KARACHI: Bloggers and techies gathered at a private club on Wednesday for the official launch of Youtube in Pakistan.

The catch is that now Youtube will also be available offline. Users can now download videos from the platform and view them offline for 48 hours.

55 percent mobile internet users in Pakistan watch online video content, it was shared.

According to Tania Aidrus, Head of Business Development, Next Billion Users team at Google Asia Pacific, “We are delighted to launch this new offline experience on YouTube with some of the top Pakistani players in entertainment. By making these popular videos available for temporary offline viewing, our partners will help fans connect more easily with their favorite content, while also helping bring more viewers to their videos .”

More importantly, Google is also looking at YouTube creators for growth. It is bringing YouTube Partner Program to Pakistan. This will allow video creators in the country to make money for their original work.

Google says any Pakistani creator even if they have only one original video can become a partner and start making money. These partners will be able to run ads against their videos. YouTube splits the revenue generated by those ads, and pays its partners.