KTN wins You Tube Silver Play Button award

KTN is among five Kenyan content created awarded the Silver Play Button by Google. The award is given to YouTube channels that surpass 100,00 subscribers.

In a blog post announcing various programmes the tech giant will be involved in as it marks 11 years since it set base in Kenya, Google said KTN, together with The Real Househelps of Kawangware, Nyashinski, Njugush and Africha Movies, were recognised for the hard work and dedication shown in developing their channel to a professional level.

“This award is a testament to the hard work and dedication that these creators have shown in developing their channel to such a professional level. This vibrant creator community inspires us to build features that make watching videos easier and more engaging for viewers,” read the blog in part.

According to Google, there has 80% increase in mobile usage of YouTube over the past one year: more people spending more time watching YouTube videos.

“This growth is fueled by all of the incredible content that creators are uploading to YouTube. Globally, over 400 hours of video are uploaded on YouTube every minute,” said.

As the battle for audiences and ad revenue heightens, TV stations have diversified platforms on which they reach them, including live streaming on You Tube and Facebook.

Citizen TV is the most followed local TV station on You Tube with 772,761 subscribers, KTN (641,220), K24 (455,490) and NTV (388,223).

NTV’s low figures could be attributed to the shutdown of its channel  in 2016 over copyright issues. The channel was blocked in May 2016 following multiple third-party claims of copyright infringement regarding material it had posted. The station said an auto-detection software found music from bumpers, montages, and sound effects for some features posted on the channel.

Though management said at the time it was working with You Tube to resolve the issue, it was forced to covert the QTV channel into the main channel.

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By then, NTV had built one of the biggest YouTube accounts in Africa with over 50,000 uploaded videos, 200 million videos and 280,000 subscribers accumulated over 10 years.