For my media Niche, I did YouTube and focused on content creation and algorithms, for my DA, I want to focus on audiences who watch YouTube videos, and want they think about the content creators they watch, why content got recommeneded to them and how it works.
This video Pitch does not cover everything I want to talk about in this research as I could not find the wording to explain my overall outcome. But, I am hoping by researching and investigating this field will give me better insight and understanding of the platform and hope to help others who are also interested.
I will be doing my reseach by interviewing people over discord with discord servers and reddit forums and even a private message and asking them what they think about Youtube, are they happy with the content they see? Do videos that they’re not interested in keep coming up in their timeline? Do they know how the algorithm works? Do they feel like it’s an invasion of privacy or are they happy with content that’s recommended.
I want to also ask people who have thought about making YouTube videos, do they know how to make video to hit a target audience? how to get views on videos and make them more entertaining for viewers to come back and watch more? There’s so much to unpack with this question and I’m hoping with my research I can get a great understanding of audiences and content creation with YouTube.
For over the past four weeks, I have been writing blogs about a personal niche that I find interesting, and that interest is YouTube. In my first two Blogs I discussed YouTubers whose content was focused on making video essays about gaming and Internet culture and how they operate their channels with sponsors/advertisements. I started to touch on YouTube’s algorithm and how people are getting recommended videos to these channels the more they watch related videos to gaming. This goes into the Ethnography research of internet culture and people who play games as these are the people who would be watching these videos. I myself do love watching these videos so I would be a part of this culture. The reason I brought up Algorithms is the reason why these videos do and don’t get the views like other channels do, as the algorithm only focuses on people who watch or are interested in these kind of videos, which is what I found interesting.
Background research
For the background research for this assignment, I had to mainly go off what I knew already to begin with. As someone who has spent the last 12 years of their life on this platform, I think I had a good idea on what to talk about. After talking about content creators (which I was familiar with) it made me think how the videos go around on the platform and why it gets recommended to people? A research from a collective of people at Pew Research Centre helped guide me on understanding the side of YouTube with algorithms and how it analyses data from users to know how to correctly recommend videos to keep the user on the platform as long as they can. I also looked into a report that was about the Anxiety of the YouTubes algorithm and how it can hurt channels getting views as they aren’t advertiser friendly (Bishop, 2018). Also going into content creation and content creators, I read about the reasoning of content creation (BUF, 2020). This helped me understand more about being a creator and the likeliness of being successful on the platform.
Observation
Observation is key when it comes to this topic, as this is something you need to go out and see for yourself. For this study, I will be joining discord servers and reddit forums to engage with the community and get their opinion on being a part of the ethnography of people who watch these videos, I would also like to ask how these videos got recommended to them and if they are content creators themselves.
Ethical issues
For the ethical side of this assignment, I will need to be considerate to the people I’m asking questions to. This is by.
Asking for consent if they would like to be featured in the report
removing names/identity if not wanting to be featured
Being respectful to people I interview
Properly reference to the sources I use
Bishop, S. (2018) ‘Anxiety, panic and self-optimization: Inequalities and the YouTube algorithm’, Convergence, 24(1), pp. 69–84. doi: 10.1177/1354856517736978.
If you haven’t read my first two blogs, it was about two YouTubers who do video essays on gaming and internet culture, as these are videos i’m really interested in. The thing that I find is that these videos have a certain reach and don’t get the amount of views other Youtuber’s get. I have realised that people might not be so familiar with this side of the internet, as these videos require you to dig deep into the YouTube alorithm by watching videos you would usually not click on and instead of watching what’s “trending” on the website.
So now I’ll be focusing on the YouTube Algorithm and how content creators keep there viewer’s enganged with YouTube’s analytic system.
problematizing:
When making a YouTube video, their are a lot of factors that need to be concidered before uploading and publishing the video, a main one being the algorithm. The way YouTube Algorithm works can be confusing (and I don’t think I even know how it works to be completley honest), but some articles have had a good grasp on the works of it. In the article it explains the concept of viewership and how people watch content. A study by Pew Research Centre shows that 80% of viewers are more likely to click on a video that is recommended to the viewer instead of finding their own video to watch. This is the loop YouTubers get stuck in trying to make their videos appeal to audiences.
YouTube is all about collecting data, this data consists of; how many views a video is getting, the watchtime of the video and how it can get recommended to other viewers. YouTube takes in this information per video and lets content creators know how good their video did, this is by giving the creator an option to see the analytics of their video which consists of:
Reach – Impressions (how many people saw the video in their timeline) – Impressions click through rate – Views – Subscribers – Unique viewers (people who haven’t watched your content before)
Engagment – Watch time (how many hours of your content was watched) – Average view duration (audience retention)
The reasons I’m talking about this is becasuse it’s all the factors that need to be known when making a YouTube video, and this isn’t something you learn straight away when you start making videos, they need to educate themselves on the algorithm and know if they are advertising their videos correctly.
