As YouTube strengthens its stance as a leading player in the TV industry, executive Pedro Pina is to deliver Edinburgh TV Festival‘s flagship address, the James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture.
Pina, vp head of YouTube EMEA, oversees the platform’s business, creator, and content ecosystem across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In this role, he leads YouTube’s relationships with a vast network, ranging from nascent digital creators to the world’s largest broadcasters and film and TV studios.
Prior to YouTube, Pina spent over a decade at YouTube parent company, Google, as a global client partner. He is also a celebrated champion for inclusion, having been named the world’s top LGBT+ executive role model on the OUTstanding 100 Global List; twice recognised by the British LGBTQ+ awards as one of the U.K.’s most influential and inspirational leaders; and was recently appointed by the U.K. Prime Minister to the board of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London as a trustee.
“To be invited to give the MacTaggart lecture is an incredible honor, particularly at a moment when our industry has such a profound opportunity to redefine itself,” said Pina on Friday. “Television has always been celebrated by its ability to connect us, and today, we are living in the most diverse and flourishing creative era in human history. The viewers haven’t vanished — they are more engaged than ever, they’re simply ready for us to meet them on their own terms.”
“By bridging the unique storytelling of premium broadcasting with the democratic, expansive power of platforms like YouTube, we can unlock an extraordinary new chapter,” he added. “I look forward to welcoming leaders to Edinburgh to embrace this future with optimism, and to building TV’s next golden age, together.”
Pina follows a long line of renowned speakers to have held the keynote spot at Edinburgh TV fest, including James Graham, James Harding, Michaela Coel, Dorothy Byrne, Ted Turner, Armando Iannucci, Rupert Murdoch, Dennis Potter, Jon Snow, Elisabeth Murdoch, David Olusoga, Louis Theroux, Jack Thorne, and Emily Maitlis.
