A big part of YouTube’s international expansion centers around the production spaces it opens for international creators. In 2015, the world’s biggest video site has opened new facilities in Berlin and Paris, while also announcing a space in Rio de Janeiro that will open in time for the 2016 Olympics. Now, it has shared more details about a creator hub in Mumbai, which will serve a meeting place for its Indian community.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki first discussed the site’s Mumbai space during her keynote address at VidCon 2015, when she also mentioned an upcoming facility in Toronto. Now, thanks to YouTube head of content operations Satya Raghavan, who talked with The Hollywood Reporter at Goa’s Film Bazaar event, the Mumbai space is taking shape. It will be a partnership with a local film school called Whistling Woods International (WWI) and will hosted at WWI’s campus, which is within a complex called “Film City.”
YouTube has often teamed up with local organizations for its creator spaces. Its Berlin facility, for example, is hosted by an institute called Met Film School. Other spaces, such as the American ones in Los Angeles and New York, are operated by YouTube alone.
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In Mumbai, local creators will be able to network with one another, make use of production stages, and attend events catered to the online video community. YouTube is very popular in India; a “Fan Fest” event in Mumbai drew thousands of attendees earlier this year.
According to Raghavan, YouTube Space Mumbai will open “next week.”