YouTube tells Mipcom it wants to partner with TV, not replace it
YouTube is not trying to replace television. It wants to work alongside it.
That was the message from YouTube vice-president Pedro Pina and RTL Deutschland chief executive Stephan Schmitter at Mipcom, the international market where broadcasters and streamers buy and sell programmes, in Cannes. The Hollywood Reporter reported their joint session on Oct. 12.
Pina said YouTube sees itself as a distributor, not a rival producer. “We as a platform are not invested in producing content,” he said. It was a repeat of the argument he made when he delivered the MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival, British television’s annual keynote speech.
Schmitter said RTL’s turnaround has been quick. Three years ago, the German broadcaster had no relationship or partnership with YouTube. Now it uses the platform as a shop window for RTL+, its own subscription streaming service.
The clearest example was Cobra 11, RTL’s long-running action series about motorway police. RTL put about 200 old episodes on YouTube to watch for free. Schmitter said what followed was striking. First video views on RTL+, meaning the first programme a viewer plays after opening the app, rose by 123 percent. Subscriptions rose by around 26 percent.
RTL now wants to use the same trick with live sport. It plans to show five to 10 minutes of a football match exclusively on YouTube. Anyone who wants to watch the rest must switch to RTL+. The idea is simple. Catch the casual viewer, then move them over.
Pina said the money is shared. YouTube gives more than half of its advertising revenue to partners, he said. “We cannot be successful if our partners are not successful.”
What makes this stand out is the shift in language. Broadcasters once treated YouTube mainly as competition for eyeballs. On this stage, it was described as a funnel. A free clip or old episode finds a new fan, who then follows that show back to the broadcaster’s own service.
YouTube arrived in Cannes this year with a larger footprint. It described itself as a core growth partner for the media business and programmed an on-stage session on how established brands and digital-first creators both build loyal fandoms.
Mipcom Cannes 2026 runs from Oct. 12 to Oct. 15 at the Palais des Festivals. Its organiser bills it as the world’s largest media and content market, where channels, producers and platforms meet to strike licensing deals, meaning agreements to show programmes in specific countries and windows.
