VidCon takeaways for marketers, from AI buzz to the globalization of influence

Influencer marketing goes global 

In YouTube’s industry keynote, Hanif also revealed a new multi-language audio AI tool that YouTube is testing with a handful of creators, including Lia Shelesh, or @SSSniperWolf. This new feature allows YouTube viewers to access AI-generated audio dubs of creators’ videos in 70 different languages, Hanif said. Though creators such as MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, have started dubbing their content into multiple languages by hiring voice actors, this tool will make translating videos into multiple languages far more affordable and accessible, Chaudry said. 

“For us, we think about the concept of having global accessibility to our conversations and our interviews that we’re putting out, [and] I think that’s what takes creators from a million views or 10 million views to 100 million views,” he said. 

Since piloting this AI-powered audio dubbing feature with select creators, YouTube has seen the audio of about 10,000 videos be translated into other languages, Hanif said, and the watch time on these videos has grown by about 15%. This globalization of creators’ content will “change the way trends move around the world” and allow marketers to expand their reach to international audiences through a single creator, he said. 

For Marc Hustvedt, president of the MrBeast company, the creator economy has “always been a global story.” He highlighted that only about 2% of the 1.2 billion people born since 2010 were born in the U.S., and that the largest portion of YouTube users actually stem from India. 

“People ask us about our U.S. audiences as if that’s all that matters,” Hustvedt said. That U.S.-centric approach is “so ingrained in how [traditional] media companies operate,” but he encourages brands and creators to take a “global-first” approach to content in the modern media environment—which can ultimately lead them to millions or even billions of online views. 

“I think, at this point, creators can reach more audience[s] more efficiently—and better—than the infrastructure of advertising can,” he added. Donaldson’s recent YouTube video pitting people ages one through 100 against each other, for example, potentially exposed the video’s sponsor, Shopify, to up to 145 million viewers.