The YouTube Dilemma
With the recent adpocalypse on YouTube it has made many people question if another platform will overtake YouTube as the largest video sharing site in the world. Youtube has recently been under scrutiny over the boycotting by advertisers on content that is not seen as "advertiser friendly." Most YouTubers have felt the affects of the adpocalypse on at least a few videos. I have a channel that is around 400 subscribers and I've had a few of my videos demonetized in the past. If this doesn't change for a long period of time then a lot of creators will begin to move their influence to other platforms.
How to Mend the Issue
As everyone is aware YouTube's "big wigs" are pretty progressive and liberal folks who do not necessarily agree with a lot of conservative view points & currently a lot of the more conservative creators like Stephan Crowder complain that they are constantly demonetized even though their content is more tame than that of The Young Turks who are a much more liberal standing news show. Even a more moderate news show like Philip DeFranco is getting demonetized over certain stories they're sharing. Politics or news shows seem to be getting hit the hardest; however, vloggers, gamers, and even review channels are being demonetized because YouTube's algorithm sees these creators as "not advertiser friendly."
This is a huge issue that can actually be solved pretty quickly and pretty simply by YouTube if they wanted to solve the issue. Coke was one of the brands to pull funding because they found their ads running on content they didn't wish to be associated with. What YouTube should do instead of demonetizing so many videos and channels is they should open the ads on these videos to see who would want to purchase the ads. Plenty of people will pay top dollar to be advertised on content that is associated with their brand. If a gun review channel on YouTube is being demonetized YouTube isn't being efficient. The reason why is because a company like Browning would pay a premium to run ads on videos playing that kind of content. Why? because they sell clothing for hunting & hunters along with an array of other products someone who is interested in guns could get use out of.
What if the Issue Isn't Fixed?
If the issue isn't fixed then the major creators of the platforms will ultimately move to other platforms that pay them better in order to build their brands further and reach a larger audience. This has already begun from a huge YouTube channel H3H3 moving to Twitch to do their podcast. Also, a Heroes of the Storm (gaming) YouTuber, MFPallytime has begun streaming on Twitch over YouTube because he's been demonetized so often and frankly he's sick of it. If this issue does not stop then a lot more YouTube content creators will begin to leave the site in order to find better options for themselves or they will begin relying more on Patreon & Game Wisp to stabilize their income.
The Lack of Competition
As always when there is very little competition in a specific market there's always one "big dog." YouTube practically has a monopoly on what they do which is running a massive video sharing site and a massive repository. There are competitors to some extent being Vimeo or you could even consider Facebook a competitor all be it Vimeo isn't used nearly as much and Facebook isn't used for video in the same way as YouTube.
This error on YouTube's side allowing a ton of creators to be demonetized opens the door for a competitor to spring up in the near future. I personally believe that door is open currently and the longer YouTube decides to ignore the situation the farther that door opens.
Who could take YouTube's place?
As of right now the most likely candidates would be other massive companies who have their eyes on getting a piece of what YouTube has to offer with their platform right now.
To give you an idea of a few ideas of who might be interested
- Amazon
- Apple
All of these companies could show interest in building a site very similar to YouTube in order to get some of the success YouTube has achieved. YouTube is the 2nd largest website in the world next to Google to give you an idea of the platform's popularity.
So what can Steemit do to compete?
Steemit is very small currently but it is growing very quickly and from what I've experienced and heard from friends who have used this platform far longer than I have the community is better than that of any other social media they've ever been on. Beyond that Steemit already pays a lot of money even for beginning users of the platform. It took me six months to get my first $100 check from my YouTube AdSense. This will be very enticing for people who are looking into new platforms as the money is there to be made and the community is so positive. These two aspects that Steemit brings to the table are massive even if they don't seem like it. A good community and the possibility to make money are the most enticing things for most people because they want to do what they love for a living and they want to share it with other people who are also passionate and supportive of what they do.
