YouTube held its first ever Brandcast in Karachi on Thursday night to announce its position as the most popular online video platform in Pakistan, and more tantalizingly tell creators when the coveted Shorts will be monetised.

Farhan S Qureshi, Country Director Pakistan, Sri Lanka Bangladesh, Google and Marc Lefkowitz, Director of Partner Development and Management, YouTube held an on-site press briefing session at Pearl Continental Hotel. They talked about how YouTube supports the creator ecosystem by “building a reliable, multi-format platform that will help all users grow alongside YouTube in Pakistan, with more content, ways, and places to watch”.

The YouTube Brandcast was hosted by Google in Karachi to promote branded content on YouTube. This push makes sense at a time when 57% of the population in Pakistan use the Internet and the numbers are expected to grow.

More than 700 people turned up including, a number of vloggers including Pakistan’s famous YouTubers Irfan Junejo, Shahveer Jafri, Food Fusion, Ducky, Muaz Safdar, as well as representatives of advertising agencies.

I want you to walk away with two things, said Farhan Qureshi, YouTube director for Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

1. YouTube is the most popular platform in Pakistan
2. YouTube is the best platform for you to grow yourself

“YouTube enabled me to work from home because people who have kids at home can keep their children on the kids content available on YouTube. It helped me during the pandemic to keep myself focused on my work.”

He went on to state what is perhaps the most underrated feature of YouTube for a country like Pakistan: “It is the most popular platform in Pakistan. This is not for selective people, it is for everyone.” And therein lies its power: it is democratic. Anyone can do YouTube. Anyone can become a creator. And thus, anyone can earn money off it.

• 62% or more people in Pakistan watch videos on YouTube

According to a YouTube survey, 76 percent of people from the rural areas of Pakistan use YouTube to learn something new, and 76 percent of Internet users in the country like to watch “unique” content on YouTube.

Farhan Qureshi said that more than 0.1 billion videos were uploaded on YouTube this year in Pakistan, while 1.5 billion logged-in users are watching shorts every month.

The event was hosted by YouTuber Shahveer Jaffrey who said that YouTube in Pakistan has given people an opportunity to showcase their ideas and art as well as a source of income.

“No one watches an hour long show to learn a recipe, that is why we created Food fusion to give recipes in short amount of time”

Tip: Stop selling your product, show people how to use them

Food Fusion’s most watched video is sponsored content with 11m views

YouTuber Irfan Junejo conducted YouTube interviews with people across Pakistan prior to this event. According to their research, the most viewed videos on YouTube are in the areas of entertainment, education and awareness, learning or teaching skills.

Marc Lefkowitz, Director of Partner Development and Management, YouTube, said that more than 110 percent of YouTube channels in Pakistan earn more than 1 million rupees per month through the platform.

He gave the example of Naseer Hamza earning by making truck videos in Taxila, adding that more than 55% of Pakistani content is watched outside the country.

33.7% videos are deleted because of inappropriate content even if played or viewed once

In this event, he also announced the monetization of YouTube shorts in Pakistan. He said that content creators in Pakistan will be able to earn money by making shorts from February 1, 2023. And so there you have it.