Hollyoaks has become the first UK soap to be made available on YouTube territories worldwide, allowing fans around the globe to stream the continuing drama for free.
It follows the launch of full episodes on YouTube in the UK last year, as part of the move to a streaming-first model.
The international launch will follow the same pattern as the UK with daily episodes available one week after their TX on Channel 4. The episodes will be available on the Hollyoaks official YouTube channel.
The continuing drama produced by Lime Pictures, part of All3Media, had previously been available on American streaming platform Hulu.
Hollyoaks has been on air since October 1995. Recent viewing figures revealed that the Channel 4 soap has seen nearly 40% year-on-year growth in streaming views per episode in the first quarter of this year.
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The youth-skewing show has also seen its social media views rise, with Snapchat increasing by 350% year-on-year and TikTok up by 116%.
Full length episodes on YouTube in the UK and Ireland saw 5.8m minutes of watch time in Q1 2024 with 67% of views coming from 13 – 34-year-olds.
Kate Little, Joint Managing Director, Lime Pictures, said: “Hollyoaks is always synonymous with digital firsts and I am delighted that the show’s global audience will now be able to find and watch episodes when they want on YouTube.”
Matt Risley, Managing Director, 4Studio, said: “We’re hugely excited to see Hollyoaks’ continual growth on YouTube, and this innovative move towards global distribution will only supercharge it further. YouTube is a core viewing platform for young viewers in the UK and abroad, so there’s no better place for us to be reaching new audiences with the best soap on TV.”
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