History is made as YouTube awards Belarusian-language channel


The Belarusian channel “Belsat NEWS” has received the “Silver Button” award for the first time in the history of YouTube which is the most popular video hosting in the world. The Silver Button is given to channels that have 100,000 subscribers.

How it all started

Our YouTube channel was founded on June 23, 2008. The first video uploaded to our channel was the satirical program called “Zhautukha” (Tabloid Press). The presenters of “Zhautukha” were a well-known creative duet of musician Syarhei Mikhalok and artist Alyaksei Khatskevich called “Sasha i Sirozha”.

Then our programs which previously could only be viewed via satellite or on the belsat.eu website began to appear on YouTube.

Stsyapan and Ales Putsila, as well as the team “Belsat” celebrate our 100K YouTube subscriber. Photo – Denis Dzyuba

Interesting numbers

Since the foundation of Belsat News, our viewers have watched about 315.5 million minutes of our videos, and this is:

5,258,333 hours

219, 097 days

7,303 months

600 years

 

Ad blocking issue

In 2018, we faced a problem: the global Internet sites on which our channel is present refused to place our advertising.

“Google wouldn’t place our Belarusian-language advertising, arguing that they don’t support the Belarusian language,” says Volha Shved, editor of interactive media at Belsat. “They even reject the money that we give them, just because they don’t support Belarusian. They don’t find it appropriate to introduce new languages ​​that nobody uses.” Everything that is in Belarusian does not exist as content for them.”

While the problem remains, our specialists are trying to prove to American corporations that the Belarusian language is in demand among users of various platforms. The number of subscribers of our main channel, Belsat News, clearly testifies to this.

“We have the coolest viewers”

At the end of January 2016, we started a live broadcast via YouTube.

“To reach the maximum number of viewers, we have divided the methods of broadcasting: we have satellite television, social networks, YouTube. Everywhere, Belsat is slightly different, and there are spectators and Belsat lovers everywhere. Not everyone can install a satellite dish, but 80% of Belarusians have the Internet. In addition, YouTube allows us to communicate with viewers and viewers to communicate among themselves. This creates a whole community,” Volha Shved explains.

The results of such a decision are obvious. We see that every day more of our viewers join the broadcast.

“We have the coolest viewers. This is a real community. After the end of the broadcast, they discuss it online for a long time. Even after the video is gone, 200 people are still discussing it,” Volha rejoices.

We want to thank our viewers who helped us to gain this award!

BELSAT IN ENGLISH provides you with current information about Belarus and the world. It is available on the Internet.

For 11 years, Belsat has been covering the problems of ordinary people in the country. We are always ready to help. To become the character of our programs or to report the news, you can contact us in several ways.

  • Using a special button at the bottom of the belsat.eu page and around the most popular news.
  • Via a special app for Android and iOS
  • Write to us on social networks (Facebook, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Telegram, Twitter, Instagram).
  • Stay with Belsat and you will find even more interesting programs, true information, unique reports and documentaries.

Subscribe to our channels and click on the bell on the right.

Stay with us! Let’s go together toward the “Golden Button”!

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