YouTubers want greater government support – and British broadcasters could help

Governments often struggle to keep pace with technological change. This can be frustrating for young but growing industries that need ministerial support to unlock the next stages of their economic potential. These industries often know what they need, but do not have the visibility or the right representation to get their voices heard.

Herein lies the problem for the UK’s creator economy. The democratisation of creation by social video platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram has established an army of creators who are now generating significant value for the UK economy. According to YouTube’s recent report, The Creator Consultation, the platform's creators delivered £2 billion to UK GDP and supported more than 45,000 full-time jobs in 2023. These creators have many remarkable qualities: They often have advanced digital and media production skills, they understand younger audiences better than many long-standing entertainment companies, and they are resilient self-starters. Their success is not happenstance; it’s the culmination of hours fine tuning their craft to maximise engagement and reach. They are experts in creating and monetising entertainment for the next generation of consumers. However, the support they may need to transform their YouTube channels into professional, self-sustaining, businesses is not there.

To tackle the issue, YouTube has published a new study (July 2025) outlining the steps needed to unlock economic progress. After surveying 10,000 UK creators, The Creator Consultation has pinpointed five key areas that need urgent attention:

1. Government recognition
2. Industry representation
3. Training and skills
4. Access to finance
5. Filming infrastructure

These come after 56% of creators felt they did not have a voice in shaping the government policies that impact them. Meanwhile, 43% believed that the value of UK creators was not recognised by the broader creative industry. While there are many noteworthy recommendations in the report, the following stood out as important for achieving governmental and cross-entertainment support:

• Putting a minister in charge of the creator economy as part of a wider recognition of the sector’s importance within The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)

• Creating a dedicated “creator” category within the DCMS’ economic estimates to maintain visibility of the industry’s economic contributions

• A review of policies among the UK’s creative and cultural bodies to explore opportunities for collaboration

If enacted, these steps will provide a stronger platform for creators to reach their potential. It will not only establish the internal know how within government but create a steady drum beat of economic data that will keep the creator economy’s value front of mind among policymakers. The collaboration it could nurture would also be beneficial. By joining forces with existing creative institutions, the creator economy would appear less of an outlier and more of an integrated part of the UK’s cultural fabric.

These recommendations could also have impact because of their timing. More than ever, the UK’s broadcasters are taking creators seriously in response to YouTube’s growing presence on smart TVs. YouTube now has the highest audience share on US smart TVs at 10% versus Netflix’s 8.4%, according to Nielsen data from July 2024. Broadcasters need a sophisticated YouTube distribution strategy if they are to keep reaching and engaging younger audiences.

Among those doing so are Channel 4 and BBC Studios. The former’s social-first production hub 4Studio created 21,700 pieces of social content that generated 2.3 billion views in the UK (up 5.5% year on year) in 2024. Meanwhile, BBC Studios recently doubled the amount of revenue it generated year-on-year from its suite of 150 YouTube channels. While forward-thinking, these broadcasters are in the early days of their YouTube journey. They need ongoing partnerships with creators to ensure their content is impactful with a social-first audience.

This is where collaboration could be fostered. British broadcasters have well-established channels for influencing policy decisions within government. They have the power to lift the creator economy up and champion it as a core part of the UK’s creative industries. By doing so, these broadcasters could forge even closer ties with the UK’s creator economy talent which is already drawing the attention of US streaming services. It was Netflix, not a British broadcaster, that picked up the second season of Inside by The Sidemen, the hugely popular collective of UK creators. Creators want to be taken seriously by the establishment, and the establishment wants to better understand how creators are shaping the future of entertainment. While the needs of creators will always be different from those in the traditional entertainment industry, there are areas where their priorities align.

Policymakers should pay careful attention to these deepening ties. It shows that supporting creators is not just about helping a fast-rising wealth generator. It is about enabling the economic potential of a British success story that is crucial to the prosperity of the UK creative industries as whole.