With those two qualities in mind Steemit is still very small and doesn't have a massive user base in comparison to YouTube and it also doesn't have the capital to back its ventures to compete directly with YouTube at this point in time. However, what I will say is that in the future I believe that it could be possible for YouTube to lose a large amount of its creators and viewers to other more innovative sites. Steemit has a great start and could potentially pull from YouTube's success if it tailors features in the near future to suit the needs and wants of that type of a community.
In the end there are a lot of variables to consider. It's very possible that YouTube is challenged by a competitor in the coming years and it's even possible that one of those competitors could be Steemit depending on future updates.
I would love to know what you guys think on the topic also so leave a comment! <3
Good point. I think it is similar to the upcoming privat pay tv channels without commercials in the 90s. Maybe they could be on same levels. There are too big investments in Youtube to drop it. I could imagine they will fight Steemit with trolls if this platform reaches the masses. Thank you for your post and have a great day Christian ;) Greetings from Mongolia, Silbart.
I can see YouTube trolls coming to this site if this site grows. Trolls pretty much move to any site they can find that will give them a rise out of creators. Nice to hear from you again, Silbart! :)
Yeah.. keep on doing your good work ;) have a nice day Christian.
You bet man! You have a nice day too :)
Thanx ;)
You bet man <3
I don't think YouTube will go away completely. It might stop being the biggest player but I do think it will remain a big player even if that happens (just not the biggest). I'm not saying it won't go down because you can't know that and people said MySpace would be the last social media and would be the biggest thing and now it is hardly used and it is only really used by musicians from what I can tell but beyond seeing people using it professionally, you don't really hear anything about MySpace nowadays. It is possible something could overtake it but even despite all the shit they have put people through I don't think YouTube will go under completely and I don't think another website taking over will happen with great speed.
However that doesn't mean I have faith in the platform to work for me. Far from it. You should never put your eggs in one basket. If people are hoping to make money from their content, they should be looking at other avenues than just adsense such as patreon and affiliate programs etc (and making steem if they're on here). I wouldn't rely on just YouTube for the videos itself either. I have both a YouTube channel and a Vidme channel and it is good even beyond just some piece of mind as there are differences between the two and pros and cons of each and I'm finding where one lets me down, the other is good most of the time so the combination of the two is meeting my needs well at this point (not financial needs but the other demands I have of the platforms).
While Steemit itself might give YT a run for it's money, I don't that's where steemit is at. IT seems more of a place to share your content you host on places like YouTube to me in terms of that side of things and socially it reminds me of reddit but self promo is allowed and encouraged. I have found people on here to be open to discussion and wanting to discuss things like how reddit is most of the time. To me, personally, Steemit is like reddit with a love for people sharing their work, rather than a general discouragement of it, moreso than it is like a video platform.
I agree that I don't think YouTube will ever go away completely just because of its hulking size in comparison to anything similar to it right now. I do think it's possible that it could lose its spot as the largest as long as it keeps making the mistakes it's currently making and someone else takes advantage of those mistakes and doesn't miss their window. I'm not able to state in absolute confidence that YouTube will become irreverent (I don't think it ever will) or even drop from being #1 on what it does to be honest. I'm trying to make the assumption that if they continue to neglect aspects of their site they leave that door open for competition to close the gap between say YouTube & Steemit. I think you're right in saying YouTube won't go under completely due to its size and it always has Google above it.
I agree that you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket but what other platform is comparable to YouTube in service and viewership? I can't think of anything as large as YouTube or as unique as YouTube (something fitting both those criteria is what I'm getting at.)
I also agree with your last paragraph being that Steemit is very different than YouTube and it's kind of its own thing all together not really comparable to many other social media sites. Steemit seems like Reddit almost in terms of how you share your content you've posted on YouTube. Especially since Steemit doesn't have any form of repository for videos in the first place. I just found it an interesting topic being someone whose only been on Steemit a week and I've already made double what I've made on YouTube. It got me thinking what if Steemit decided to compete to some extent with YouTube in the future. Could they compete? I believed yes because of the monetary gain people have the potential to achieve & the fact that the community is so warm to most people new & veteran!
Thank you for your comment, mate. It really let me think about my article from another view point and kind of see it in a new light! I hope my response allowed you to understand what my intentions were with the article as well as reply to your thoughs! :)
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