• Reuters, Tuesday, June 19, 2007 11 AM

YouTube, like parent Google before it, has made the bold move of unveiling local-language sites in nine different countries withlocally popular content. Up until now, user-generated videos and comments could be posted in any language, although the YouTube interface was only in English. According to co-founder Steve Chen, more than half of YouTube's audience comes from outside the United States. YouTube will retain its brand name in each of the following new country sites: Brazil, Britain, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain.

Stage one of the country-specific overhaul will see local homepage and video uploading instructions fully translated. Then, each national site will adopt a more local feel with country-specific video rankings and comments.

Thankfully, the local-language sites will not become the default for users from other countries, although users have the option to set a country-specific YouTube site as one. Flag icons will also be placed along the top of the page allowing users to jump between sites. The option to do so is an important departure for Google, which sets the local-language site as the default for IP addresses from a given country. The international sites will not only open up more inventory for YouTube but make the massive video site more organized and better targeted for media content partners and advertisers.

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