THE STATE OF YOUTUBE: YouTube has become pay to win. Gone are the days
that random joes could pick up cameras and record themselves playing games or discussing a topic.
Nowadays, everyone from MKBHD and MrWhoseTheBoss to Airrack and MrBeast spend tens of thousands
if not hundreds of thousands on each and every video. They also all have millions of dollars
worth of equipment, dedicated studies, and dozens of employees. At this point, they’re pretty much
just full on production studios and that’s on the personality side of YouTube itself.
Then, you have the whole company side as well with channels like Bright Side, The Infographics Show,
T Series, and Cocomelon Nursery Rhymes. There are a few outliers who have stuck to
a reasonable level of production like SSSniperWolf and Penguin but these are very much the exception,
not the rule. Also, most of these guys were OGs to YouTube. Trying to replicate their formula
today from scratch probably wouldn’t work all that well. This is quite a shame as this
characteristic is what made YouTube different from traditional media platforms in the first place.
People liked that they could see their favorite creators without censorship, without filters,
and without advertiser influence. People liked the genuine, vulnerable, and authentic nature
of YouTube, but modern creators shy away from these characteristics as much as possible. These
attributes simply lead to drama, controversy, and potentially getting cancelled. So, the best
solution is to just stay as vanilla as possible. Never have an opinion, never push the boundaries,
and never ever piss off the twitter people. Larger creators are simply leaning into these attributes
as it allows them to outsource more work, create a better distinction between their personal lives
and their online personas, and it gives them a larger moat against aspiring up and coming
creators. So, a pretty smart strategy from their end but this is arguably destroying the essence of
YouTube. So, here’s how YouTube became pay to win and the upsetting future of the platform.
CREATORS GET SQUEEZED:
Taking a look back, the roots of this evolution can be traced back to the mid 2010s to creators.
By this point, most niches had already become saturated with tons of creators. People were
starting to understand YouTube could not only be a viable career but a lucrative one that
came with popularity, fame, and influence. So, it’s no wonder why people were jumping at every
opportunity they saw but this brought along with it quite a few challenges. Larger creators often
struggled to keep up with the quantity of content from smaller creators. It was also super difficult
to think of original ideas as every topic you can think of had already been covered from every
aspect you can think of. The saying “There are no original ideas” was truer than ever. But despite
this, creators attempted to keep up with the YouTube machine leading to burnout and high levels
of stress and depression. A few notable creators, however, were able to find an escape from this
vicious hamster wheel. These guys accepted that they would never be able to keep up with
the firehouse of content that was being put up on YouTube. If they were a tech YouTuber, there was
simply too many smartphones, laptops, and gadgets coming out to cover them all. If they were a
vlogger, it was simply impossible to make their life interesting every single day of the year.
This was simply not sustainable, so these creators decided to take another path. Instead of trying to
cover every single topic, they decided to simply cover one topic better than anyone. The idea is
that people would tune in not because the ideas or concepts were unique but because the delivery was
exceptional. A great example of this is Marques Brownlee. Somewhere along the line, Marques
decided to drop a quarter million dollars on a robotic camera. Let me just say, there is no way
to quantifiably justify this investment. You can’t be like, oh this camera is going to increase my
viewership by 6.2% so in 42 months, the ROI will be net positive. It simply doesn’t work because
it’s unlikely that this camera led to any sort of noticeable increase in viewership, atleast not
in the short term, but that’s ok. This camera was not purchased to boost viewership. This camera was
purchased to build a brand, a perception. Whenever you see a crazy camera shot on tech YouTube,
you know its Marques. And this association gets his one step closer to being the undisputed king
of tech youtubers. So, the next time when an iPhone drops, it doesn’t matter if a hundred
people post reviews about it before Marques. You can bet that millions of people are waiting to
see Marques’ take specifically because he provides and experience that they can’t get anywhere else
on YouTube. Marques is by no means the only one leveraging this strategy. This strategy has become
very prevalent with Mr Beast’s channel as well. Take a few of his recent videos for example: $1 vs
$500,000 Plane Ticket and $1 vs $1,000,000 Hotel Room. These are by no means ground breaking video
ideas. BuzzFeed made identical videos 6 years ago about planes and hotels. In fact, they had a full
on series comparing cheap options to expensive options. Yet, Mr Beast’s plane video got 150
million views and his hotel video got 217 million views. Why? Simple, his scale and production.
Those are just 2 examples but I could name dozens. MrWhoseTheBoss, Airrack, Magnates Media,
Good Mythical Morning, Mark Rober, StuffMadeHere, Film Theory, JianHao Tan, Wong Fu Productions, and
basically every other large channel you can think of. While their initial success may have been
fueled by down to earth mortal videos, its their production quality that has kept them at the top.
AUDIENCES EVOLVE:
It’s not just the creators who who evolved either. Audiences have also very much evolved.
Back in 2007 and 2008, let me just be real here, the people who watched YouTube were
a bunch of antisocial nerds and gamers. But nowadays, everyone watches YouTube and with
that comes along a vastly different set of expectations. Most people are used to TV,
Netflix, and movies, and to them, that level of production is normal. So,
naturally, these people flock to channels that are able to live up these standards.
