Online video leader YouTube on Tuesday announced its plans to extend its cultural reach launching nine country-specific versions of the site translated into the native languages of each country, when necessary, and at some point in the future will track country-specific popular content to highlight videos that appeal to their respective audiences. Localized versions of YouTube are now available for Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the U.K.
"Video is universal and allows people around the world to communicate and exchange ideas. With our announcement today we are expanding upon our already global platform to make it even more relevant for our local communities," said Chad Hurley, YouTube's co-founder and CEO. "YouTube will now be more accessible and interesting to a worldwide audience, and we look forward to rolling out in other countries in the months to come."
The move will enhance Google-owned YouTube's revenue opportunities by programming new country-specific channels. Nonetheless, it could also deliver new challenges as they try to adhere to the laws of other nations.
So far, YouTube has worked out licensing agreements with more than 150 content providers in Europe and is trying to negotiate more. They are also known to be testing video and audio fingerprinting technologies to further prevent illegal copyrighted material to be uploaded to the website.