Week 22 - Research and Notes on YouTube

Grace Watson

23 August 2021

Media Studies 

Week 22 - Research and Notes on YouTube

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All from a CNBC video:

How much content is created everyday?

• In one year Youtube had more than a trillion views.
• We, as people, upload more than 500 hours of video every single minute! And over 1 billion hours watched everyday - it’s the worlds second largest search engine as of 2018.
• “If it’s not on YouTube, the video doesn’t exist”.
• “It’s an endless source of entertainment” - whether you need tutorials on how to change a tire to hairstyle videos, it’s your go to.
• Generated $15 billion in revenue in 2019.
• “Your life can change just by hitting upload” - you can become a billionaire with just 1 upload if it hits off!
• Justin Bieber for his start from YouTube! That’s how he “got noticed”. It’s a massive platform! 
• Because people no longer needed “someone else to buy in to their talent in order for it to reach a large audience”.

Who acquired YT and for how much?

• launched in 2005
• Examples of viral videos are the ‘Charli bit my finger’ and ‘David after dentist’ ones.
• Google acquired Facebook for $1.65 billion. 

How was allowing people to monetise channels a major shift in the industry?

• this “gave birth to new careers that didn’t exist”.
• it was one of the very places where you could earn money for creating something in the digital space without setting up an entire business.
• There are creators who are making millions and millions of dollars every month from posting videos - example includes Dude Perfect who literally do fun stunts and get paid millions to do so - 56.6 million subscribers on YT.

How were algorithms used to YTs advantage with subscribers?

• this was one of the main reasons leading to its success!
• Videos were suggested to you based on what you had watched previously and who you’re subscribed to.
• Lead to people basically “never leaving” the app.

Name some of the ways YT has changed and added aspects to their channel to increase audience/subscribers?

• it starting basically offering audiences ad-free content by:
• rolling out paid subscriptions - YouTube Premium, YouTube Music and YouTube TV. It now has over 30 million music and premium paid subscribers.
• partnered with Coachella to livestream the festival for people worldwide.
• Expanded its functionality by making its ads interactive - allowing links to websites where the customer can make the purchase. “Click a button and buy” and your item arrives a few days later.
• Launched YouTube Kids for just kids.
• Rolled out ‘Shorts’ - a short form video app with similar features to TikTok who has been their biggest threat yet recently. It’s an effort from them to make it easier for people to engage with the kind of content they’re interested in.
• YouTube won’t be overtaken though and it’s thaaaat threatened by TikTok because it “has scale that nobody else has”. “Nobody can do today what YouTube can do”. 

Why is content moderation hard for YT?

• “The company has gotten so big that they can’t always keep up with all the content that gets uploaded”.
• Content moderation “has proven to be quite the challenge”.
• People complain either way - when they do delete certain content people complain.
• They’ve tried their best to respond to consumer complaints/concerns about certain topics by banning specific things and really reviewing their policies often. They decided in 2019 to ban any supremist videos.
• in May 2020, Facebook had to pay $52m to content moderators who suffered from PTSD after watching the content they needed to for their job - some content is SO HECTIC it truly affects people.

Fake news:

• People, more than ever before, who are turning to YouTube for their news. There are creators who are seeing this trend and responding to it by creating fake news. YouTube does their best to deal with those fake posts, but doesn’t always get them all.
• So, content there “isn’t always accurate”. 
• It struggled to remove the ‘Plandemic’ virus conspiracy video which contained a lot of false info. about the Covid-19 virus.

YouTube “has the right to terminate videos as they see fit”. They hold the power.

Why’s it an issue of power for YT to ban what it considers ‘misinformation’?

• well it could be seen as an invading of free speech. “a disturbing attack on the ability to think freely” - according to the TV channel’s digital editor. 

How’s it a turning of power tables to have a news company censored by YT?

• News should be unbiased and completely factual - now that it’s under YT, YT can terminate whatever they want too. It’s their right. They can rightfully terminate what they feel is unsafe or harmful. This gives YT the ultimate power to control what people are seeing, and means even the news might be bias.

Any other basic facts:

• YouTube “banned Sky News Australia from uploading new content for a week” for posting misinformation on Covid-19.
• YouTube said it’s content could lead to “real-world harm”.