one-to-one model. The discussion addressed the expansion of diverse customer touchpoints using YouTube, based on actual usage data.
The view is gaining traction that, for Japanese companies and creators, using YouTube as an ally is more realistic than competing against it as an enemy. Videos by Japan-based creators are also contributing to economic activity, and examples such as ME:I showed that launching 24-hour streaming channels on YouTube has become a realistic option.