What could Bram Lee of Cartoon Hooligans, Jin Lim of JinnyBoy, Ming Han of The Ming Thing and Joanna Soh of Joanna Soh Official have in common? They are all famous Malaysian YouTubers who have experienced amazing growth in viewership as well as subscription for their YouTube channels.
Since the launch of YouTube Malaysia in 2012, the platform has been a favourite for anyone wishing to broadcast their creativity to the world. YouTube not only hosts video online, it also helps to build communities that allow fans and artists to share, comment and contribute ideas and thoughts.
In order to encourage more Malaysians to share their creativity, YouTube Malaysia, in collaboration with Maxis and Sunway recently kicked off the YouTube Broadcast Box roadshow to help budding digital creators get a running start.
Designed to equip the coming generations of Malaysian creators with the knowledge to succeed on YouTube, the YouTube Broadcast Box roadshow has a specially made mobile studio equipped with cameras, a green screen, and editing equipment to help new and aspiring YouTubers shoot and upload their videos on YouTube.
"Though we're seeing amazing growth for video uploads on YouTube Malaysia at around 40 percent year-on-year, there is still a huge relatively untapped potential in Malaysia for current and potential local creators to thrive on YouTube, and we hope with this roadshow we will be able to aspire the next generation of filmmakers," said Vishal Sarin, Head of YouTube Content Partnership, Southeast Asia.
The roadshow also involved a Merdeka campaign on YouTube themed Rojak360, which is co-organised by Maxis. For this campaign, several award-winning storytellers have been commissioned by Maxis to tell Malaysia's story in different languages and from all walks of life using cutting edge mobile 360°/ VR technology, making them Malaysia's first ever 360° short film series. The public is also invited to participate in the campaign by creating their own Rojak-themed Malaysian story. The stories can be uploaded onto YouTube, and by including the label #MaxisRojak360 to their video title, they stand the chance to be premiered alongside the films made by the award-winning directors.
"A research conducted by TNS Research and Google Malaysia earlier this year, found that 16 to 34 year-old Malaysians watch more YouTube than TV on a monthly basis. More interestingly, half of the 55 to 64 year-olds surveyed are also avid YouTube watchers, making the popular video platform very much a mass media destination," added Sarin.
At the launch, top Malaysian YouTubers such as JinnyBoy, Bram Lee, MaxMan TV discussed the ups and downs of creating video content for YouTube as well as the challenges they all faced, and how they overcame them. Bram Lee, the first Malaysian to get more than one million subscribers on his YouTube channel Cartoon Hooligans, received a Gold Play Button.
This weekend, the YouTube Broadcast Box will be set up in Penang in conjunction with the Georgetown Festival. Later it will be brought to Kuching Sarawak.
