YouTube Festival 2026
Yesterday I walked in to the legendary London Palladium for “YouTube Festival 2026”.
I should start with a massive thank you to the Google team for the invite > excellent event.
3 X stats that stuck with me:
*YouTube creators contributed £2.8B to the UK GDP, a 25% YoY uplift, supporting 60k+ full time jobs.
*75% of creators trace their media roots back to YouTube; the newly launched “UK Creator Voices” cohort feels like a good supporting mechanism for creators.
*Over 1/2 of UK YouTube watch time now officially happens on the TV screen = 30.5 million UK adults are watching YouTube on connected TV’s; averaging 43 minutes a day > a 19% increase YoY.
3 X Highlights:
Mark Ritson (I studied his mini mba in marketing recently) and his “Bothism” YouTube advertising principles, Max Fosh hosting (great scripting + genuinely funny) and Sienna Spiro singing (current UK number 1).