2025 was dominated by industry leaders debating whether YouTube should be considered television. My hope for 2026 is that this unproductive argument is finally put to rest.
Audiences resolved this question some time ago.
Long-form, episodic, premium storytelling already exists on YouTube. It is consumed at scale and watched on television screens in living rooms, alongside traditional broadcasters and streamers. Viewers are already treating YouTube as part of the television ecosystem.
Continuing the debate now serves little purpose – except for those invested in maintaining artificial distinctions between platforms. Distinctions that protect legacy operating, financing, and advertising models, but also create silos and limit mobility for freelancers who increasingly need to move fluidly between what is still labelled “TV” and “digital.”
What I would like to see in 2026:
• Convergence openly acknowledged and embraced
• Greater creative mobility across platforms
• Platform-agnostic production businesses – creator studios, evolving indies, and agencies – emerging and flourishing
• A UK creative workforce equipped with genuinely cross-platform storytelling skills that keep us globally competitive
I have spent the last eight years working and advising across broadcast, film, YouTube, and digital ventures. While conventions, rights positions, audience expectations, and commissioning processes differ, the underlying craft does not.
Storytelling skills are transferable.
Yes, different platforms will continue to require different commercial and regulatory frameworks and the protections they enable are important – but we are already in an era where IP is expected to travel across platforms, formats, and business models.
So, the real question for 2026 is not “Is YouTube television?”
It is whether our systems, skills, and mindsets are evolving fast enough to reflect how audiences already consume content – and whether our creative workforce is being given the support, advice, and training needed to thrive in the emerging world.
Daniel Glew is the founder and CEO of Navigated Media, a consultancy that helps brands and organisations strategically develop, position, and commercialise their stories and IP across TV, film, and digital platforms.