3Cat goes all in on YouTube with specific content and 18 thematic channels

Barcelona3Cat wants to expand its presence on YouTube with a strategy that seeks to adapt to new audiovisual consumption habits, reach audiences that go beyond traditional television, and strengthen the presence of Catalan in the digital environment. The project is structured around three axes: creating content designed specifically for the platform, promoting Catalan creators, and implementing a new offer of channels reorganized by themes. Today, at the Torre Glòries Auditorium, the roadmap was presented by Rosa Romà, president of the Catalan Broadcasting Corporation (CCMA), Cristina Villà, director of innovation, research, and digital strategy, Judith de Argila, director of digital audience development, and Vicky Cazalla, head of strategic media partnerships at YouTube.

The president of 3Cat, Rosa Romà, has defended the need to increase the public media's presence on social networks and strengthen alliances with other platforms. "We must be where the citizens are," she explained, referring to the importance of having a presence in the digital spaces where the public consumes audiovisual content. She also emphasized the role of Catalan in the public service mission. "We will never renounce our reason for being: to promote and disseminate our language among all the citizens of the country," she concluded.

The CCMA's strategy is based on the analysis of citizens' habits and needs, as detailed by Cristina Villà. Her team has worked around three concepts: coverage, the motivation to consume YouTube, and consumer interests. According to the data presented, 99% of Catalan families use the platform on their television. Furthermore, 61% of the population between 18 and 54 years old use the platform. In other words, the target audience is quite broad. "48.9% of those surveyed ask to expand the offer of content in Catalan," she pointed out.

The first axis of the project is the creation of native content, or "YouTube First"with a language adapted to the codes of the video service. "We will combine short formats and longer-running content to respond to user interests, adding a better selection of archive content to take advantage of how the algorithm works and improve 3Cat's positioning," explained Judith de Argila.

Promoting Catalan content creators who already have their own community, with the aim of connecting with new generations and reaching new audiences through content in Catalan, is another of the axes on which this strategy is based. The initiative also provides for collaboration with both regular production companies and new agents in the audiovisual sector.

Finally, 3Cat will reorganize its channel offering to group content according to the interests, themes, and audiences they address. Progressively, until June 2027, channels for news, sports, fiction, entertainment, humor, children's and youth content, and other areas of interest will be implemented. The final deployment will configure a total of 18 thematic channels.

Among the channels in this first stage is an exclusive news channel that has already started operating, 3CatInfo, which was born with the goal of following current events and functioning as a public service "with rigor and credibility". 3Cat Esports is one of the other channels already operating on the platform, in this case with the focus set on reaching young people and children who already consume this type of content in Spanish. In the field of entertainment, 3Cat Humor will gather content from programs such as Polònia, Crackòvia or La Renaixença, in addition to historical material from the TV3 archive. For its part, 3Cat Ficció will offer trailers, content linked to the platform's productions, and complementary materials for fans of the fiction series. Later on, thematic channels for cooking, documentaries, and landscapes will be opened.

The YouTube representative who participated in the presentation championed multi-screening as a future audiovisual consumption model and pointed out that strategies like 3Cat's are already working in other media outlets such as the BBC, France TV, or ZDF. "The creation of news channels has great potential to combat the disinformation that exists on social networks," she detailed.