21st January, 2020
YouTube on Tuesday appointed Nigerian Alex Okosi as Managing Director of Emerging Markets for YouTube in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to further drive expansion and fuel growth in these areas.
Okosi will be responsible for running YouTube’s business and partnership teams across emerging markets in EMEA including Russia, the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Head, YouTube EMEA, Cecile Frot-Coutaz. based in London office, said Okosi would be responsible for running YouTube business and partnership team across emerging markets in EMEA including Russia, middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Frot-Coutaz said that Okosi would resume in April 2020 and will be reporting to her to the London office.
“I look forward to welcoming Okosi to our YouTube EMEA leadership team.
“He brings a wealth of experience in the content industries and has a track record for building businesses and audiences in established and new markets.
“Okosi will be leading our existing teams in Russia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa (MEAN) to drive further expansion in these key markets,” she said in a statement.
According to her, Google and YouTube have long invested in growing its business across its EMEA emerging markets with some recent milestones.
She said that the milestone included most recently at the annual Google for Nigeria event in July 2019, YouTube announced its commitment to support emerging talents across Nigeria.
Frot-Coutaz said it was by teaming up with Mr Eazi and the emPawa initiative to support 10 emerging Nigerian music artists to build their craft, increase their fan base and connect with the world through YouTube.
She said throughout the years, YouTube had played an essential role in the discovery and development of African sound and exporting African music to listeners worldwide.
According to her, in fact 70 per cent of the views from the 25 most-watched Sub-Saharan African artists come from outside the continent.
She said that in September 2019, YouTube successfully launched YouTube Music and YouTube Premium in MENA which further exemplified the opportunities offered by this high-growth region.
She said that Russia was one of YouTube EMEA’s highest growth markets with the number of YouTube channels with more than one million subscribers growing by more than 70 per cent in the last year.
‘’Alex’s appointment will only further fuel the development of our creative ecosystem in the region,’’ Frot-Coutaz.
Okosi described YouTube is a game-changing platform that plays an increasingly important role in our lives today.
He said that it was through the dynamic content and innovation that it delivered.
‘’I am very excited to be joining Frot-Coutaz’s leadership team to continue empowering creators and elevating value for viewers and partners across the region,’’ Okosi said.
Prior to joining YouTube, Alex served as a long-time TV Executive.
Most recently he was Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Viacom/CBS Networks Africa & BET International.