Also, let me say, this is not a trend that’s unique to YouTube. In general, people flock
to high production value content. Take Avatar 2 for example. The storyline was at best mundane,
but this has proved to be completely irrelevant as Avatar 2 ended up as the 3rd highest grossing film
of all time. The same thing could be said about the original Avatar as well. While the storyline
was more substantial than Avatar 2, critics argue that it was just a rip off of Dances With Wolves.
This is very much true and even James Cameron himself has admitted this, but
that didn’t stop Avatar from becoming the highest grossing film of all time. Why you ask? Well,
the visuals are stunning, the world building is unbelievable, and you forget that it’s even CGI.
Now, this isn’t to say that Cameron or creators should come up with crappy storylines and buff it
up with the visuals. Not a good strategy. Ideally, the story is good and the production is good. That
would obviously lead to the best results. But, the thing to note is that a good production can
make up for a bad story. A good story, however, doesn’t always make up for a bad production.
Another great example of this is the Grand Theft Auto series. The GTA series has been around for
25 years at this point and while there are some differences between the games like the city that
its based in, it all boils down to the same thing. You’re a bad guy doing bad things to
make money and earn respect. Simple as that. But despite milking the same plot for so long,
GTA V ended up becoming the highest grossing piece of media of all time, pulling in $7.7
billion. And we can only imagine how well GTA VI will perform. The reasoning is simple. Rockstar
Games is constantly creating an unmatchable experience with each and every iteration.
So, when audiences are constantly being fed this level of content by movies, TV shows,
and games, it’s only natural that they come to expect the same from YouTube. The creators
that are able to keep up do exceptionally well. The others, well, the others are left behind.
YOUTUBE ADAPTS:
Creators often like to blame the algorithm when it comes to a video not performing well or their
channel being killed off. Audiences also like to complain that platforms are recommending thirst
traps and low productivity content. But, the truth is that both of these parties are just
shifting the blame. The algorithms of social media platforms are nothing but audience psychology. So,
if a video isn’t performing well or a channel is receiving less views, it’s not because
the algorithm doesn’t like the content, it’s because the audience doesn’t like the content,
atleast not a broad audience. The opposite is true as well. If a channel is performing really well,
it’s not because YouTube is biased or something. It’s because that’s what the audience wants to
see. And based on the biggest creators today, it’s clear that what the audience
wants is fast paced high production value content which brings us to our main question:
where does that leave small creators? Well, not in a good place. Also, when I say small creators,
I don’t mean people with hundreds of thousands of subscribers or even tens of thousands. I’m
talking about people who are trying to get their first thousand subscribers, their first 5 thousand
subscribers. As Casey Neistat once said, the hardest part of any creator’s journey is getting
the first 10,000 subs. And this is harder than ever today because top creators have simply
set the bar for entry so high. Now, there’s no point is blaming these creators. Not only do they
produce awesome content that’s enjoyed by hundreds of millions of people but they’re just doing
what’s best for their brands and their businesses. That’s only reasonable. But, with that being said,
this trend has largely shifted the tide against new creators. In fact, 97% of YouTubers don’t
make it, which is not that different from Hollywood where only 2% of actors make it.
Most small creators nowadays are hoping for that one viral video that will explode their channel,
but this is not that different from actors and musicians hoping for that one lucky break.
Now, a lot of creators will have you believe that it’s not luck and that it comes down to
one’s understanding of YouTube and the audience. Mr Beast has even claimed that
he could get to a 1 million subscribers from zero within 3 to 4 months. And they’re right,
succeeding on YouTube is not necessarily luck but the thing to note is that creators that are
starting off also don’t have the same skills or mindset. It’s like those shows where millionaires
try to start from zero and become a millionaire again. Admittedly, these are super interesting
to watch but to think that a homeless guy could do it just because a millionaire could is absurd.
Similarly, thinking that an average joe could get a million subscribers in 3 months or even
an year just because Mr Beast could is also absurd. Of course, there will be exceptions
but that’s what they are exceptions. The harsh reality is that making it on YouTube is becoming
harder and harder everyday because the bar for entry is also becoming higher and higher.
THE FUTURE OF YOUTUBE:
In the end, the state of YouTube today is not out of the ordinary by any means. That’s how
every other artistic industry has always been whether that be games, movies, TVs,
writing, or art itself. The reason that this is upsetting with YouTube though is because YouTube
used to be the exception. They started off like BeReal, but expecting them to stay this was is
simply unrealistic. BeReal is already dying and if YouTube chose this path, they too would probably
be dead. The reason that YouTube is so successful today is because they evolved. They became more
like traditional media and the creators followed suit. With that being said though,
if you’re able to make it to the other side, the opportunity on YouTube is insane. But, getting to
the otherside is harder than ever because YouTube has become pay to win. Do you prefer the old
YouTube or the new YouTube? Comment that down below. Also, drop a like if you appreciate the
higher production quality. And of course, consider checking out our discord community to suggest
future video ideas and consider subscribing to see more questions logically answered.