‘Taskmaster’ is big on British TV. In the US, it’s a hit on YouTube.

In the British panel game show Taskmaster, comedian contestants must impress hosts Alex Horne and Greg Davies by coming up with clever solutions to eccentric challenges. Meanwhile, the show’s producer has completed a curious task of its own. U.K.-based studio Avalon is distributing Taskmaster for free in North America via YouTube, and that strategy has proven so successful that it is now informing Avalon’s upcoming plans.

In its native region, Taskmaster airs on publicly owned broadcaster Channel 4, but the show’s American fans don’t need a TV to access more than 180 episodes of quirky, resourceful comedy. Instead, those aficionados can turn to the official Taskmaster  YouTube channel, where all 19 seasons — as well as compilations, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes featurettes — are available in a free, ad-supported format.

For most of its existence, YouTube has been a boogeyman for purveyors of linear TV. Countless lawsuits have framed the platform as a haven for IP pirates and freebooters, and those claims aren’t exactly unfounded. When traditional studios do utilize YouTube, it’s most often as a teaser. Making some episodes available for free is a way to entice viewers to pony up for a premium subscription.

But for Avalon, YouTube distribution is an endgame, not a promotional tactic. The official Taskmaster hub has attracted nearly two million subscribers while hauling in more than 1.1 billion lifetime views. Some individual episodes, such as the season one premiere, have millions of YouTube views all on their own.

Though this strategy has proven innovative, it began as an open-ended experiment. After Taskmaster‘s inception as an Edinburgh stage show, it arrived on TV in 2015. Avalon looked to capitalize on the program’s rising popularity — and reach more English speakers in the process — by producing a U.S. version that premiered on Comedy Central in 2018. Unfortunately, that spinoff was “unsuccessful,” according to Avalon Co-Founder and Taskmaster Executive Producer Jon Thoday.

Thoday told Tubefilter that Avalon “thought we’d blown our chance” with the failed Comedy Central show. But “almost by accident,” the Taskmaster producer found a new international window for the show online. Avalon resolved to “just put [Taskmaster

] on YouTube and see what happens.”

What happened was that Taskmaster caught on with Americans. Thoday speculated that the globalization of the TV industry partially drove that trend. Other British panel shows, such as the annual trivia game known as The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, have also rolled up millions of views on YouTube. “The global barriers for TV have broken down,” Thoday said. He argued that Netflix “played a role” in that shift by distributing stand-up comedy specials. That move “created a global market for comedy.”

No matter the cause of the Taskmaster U.S. boom, the results were clear. The most recent season of the show features American comedian Jason Mantzoukas, who earned his turn in the cast after becoming a fan himself. “I watched it, I got really obsessed with it, I had some friends who were real superfans, and I came to know a couple of people who had been on past seasons,” Mantzoukas told Vulture.

Taskmaster‘s U.S. reach extends far beyond famous comedians. Thoday noted that Taskmaster drew a sellout crowd for a live recording in New York City. “If we had done that 20 years ago, we would have sold 20 tickets,” he told Tubefilter.

Emboldened by its success on YouTube, Avalon has adopted a multi-pronged approach to distribution. Traditional TV networks like Channel 4 will continue to lead the way. As Thoday puts it, that hub is “a great place for originating TV shows, and it has the finances to do it.”

Once a name brand is established, it’s off to YouTube, where Avalon can effectively scale up audience sizes. A dedicated, five-person team works closely with Avalon’s other employees to oversee that operation.

Thoday told Tubefilter that Netflix has come calling with regard to a Taskmaster deal that would cover the United States, but the Avalon founder sees YouTube as a more efficient option. While Netflix spends billions on content to amass a base of more than 300 million subscribers, YouTube reaches billions of homes at a fraction of the cost.

Avalon is certainly not the only production company getting excited about the growth potential that comes with YouTube distribution. Studios have dropped old movies and TV shows on the platform to create a new window, and Channel 4 — perhaps emboldened by Taskmaster‘s YouTube success — recently launched a new comedy channel on the platform.

The next step is to juice the ad revenue that comes from that free-to-view format. “We believe that by making the show successful on YouTube, the higher CPMs will follow,” Thoday said.

There are now “major brands” who want to get involved with Taskmaster, and Avalon is working with YouTube to concoct solutions that will allow it to sell ads directly on Taskmaster videos. What began as an experiment in free distribution has evolved into a premium access point. Now, Avalon can show the world that this isn’t just a Taskmaster phenomenon; it’s a strategy that represents changing appetites for entertainment.