Hollyoaks to stream internationally on YouTube

Hollyoaks has become the first UK soap to be available in YouTube territories worldwide.

The ground-breaking move will, from this week, allow fans around the globe to follow the continuing drama by streaming full sequential episodes for free.

It follows the successful launch of full episodes on YouTube in the UK last year, as part of the move to a stream-first model.

Just like in the UK, international viewers will be able to watch daily episodes on YouTube, one week after they air on Channel 4.

Lime Pictures MD, Kate Little said:

“Hollyoaks is always synonymous with digital firsts and I am delighted that the show’s global audience will now be able to find and watch episodes when they want on YouTube.

“With a proven record of enticing younger viewers with gripping storytelling and engaging characters, this digitally-led offering of episodes will allow new and existing audiences worldwide to get their Hollyoaks fix with ease.”

International viewers will join the show at Pride celebrations, where amidst fear about Conversion Therapy being practised within the village, Kitty sings ‘Over the Rainbow’ to the crowd.

Recent viewing figures have shown a significant increase in streaming views per episode for the soap in the first quarter of this year, with nearly 40% year-on-year growth.

In Q1 2024 alone, full-length episodes on YouTube in the UK and Ireland accumulated 5.8 million minutes of watch time, with 67% of views coming from viewers aged 13 to 34.

Matt Risley, Managing Director, 4Studio said:

“We’re hugely excited to see Hollyoaks’ continual growth on YouTube, and this innovative move towards global distribution will only supercharge it further. YouTube is a core viewing platform for young viewers in the UK and abroad, so there’s no better place for us to be reaching new audiences with the best soap on TV.”

The episodes will be available on Hollyoaks‘ official YouTube channel.

There will be a total of 20 episodes available for streaming before international viewers catch up with the same daily release schedule as UK YouTube subscribers.