Edinburgh International TV Festival: "The BBC and ITV no longer decide what we watch" says YouTube director of content Ben McOwen Wilson

With more than 100 hours of content uploaded to YouTube every minute McOwen Wilson acknowledges the challenges content makers face to get watched: "[On YouTube] there is no 9pm Saturday evening slot we can schedule."

Of the ways around that he explained: "There are two ways people find content online, one is share - Spacey [Kevin Spacey who delivered the Festival's MacTaggart Lecture] was wrong to say the days of watercooler television are gone. People are still talking and sharing, there is a watercooler, it's just not limited. It's worldwide, where you no longer have to remember the punchline you can just show the content.

"The other is search. People need to be able to find your content among the firehose of uploads. Tagging is vital as are titles that hook into events, making your content more relevant is key."

However, celebrity name, according to McOwen Wilson, isn't necessarily a hook for the YouTube audience: "Well known names do help in terms of searching, but YouTube is personality driven and that's one of the biggest lessons established talent learns when moving to YouTube. Take for example Jamie Oliver when he launched his channel it wasn't Jamie's name that was the draw, his channel took off when he began to work with others who were popular on YouTube."

Of how YouTube is changing the television landscape McOwen Wilson said: "I think the model will continue as it is just now but there will be new networks emerging. There is a new wave of new players and an opportunity for those making great content already to step into the space. But the YouTube natives will become some of the most successful content makers."

Discussing its evolution, he adds: "Look at ESPN, over time they've grown. When it started it was just people in big headphones talking about sport it didn't have the rights to show you. But over time you build an audience if you have a clear sense of what you are.

Taking questions from the audience McOwen Wilson addressed the fact that YouTube has made its name on short, snappy pieces of content commenting that uploads on YouTube are now getting longer as the audience becomes more established, explaining: "Now the content makers have found their audience that audience is now just wanting more and more."

When asked why YouTube doesn't step in and editorialise content McOwen Wilson explains that the YouTube experience is a personal one, what people watch and subscribe to generates their home page and "everyone's is different", he commented: "YouTube are not commissioners of content, what we're great at is building a platform that allows anyone to upload video and share it."

"We wouldn't want to schedule content and decide what people should be passionate about, the same person can be passionate about different things, we're not a content owner and we wouldn't limit that experience," he said.

Overall McOwen Wilson and his panel agreed with Spacey's MacTaggart address that spoke of a 'third golden age of television', summed up by the words of DeBevoise, "We've entered the third revolution of video programming. It comes in waves, the first was platform based broadcasting, then came cable satellite, and this third wave is Internet based. We're the new MTVs, CNNs, AMCs and here to stay."