Miami (July 29, 2026) - Media organizations are not fighting a battle against YouTube, social media, or artificial intelligence. They are trying to adapt to a deeper transformation: the shift in audience consumption habits. This was the central message from Juan Pablo Robert, YouTube Spanish executive, during his presentation at SIP Connect 2026, where he reviewed the platform’s evolution and its growing role as an ecosystem for distribution, monetization, and community building for news organizations.
Revenue opportunities for media organizations
Robert highlighted YouTube’s massive reach, but also its ability to generate sustainable revenue for creators and news organizations.
He noted that the platform has distributed more than $100 billion to creators, artists, and media companies over the past four years. The business model, he explained, is based on sharing 55% of advertising revenue with channel owners. “Without them, YouTube would not exist,” he said.
For the executive, the ability to combine distribution, monetization, and community development explains why more media organizations are incorporating the platform as a central part of their digital strategies.
One of the most significant changes identified by Robert is the growing dominance of audiovisual content, especially among younger audiences.
Citing trends observed in Latin America and studies on news consumption, he said younger generations prefer watching the news rather than reading it.
“We are not fighting technology; we are fighting consumption habits,” he said. In his view, this requires newsrooms to think not only about the information they produce, but also about how it is presented.
The trend does not mean abandoning reading, he clarified, but rather developing narratives adapted to current audience preferences.
From content to users
Robert argued that the major digital transformation of recent decades has been the shift in focus from media organizations to users.
While in the traditional model audiences revolved around newspapers, radio stations, or television channels, today the opposite is happening: content revolves around people.
This paradigm shift, he said, explains the rise of recommendation platforms, algorithms, and formats designed to help users discover content passively. For media organizations, this means distribution can no longer depend exclusively on their own channels.
Television takes center stage again
Although YouTube is often associated with mobile devices, Robert said one of the most important trends in recent years has been the rapid growth of consumption through connected televisions.
In the United States, he explained, connected TV has already surpassed mobile phones as the main device for watching YouTube. In Latin America, although the process is more recent, viewing time through televisions continues to grow steadily.
Cultural and economic factors help explain this trend, including family traditions around television and the cost of mobile data plans in many countries across the region.
For media organizations, this means audiences are consuming digital content in environments increasingly similar to traditional television, but with greater options for interaction and personalization.
A multiplatform strategy
Robert recommended that media organizations develop strategies that take advantage of YouTube’s different formats according to their business and audience objectives.
Shorts, he explained, primarily work as discovery tools and help attract new users. Long-form videos encourage loyalty and community building, while live broadcasts strengthen relationships with more engaged audiences.
“Short-form content helps people discover; long-form content builds community,” he summarized.
He also highlighted the role of video podcasts, one of the fastest-growing formats on the platform.
According to Robert, many users switch between audio and video depending on the time of day, turning YouTube into one of the main distribution platforms for this format.
More than 700 million hours of podcasts are consumed monthly on connected televisions, he said.
Beyond distribution, Robert emphasized that the true value of digital platforms lies in their ability to listen to audiences.
Community tools, comments, and interactions help identify which topics generate the greatest interest and better understand users’ needs. This information can become an editorial resource as important as traditional metrics or audience studies.
In addition to advertising, Robert highlighted the expansion of direct funding mechanisms such as memberships, subscriptions, and exclusive benefits for follower communities.
Understanding the user
At the close of his presentation, Robert insisted that the challenge for media organizations is not resisting technological change, but understanding how people consume information today.
“What has changed are not the platforms. What has changed are users’ habits,” he said.
For news organizations, he concluded, success will depend on their ability to meet audiences where they already are, offer content adapted to different formats, and build lasting communities around their news brands.