I am interested in this side of YouTube as I like to make YouTube videos in my own time, and I am always curious on the YouTube Algorithm and which videos are getting more views then others.
A video of mine that was recommended to viewers which did well
one that did not do as well
I do like seeing how content creators work with the algorithm and wanted my research to be on the viewers experience with what videos are shown in people’s timelines. This might be done through surveys or posting in reddit forums/facebook pages.
This platform has offered so much entertainment for me over the years, from watching content creators such as TOBUSCUS, PewDiePie and BoBurnham. In my younger years on the website, it was an endless pool of content. Even though looking back at these videos which are now a bit outdated and a little bit cringe, It is still nostalgic and fun for what these videos provided for many viewers around the world.
Over the years, YouTube has changed. Being monetized on videos means you need to follow strict community guidelines on the content you upload. This hurt a lot of creators as there videos were either edgy or they didn’t filter their videos. Majority of creators were forced to change their content or leave the platform as there content wouldn’t survive the current state of YouTube, such as Filthy Frank.
People do have the opportunity to make YouTube there full-time job and by following these guidelines, but it can restrict there creativity when it comes to making a video.
I was watching a video about a game when I noticed a video that was recommended to me, it was titled “DOOM // RAP REVIEW”. I clicked on the video and it was by a guy called NakeyJakey, I didn’t know who he was and he had about 6000 subscribers. The video was fun and well made which I like but what intrigued me about the video is that he produced his own instrumental for the song, this dedication to a video made me very interested in him straight away.
From watching his other videos such as “Games that should Bang” (a series about video games that should combine there qualities and make a really fun video-game) I knew this YouTuber had the potential to be a large on the platform.
He is very charismatic with his delivery on topics that he is passionate about. The best part is that he sticks to the community guidelines while still making entertaining videos. With clean editing and silly punchlines, he influenced many content creators on how to approach topics in a fun and comedic way. From this style of video making, he has surpassed over 1.5 Million subscribers on the platform and is recognized as one of the top content creators by many.
Nakeyjakey Gamer Brains GIF
The reason why he has such a large audience, is because his videos are relatable and full of nostalgia for people who played video-games growing up. It is also refreshing to watch his style of videos in an over-saturated market of content where his videos stand out like a sore thumb.
With having a large platform has given Jakey the opportunity to have advertisements on his videos and advertisement from companies which for pay for a shout out at the beginning or end of the video. Having this platform has let him further pursue his music, with releasing 5 Singles and having over 420,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Having all this media for audiences to consume is great for a content creator as there’s always room for growth and keeping audiences entertained.
There is a man out there who recaps the biggest internet moments in history. This could be either failed events, website wars or even a video game aimed for kids that was inhabited with pedophiles. The man is Internet Historian, and he has been put here to educate generations on how the Internet has the greatest treasures and Triumph’s.
The thing is with Internet Historian is that I couldn’t tell you his first name without looking deep into the internet for it, he doesn’t give up information about his personal life or who he is, but he sticks to the character of being an incognito journalist reporting on historical events that happens between the internet.
He has had millions of views on his videos and has over 2.4 million subscribers. His popular videos like Very Serious Business, the series of He Will Not Divide Us and my personal favorite; The Bikelock Fugitive of Berkeley, a video where a man in a balaclava assaults a person at a rally which leaves the website 4chan to do a manhunt and find out who the criminal was which can be seen in this video. This just shows how powerful the internet can be when it comes together.
The support Internet Historian receives from his viewers are by far phenomenal. This allows him to dedicate a lot of time and effort into his content with releases of 30+ minute videos talking about a subject. The support is done via Patron with over 850 monthly subscriptions. He aslo has the oppurtunity to do sponsored videos with advertsiers from businesses wanting their product shown through his uploads. Because his videos are about the internet and mostly gaming, his sponsors would usually be by gaming companies/websites for the viewers, such as Raid Shadow Legends or NORD VPN. You can see in the description of his videos, he will have a link to the advertisers and a discount code to the product he is promoting.
Because his videos are so well made, it leads to other content creators to watch and react to his videos, which allows for traffic to his channel as subscribers from other channels will go check his content. Internet Histroian is also very active on his social media, expeically his twitter and second Youtube channel titled ‘Internet Historian Incognito’ where less detailed videos would get uploaded.
The ethonography for this channel would be gamers and internet nerds who are interested in this culture of content creation. Being educacated on a booming market of an educational public sphere is what the future of research will be when it comes to the creative industry.
The reason i’ve chosen to talk about Internet Historian, and mostly youtubers in my blogs, is that i’ve always been interested in this side of the internet and always wanted to be a Youtuber myself. I have studdied different channels on the platform for many years and how the traffic and algorithm and what works on the website. Internet historian’s presentation on his videos are comedic yet, very eduactional for people wanted to learn on the topic.
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