Arabic version: انضمام عشر قنوات على يوتيوب إلى الأرشيف الوطني الأسترالي

According to ABC News, 10 YouTube channels are being inducted into the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia in a partnership with YouTube, marking the first time content creators have entered the collection. The creators will be recognised at an event at Parliament House for their cultural contribution.

The selected channels collectively have more than 36 billion views and 84 million subscribers worldwide. Inductees include mathematician Eddie Woo, musician Tash Sultana, independent animation studio GLITCH, Superwog, Wengie, Beau Miles, Bounce Patrol, Mighty Car Mods, Natalie Tran and Outback Boys.

NFSA chief executive Patrick McIntyre said YouTube had changed how people can reach large audiences. The archive has collected individual YouTube videos since 2013, but this collection will also preserve each channel’s “cultural wrapper”, including oral histories, fandom content, likes, shares and comments.

Woo began posting maths lessons in 2012 and now has 2 million subscribers and 188.8 million views. Wengie, also known as Wendy Ayche, creates beauty, music and gaming content and has 13.2 million subscribers and 1.9 billion views. GLITCH, founded in 2017 by Thai-Australian brothers Kevin and Luke Lerdwichagul, has 23.3 million subscribers and 3.9 billion views.

The NFSA estimates that 91 per cent of Australian adults use an online platform to watch video content weekly. McIntyre said the archive must be more dynamic and responsive in deciding what is culturally significant as culture happens.