“We must be wherever the citizenry is,” Rosa Romà, president of 3Cat, said during a presentation at the Auditorio de la Torre Glòries, outlining a sweeping digital expansion to bring Catalan-language public broadcasting deeper into YouTube.
The public broadcaster aims to build a presence across 18 specialized channels by June 2027. The initiative pairs native digital formats with a reorganization of historical archives to capture audiences moving away from traditional television screens.
Project Expands to Nearly Twenty Distinct YouTube Channels
The project builds on a 20-year history on the platform, scaling up to nearly twenty distinct channels. Seven channels are already active in the initial deployment phase, including the dedicated news feed 3CatInfo and the youth-focused sports channel 3Cat Esports. Cristina Villà, director of innovation, research, and digital strategy, noted that research shows 99% of Catalan families use YouTube on their television sets, while 61% of residents aged 18 to 54 access the platform regularly.
The final lineup will incorporate specialized hubs for fiction, humor, interviews, documentaries, landscapes, meteorology, and an Ultra HD channel featuring exclusive content. Judith de Argila, director of digital audience development, explained that production teams will rely on “YouTube First” native formats—blending short-form clips with long-form features optimized for the site’s discovery algorithm.
Public Service Mandate and the Defense of Catalan
Executives emphasized that the platform pivot serves a linguistic mission. Romà stated that the network will never renounce its reason for being: promoting and spreading the Catalan language among all citizens. An internal survey cited during the rollout indicated that 48.9% of respondents want expanded content offerings in Catalan, pointing to a perceived gap in current digital services.
Vicky Cazalla, head of strategic media partnerships for YouTube, joined the presentation at Torre Glòries to highlight the multi-screen habits of modern viewers. Cazalla noted that similar public media strategies are already running at international organizations like the BBC, France Télévisions, and ZDF, adding that dedicated news channels provide a vital tool to combat online misinformation.
Collaboration with Creators and Production Partners
To reach younger demographics, the broadcaster plans to partner with independent Catalan content creators who already command established digital communities. The network will also collaborate with traditional production houses and new agents in the audiovisual sector to refresh its programming. Content from legacy TV3 comedy staples such as Polònia and Crackòvia will populate the newly organized 3Cat Humor channel alongside historical archive material.
The complete 18-channel transition will roll out progressively over the next several years, culminating in a June 2027 completion target designed to complement the standalone 3Cat streaming platform.
Worth a look
