Awarded in early September, the Silver Play Buttons recognise surpassing 100,000 subscribers on a YouTube channel.

“YouTube is an entertaining way to study”

“We’ve reached 100,000 subscribers on both our IELTS channel and our PTE Academic channel and we’re well on our way with our OET channel, too,” said Jarrad Merlo, E2Language’s co-founder and director of teaching and learning.

“It’s taken us about two and a half years to reach 350,000 subscribers and nearly 20m views.”

Speaking with The PIE News, Merlo said it was a relief to reach the milestone, adding that the next goal was for its IELTS videos to join its PTE Academic and OET offerings in being ranked first on YouTube for channel type.

Merlo, who is also presenter of the videos, said there is an increasing appetite among learners to find alternative online learning resources and YouTube allowed many to feel a connection with the teacher.

“For education, at least, YouTube is an entertaining way to study. On top of all of this, people like to ‘follow’ people and YouTube allows the person in front of the camera to be genuine,” he said.

The video platforms ability for live streaming also presented a new opportunity to mix technology with traditional learning, Merlo added.

“Live stream has this ‘sensation’ of being immediate, here and now. We’ve found that when we live stream we can motivate people to write entire essays in the moment.”

The Silver Play Buttons are the latest recognition for E2Language as it works to increase exposure and learner trust in the online learning space, after it received NEAS accreditation in 2017.