Committee publication · Correspondence · 14 April 2026
Letter from Alex Rawle, Head of Public Policy, YouTube UK, regarding Children’s tv oral evidence follow-up, 10 April 2026
From: Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Inquiry: Children's tv and video content
Summary
YouTube's Head of UK Public Policy responds to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee's follow-up questions from a 10 March 2026 children's TV inquiry. YouTube outlines its child safety policies, Quality Principles for kids and teens content, partnerships with the BBC and public service broadcasters, the Made for Kids designation system, educational tools, and parental controls. The company emphasizes its role as a distribution platform rather than content commissioner, and highlights UK creator success stories and recent initiatives like the Made for Kids Launchpad.
Key findings
- YouTube introduced Quality Principles for children's and family content in 2021 and separate Quality Principles for Teen Content in January 2026, developed with its Youth & Families Advisory Committee to help creators produce age-appropriate content.
- UK users spent over 600 million hours watching domestically produced 'Made for Kids' content in 2025; YouTube requires creators to designate qualifying videos as 'Made for Kids' and prohibits personalised ads and remarketing on such content.
- YouTube announced a strategic partnership with the BBC involving BBC content strategy support on YouTube (with no financial payment from YouTube to the BBC) and a joint Create x Connect programme, with YouTube investing £315k to support 150 media professionals' YouTube skills development.
- The YouTube Made for Kids Launchpad supported over 140 UK-based channels, resulting in new channels being included in the YouTube Kids app; the programme has expanded to support academic content creators for teens.
- YouTube Player for Education, launched in 2023, delivered over 600,000 hours of content to UK users in the first half of 2025 across 20,000 channels daily, with 100% of licensing fees distributed to creators based on watch time.
Tone
SupportiveTopics
Key actors
YouTube UK, Alex Rawle, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Caroline Dinenage, BBC, Channel 5, National Film and Television School, Joe Wicks
Notable line
“YouTube provides infrastructure rather than commissioning or scheduling content, with a different role from both media outlets and social networks.”
Key Quotes
“YouTube's mission is to give everyone a voice and show them the world.”
“Unlike traditional broadcasters, YouTube provides infrastructure rather than commissioning or scheduling content, with a different role from both media outlets and social networks.”
“In 2021, we announced a set of high and low Quality Principles for children's and family content.”
“In 2025, users in the UK spent more than 600 million hours watching domestically produced "Made for Kids" content.”
“… under this strategic partnership there is no financial payment from YouTube to the BBC to produce this content.”
“YouTube sunsetted the YouTube Originals Program in 2022, along with the fund - reflecting YouTube's strategy to focus on supporting a creator first platform rather than commissioning content ourselves.”
“88% of parents who use YouTube agree that YouTube (or YouTube Kids) provides quality content for their children's learning and/or entertainment.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