Local News on YouTube

[cross-posted from the YouTube blog]

News is nothing without context, and video is no exception. Helping you discover and watch news videos that are relevant to the stories of the day or to the issues unfolding in your neighborhood is one of our big goals when it comes to YouTube News & Politics. That's why we developed a "News Near You" module on our news page to surface videos from local news partners in your area.

As the New York Times also reported earlier today, "News Near You" surfaces news videos from partners within a 100 mile radius of your computer's IP address. Go to youtube.com/news and check it out: if there are local news videos near you, the module will appear about halfway down the page. If you don't see anything, you can be sure we're working to bring local news partners to you soon. Already we've seen great click-through rates on the videos that are surfacing in this section -- which shouldn't come as a surprise, since these clips are relevant to what's happening in your vicinity.

Beyond reaching local viewers, just having these news clips on YouTube means that they can reach a global audience. For example, a story about a woman giving birth on her bathroom floor is likely to interest more people than just the Nashua, New Hampshire, residents who saw this WMUR-TV clip. And the video of a police encounter with a pit bull might intrigue folks far from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where WXII-TV uploaded this video:



So if you're a local news publisher, we'd love to include you our "News Near You" section. (This post from our partner and advertiser blog will tell you how.) And if you're a citizen who's reporting on the news in your neighborhood, check out the YouTube Reporters' Center to connect with us and share your videos.

Yours,

Steve Grove, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched Jumping Spiders Courting