YouTube celebrated its 20-year anniversary this week in Paris with a massive bash that brought together more than 1,200 people at the Opera-Comique, an 18th-century landmark, and a lineup of major speakers from Banijay and Mediawan — as well as LVMH, alongside some of YouTube’s biggest local stars, Squeezie (Lucas Hauchard), Hugo Décrypte (Hugo Travers) and Andie Ella.
The event kicked off with YouTube’s managing director in France and Southern Europe, Justine Ryst, who unveiled key figures highlighting the platform’s impact on the local economy and viewing habits. YouTube contributed more than €1 billion to France’s GDP in 2024 and created 24,000 full-time equivalent jobs in France, according to Ryst, who also pointed out that 43 million French people watch YouTube every month, and spend an average of 52 minutes per day on the platform. Globally, more than $100 billion has been paid to creators, artists and media companies over the past four years.
Against that backdrop, France’s top production houses — Banijay and Mediawan — took center stage to outline how they working closely with YouTube talents to create new revenue streams and reach younger viewers, who have largely deserted linear TV and are now discovering global formats, local shows and new talent on YouTube first. Banijay France boss Alexia Laroche Joubert and Justine Planchon, Mediawan Prod president (who handles all unscripted and documentary productions for the group), outlined their respective strategy tapping into the creator economy during a dynamic 10-minute discussion.
Laroche Joubert talked about the company’s new Entertainment Creators Lab which was launched in partnership with YouTube in June and was unveiled at Mipcom. The initiative saw five YouTube talents who have published at least two videos to 100k views reinvent some of the company’s flagship entertainment formats for the platform’s digital-native audience. Each of these five talents got up to €50,000 to produce their pilot.
“Our obsession was to find out what we could offer the creators of the new economy,” Laroche Joubert said, noting that Banijay’s biggest brands, “Survivor” and “MasterChef,” have traveled to 20 territories and are now available on YouTube in addition to linear TV. “We have a treasure trove in our IP, our formats. The goal was to find formats that would interest them — often formats they had seen when they were younger. We gave them these formats and told them: You can adapt them for YouTube.” The executive said the initiative “was a great success because it allowed (the company) to match creative people from the world of television with these creators.”
Mediawan, which just announced its joint venture with LuckyChap in Europe, has equally embraced YouTube talent, said Planchon, who mentioned recent collaborations including Squeezie’s documentary “Merci Internet” for Amazon and Lena Situations’ red-carpet hosting the Oscars ceremony for Disney+. Mediawan has also experimented a hybrid release model with Orelsan, the popular French rapper who was the star of a documentary series “Orelsan: Don’t Ever Show This to Anyone,” whose Season 1 debuted exclusively on YouTube, while Season 2 was released on Amazon Prime Video.
“This new generation brings hope, but it also brings expertise,” Planchon said, noting that Mediawan’s partnership with YouTube dates back to the company’s creation 10 years ago and now totals 57 million subscribers and 5 billion views across its channels. “Working with Squeezie, I’ve learned a lot, and we have a lot to learn from these new generations, just as they have a lot to learn from us.”
While they’re both diving heavily in the intersection of social media and content creation, Mediawan and Banijay have a different approach to building brands. Planchon says Mediawan is known as the “house of talent.” “Without Brad Pitt, we couldn’t have made ‘F1’; without Jonathan Cohen, we couldn’t have made ‘La Flamme’; without Camille Cottin, we couldn’t have made ‘Call My Agent.’ That philosophy now extends fully to digital creators,” she says.
Laroche Joubert, however, said Banijay was more keen to invest in IP’s rather than talent. “IPs are less local, less volatile and more portable than talent,” she said.
Joubert went on to detail Banijay’s three ways of working with creators on YouTube. The first pillar is monetizing the company’s vast catalog: “We have 600 channels around the world, two billion subscribers and we monetize. For that, we have YouTube to thank, because it’s one of the platforms that shares revenue with us,” she said. The second is hybrid content created upstream, downstream and around traditional programs, developed in partnership with creators. The third is supporting creators as they move toward traditional media or scale their formats internationally. “Banijay is a global group and the talent are local, so we can help them take a broader view in order to exploit their format. They will experience what we experienced 25 years ago — taking their format globally,” Joubert said.
Planchon said the group has launched an in-house event called Meet the Content Creators, where digital talents pitch their ideas to Mediawan producers, who then invest in their development. The banner is also producing exclusive content for YouTube, such as a dedicated “Miraculous Ladybug” series that will later air on other broadcasters. Lastly, Mediawan is keeping existing brands alive through YouTube, whether through catch-up viewing — as with “C’est à Vous,” its popular primetime talk show — or by giving older IP like “Un Gars et une Fille” (a short-form comedy with Jean Dujardin and Alexandra Lamy) a second life online, on YouTube. “It’s the cycle of life,” she said. “It never stops.”
Like Banijay, Mediawan is also spinning off its IPs across different formats, including live. Planchon cited the “Monte Cristo” franchise as an example, comprising a feature film (“Count of Monte Cristo” which sold more than nine million admissions in France in 2024), an international series (directed by Bille August and starring Sam Claflin), a cinema concert and an upcoming adventure game on M6. Mediawan is also adapting LeBron James’ premium U.S. series “The Shop” for the French market through a brand partnership.
Asked whether YouTube is revolutionizing the way audiences consume content, Joubert agreed. “YouTube is inventing a new building block for creation and a new building block for consumption,” she said. She noted that Banijay and Mediawan, historically B2B companies selling programs to broadcasters, are now transforming into B2C players. “We bring you the best IPs in the world, incredible production expertise, and brand safety, which is important for brands,” she said.
The YouTube celebration in Paris culminated with a fiery live performance by French singer-songwriter Santa, who sang “Popcorn Salé” among other hits, and got the entire audience on their feet clapping.