YouTube Launches in the Nordics

Finnish marketers gathered in Helsinki’s Cable Factory last night to celebrate the arrival of YouTube in the Nordics: Finland, Norway and Denmark. The launch festivities will continue throughout the week with events in Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm.

For marketers and content creators, the expansion brings YouTube advertising, channel monetization and country specific channel data. There are now two ad types available in Finland: YouTube home page masthead costing 11,000 euros, or 13,500 euros if the ad expands, and pre-rolls, which are video ads that play before the viewer’s intended video. Brand channel media spend requirements have not been made public.

YouTube was launched in Sweden five years ago but the expansion to the rest of the Nordic countries took longer than expected. This was supposedly due to a conflict between local laws that make platform owners liable for content shared by users, and YouTube’s terms of service that exempt Google from liability.

YouTube also announced Finnish content partnerships with MTV3, SM-liiga, Solar Films and The Dudesons. It appears they are going after established content creators to bring in high quality videos with existing audiences. Clearly the hope is that down the road, there will be more locally relevant content coming from brands and amateur video enthusiasts as well.

Lucas Watson, YouTube’s Vice President of Global Video Sales was one of the speakers at the event. Watson highlighted YouTube’s key benefits as a platform for content creators: free global distribution, creative freedom and the ability to earn money from your videos. He also pointed out that unlike TV, YouTube provides solid performance metrics and real time audience feedback – tools that allow creators to learn from their videos and develop even better ones in the future.