_The Creative Wealth of Nations_ and shared prosperity, and to account for sustainable development. Working with development partners, the WBG will launch a new initiative under which member countries will be requested to gather relevant data and improve access to and dissemination of these data through a global database.<sup>94</sup> The WGB should use this opportunity to launch initiatives geared to collecting the data on the creative economy as a whole. Since initial “funding has been allocated in the FY14 budget for the global initiative to improve country data on poverty, shared prosperity, and sustainability,”<sup>96</sup> the WGB should consider allocating funds in the future (even as early as FY15 or FY16) to collect data in select countries.

The creative economy is intricate. And again, it is under constant transformation propelled by unrelenting technological advances. Therefore, it is critical to emphasize the value of partnerships. Indeed, as the WBG strategy puts it,

- No one agency alone can help countries reach the goals, and the WBG will promote a call to action for all development actors to work in concert. Partnerships need to operate on every scale, from multibillion dollar programs with global constituencies to village cooperatives.<sup>97</sup>

Such partnerships could include Internet companies such as YouTube.

# _YouTube_ :

That YouTube, a video channel started in 2005, now receives more than “1 billion unique users” each month,<sup>98</sup> speaks volumes about the power of visual content delivery platforms. There is no question that many of YouTube’s videos, whether commercial or otherwise, have some artistic

## <mark>|| Box 8 || YouTube Statistics</mark>

## **Viewership**

- “More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month

- Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube—that's almost an hour for every person on Earth

- 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute

- 80% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US

- YouTube is localized in 61 countries and across 61 languages

- According to Nielsen, YouTube reaches more US adults ages 18-34 than any cable network

- Millions of subscriptions happen each day. The number of people subscribing daily is up more than 3x since last year, and the number of daily subscriptions is up more than 4x since last year”<sup>95</sup>

Source: YouTube component to them. The short movie or film character in which many of the clips are presented, suggests that this channel should be further studied (with respect to the arts, commerce and technology). This analysis could expand the discoveries in which data on the performing arts can be captured digitally.

The _Economist_ reports that “YouTube and Vevo, another popular site, now pay labels a small royalty when punters watch a music video.”<sup>99</sup> But with respect to development, one may ask, How many music, dance or dramatic videos from Asia or Africa, Latin America or the Middle East are downloaded each month? Are these upcoming artists or well-known ‘stars’? How much

> 94 The World Bank Group. 2014. _The World Bank Group Strategy_ .

> 95 “Statistics,” YouTube, accessed May 18, 2014, http://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html. 96 The World Bank Group. 2014. _The World Bank Group Strategy_ .

> 97 Ibid.

> 98“Statistics,” YouTube.

> 99 “Counting the Change,” _Economist_ , August 17, 2013, accessed May 18, 2014, <u>http://www.economist.com/news/business/21583687-media-companies-took-battering-internet-cash-digital-sourceslast.</u>

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