Economic Impact | 07 Dec 2021
Assessing the economic, societal, and cultural benefits of YouTube in Ireland

YouTube enables Irish content creators to reach a large domestic and international audience. This supports substantial economic value for those who earn income from the platform, for example as they are paid a share of the revenues from advertising placed alongside their videos. A YouTube presence can also help creators earn revenues from other sources, such as product sales, brand partnerships, or live performance engagements.
These revenue sources not only support jobs and income for the creators themselves, but also wider activity in supply chains, and through workers’ spending. In total, our economic modelling suggests that YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed around €30 million to the Irish economy in 2020 and supported 1,600 full-time equivalent jobs.
In this report we outline our economic analysis, as well as the findings of wider survey research to investigate how YouTube can build skills and knowledge amongst users; promote cultural diversity; and sustain careers for content creators. We also highlight how YouTube has proved helpful during Covid-19.
Alongside the findings from our economic modelling and surveys, we present a series of case studies to highlight the personal stories of successful Irish content creators.
Read the report
Animated video summary
Our economic consulting team are world leaders in quantitative economic analysis, working with clients around the globe and across sectors to build models, forecast markets and evaluate interventions using state-of-the art techniques.
Oxford Economics’ team is expert at applying advanced economic tools that provide valuable insights into today’s most pressing business, financial, and policy issues.
To find out more about our capabilities, contact:
EMEA
Sam Moore
+44 (0)207 803 1415
Email
Americas
Diantha Redd
+1 (646) 384 0271
Email
Asia
Rhianne Clark
+65 6850 0112
Email
Related Services

Post
True Cost of Compliance – 2023 Report
This 2023 report updates our 2020 research on the detection and prevention of financial crime, and it's cost to the UK financial services sector. We surveyed 300 senior compliance executives about their costs and compliance activities, and used these results to estimate the costs across the UK Financial Services sector.
Find Out More
Post
Global Construction Futures
A global forecast for the construction industry to 2037.
Find Out More
Post
Illicit Tobacco Consumption in Türkiye
This report examines the size of the illicit tobacco market in Türkiye as well as and the impact it has on government tax revenue. Commissioned by Philip Morris International, this report particularly highlights the rising prevalence of cut tobacco, whose consumption almost doubled between 2019 and 2021. Total tax loss due to illicit consumption of tobacco products reached TL 18,327mn in 2021, doubling from TL 9,744mn in 2019. Illicit cut tobacco accounted for 86.4-95.9% of annual tax loss during this period.
Find Out More