EU launches channel on YouTube

July 4, 2007

This weekend the European Commission launched its own channel on YouTube, a highly popular website for distributing videos made by its users.

Margot Wallström, the Commission Vice-president responsible for the communication strategy of the EU, explained that the channel on YouTube will be used to distribute informational and promotional videos about the EU.

YouTube allows users to create a "channel" in which to upload a series of videos in a dedicated, user-specific directory. The EU had used online videos before, but they did not catch on with a larger audience.

At the time of writing (July 4, 2007 at 21:25 UTC), the channel contained 47 videos, which were watched approximately 2.5 million times in total. A controversial video entitled "Film lovers will love this!" garnered over 1.8 million views alone. The video contains short segments of several successful movies whose production was funded by European Commission, the segments show couples undressing, kissing and reaching orgasm. It is intended to promote knowledge about the Media Program of the European Commission and its results.