RT LEADS AMONG TV NEWS CHANNELS ON YOUTUBE WITH 5 BILLION VIEWS

MOSCOW, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017- RT has reached 5 billion views on YouTube, maintaining its undisputed leadership among international news networks, far surpassing the total number of views for BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and Euronews.

“By reaching more than 5 billion views, RT has confirmed its status as the world’s biggest news network on YouTube,” said Youri Hazanov, head of YouTube partnerships for Russia, Israel and the CIS.

RT’s total number of views across all language accounts is five times the number of views on the BBC’s news channels and over 2.5 times the number of views on Al Jazeera’s channels. RT is also ahead of CNN and Euronews, with almost double and triple their numbers respectively.

RT’s most popular videos over the last year include Donald Trump’s victory speech after winning the presidential election, an exclusive interview with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, an interview with President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte, and a documentary about a hitman who worked for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

In 2007, RT was the first Russian TV network to begin publishing its content on YouTube, and in 2011, an RT video was recognized as YouTube’s most watched news video of the year.

The following year, Pew Research Center described RT as the top supplier of news on YouTube. In 2013, RT became the world’s first news network to reach 1 billion views.

In April 2017, RT earned five Shorty awards, a prestigious competition honoring the best in social media.

In 2016, RT received seven Lovies, the pan-European awards competition honoring excellence in digital media, as well as the People’s Voice Award for Social Media in News at the Webby Awards, or ‘the internet Oscars’, beating out BBC, ABC, NBC and the New York Times.

In 2013, RT took home the top prize at the Monte Carlo TV festival and is the only Russian TV network to be a five-time Emmy nominee.