YouTube Takes To TV; Promotes 'Comedy Week'

Google's social video destination YouTube, has released its first ever television commercial in India. The two 45 second TVCs, that star comedians Cyrus Broacha and Sudesh Lehri promote the 'YouTube Comedy Week'.

Speaking at the launch, Sandeep Menon, Director- Marketing, Google India, said, "YouTube globally is on fire: There are over one billion people coming onto YouTube every month and over six billion hours of video watched every month. We've seen tremendous growth and momentum for YouTube here in India and today we are launching Comedy Week to help reach out to the first time Internet users in India and give them a reason to get onto the Internet for their daily dose of entertainment."

YouTube has collaborated with leading Indian content producers and production houses to curate over 400 hours of comedy content. Starting 5th September, the week will feature a wide range of content including best comedy scenes from Bollywood, TV shows, mimicry, and regional language comedy content in Telgu, Tamil, Marathi, Punjabi, Malayalam, Gujarati and Kannada. The video site has also launched over 35 new YouTube exclusive shows featuring Indian standup comedy acts.

Gautam Anand, Director, Content partnerships for YouTube APAC, said, "Here in India, comedy shows contribute to over 30% of total watch hours within the TV shows category, and in the past year, comedy show viewership has shown one of fastest growth in viewership. Bringing Comedy Week to India allows us to give India's audiences more of the content they love and discover new content that they can only enjoy on YouTube. We have also worked hard with the biggest names in the comedy in India and are excited to bring more leading Indian comedy content onto one destination on YouTube."

Watch Sudesh Lehri's commercial here.