YouTube has released localised versions of its video sharing website in nine countries around the world. The countries that are getting the special treatment are Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK. The sites are fully translated into the home country's major language and offer content more specific to the user's locale. The specific sites also return search results that are deemed more relevant to the user based on where they are in the world. According to YouTube's official blog, users will also be able to look forward to country-specific video rankings and comments in the future.
In our tests, browsing videos on the site does indeed return country specific results. The most viewed videos for today on the UK site consist of TV reality show "Britain's Got Talent" final clips. On the other hand, in Spain most clips related to Real Madrid winning the country's football championship.
YouTube also revealed a collaboration with partners who will provide content for the site in the newly localised countries. YouTube's partners include European football clubs Chelsea, Barcelona, AC Milan and Real Madrid, as well as organisations like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace.
Steve Chen, YouTube's co-founder, commented:
"We want to create a YouTube experience that is a local experience. It's not just about translating, it's also about creating content unique to certain countries."
To easily change between each country-specific version of YouTube, there is a new option in the top right of the main homepage. This "Country" option allows the user to switch between any of the newly announced country sites and the original United States site. This makes it simple to compare different trends in countries all over the world.
On their official blog, YouTube's International Manager Sakina Arsiwala stated that there was more to come from localisation in the future, stating:
"For those not included in this first rollout, don't despair, we have plans in the works to launch in many more countries in the near future."
