YouTube is over.
No, YouTube is just beginning.
Well, either way it's changing again. Throughout YouTube's history of rapid growth, changes in legislation and monetization that shaped what YouTube would become. Every change caused content creators to convince each other it was the end of YouTube. Or at least you were guaranteed a rant video complaining about it. Videos crying out that the end is nigh can be popular but I'm more suited to write than make a video. Still, click on our affiliate links to give us some support during these dark times. Let's talk about YouTube.
Like most technological startups, YouTube didn't even know what it was when it first started. In 2005 a service was created to share video. Some say it was inspired by Janet Jackson's SuperBowl performance when the creators were trying to track down a clip of the now infamous incident. Leave it to men to build something as a tribute to breasts. Please take a moment to honor them in your own personal spiritual way.
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| Preach. |
While many ideas were kicked around as what YouTube should actually be, video sharing would be key. Within a year, YouTube grew so rapidly that Google purchased YouTube for over 1.5 billion dollars in Google stock. Since the owners were former early members of PayPal (See Elon Musk), the transaction probably didn't go down comedic as an episode of HBO's Silicon Valley.
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| "Money flying all over Silicon Valley but none of it ever seems to hit us." |
Kids content and video games enjoyed enormous growth between YouTube's start and around 2015. Even though Google didn't know what YouTube really was, they clearly knew from the analytical data who was watching and how much. Early videos like "Charlie bit my finger" are shared even today. YouTube's job is to keep you watching. Much like Facebook's job is to keep you clicking on content. Once a billion people join a platform, even if they aren't signed in, you can figure out real quick what keeps individuals watching. Toy reviews and video game coverage exploded on YouTube and continues to have a huge audience.
Even though you need to be 13 to have an account, Google knows what age is watching based on your behavior online. Google solves our problems large and small for "free". In exchange for settling whether or not Jeff Goldblum was on Friends or not (he was: season 9 episode 15), we give Google a steady stream of personal data for free. Most of us are fine with this relationship. Google can then use this information to show you relevant ads to your interests. What Google has been doing for the past 20 years is making money from selling ads to kids.
It is no accident that content that is attractive to children is very popular on YouTube. Toys (even expensive collectors items geared for adults), and videos featuring kids is still very popular. Originally, I was going to talk about the last "adpocalypse". When advertisers finally had enough of being associated with content creators that used foul language or outright racist comments. YouTube decided that advertisers could opt out of putting on ads with adult content. Instead of looking at that gradual transition, I'm going to talk about COPPA, otherwise known as Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.
However, Google kept running ads geared toward kids, for now. Adult content could no longer be fully monetized but kids content was. Google ignored the laws that were in place to protect kids for over a decade. But lawsuits brought forth by consumer advocates finally caught up with Google.
As seen in the news, Google finally settled with the government. However, the burden to curate content is now placed at the content creator. Each content creator is granted a view of a tiny portion of the data that is gathered on YouTube. Nobody knows if their content is viewed by kids under 13 except for Google. Now each creator is forced to choose whether or not their content is for kids or not for kids.
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| While the 18 and up range total 100%, this is as detailed as it gets folks.. With some quick math, 0.09% would be about 400 views of our 47,000 views total. |
If your content is marked for kids, then comments are disabled. The notifications of new videos is also disabled. Viewers are also not allowed to place the video in a playlist or save in any way for future viewing. Most damaging of all is that the "for kids" video will not appear in search, or suggested videos. This will effectively halt all growth of kid related content channels.
So maybe you are thinking, this sounds good. My kid will no longer be wasting time watching meaningless Spiderman & comic mashup videos and directly marketed toys. Content directed to kids should be regulated. While Saturday morning cartoons and advertisements have gone away, children have their own channels of 24/7 content with advertising. Laws that govern those ads on those channels are fairly clear. Ads must be different from the programming and no product tie-ins during programming, for example. Unfortunately, YouTube has no similar laws. Instead, anything "attractive" to kids is affected. This term is so broad that even content not for kids but "attractive" to kids will now be under thread of fines and channel deletion.
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| Our thumbnail for our interview video with our son' Andrew's music instructor. If none of our viewers are under 18 who were the 209 viewers? |
The term "attractive" to kids needs to be further defined and relaxed. My living room is full of things that are attractive to kids. But when I have kids over, those things are placed above 4 feet off the floor. For the past 20 years, parents have let their kids run loose in the living room with a step ladder. But it's easier than that to watch adult content on YouTube. You don't have to have an account to watch Grand Theft Auto 5 playthroughs along with Mario Kart videos. YouTube creators have built businesses off of reviewing video games and expensive collectibles. Since these topics are "attractive" to kids, they are in danger of being de-monetized. Where does the line end with being attractive to kids? Kids like cars. Will car reviews be subject to these restraints? How about a video on rockets? An in depth discussion of the chemistry of hypergolic propellants is not complete without viewing at least one rocket explosion.
But if there is no incentive to create educational videos, then we lose out on those creators too. Few video creators can create videos for free indefinitely. The bar for making money on YouTube is already fairly high. Making money on just the video views is not enough to make a living. The days of becoming Markiplier the same way he did are long gone. What drove creators like him to the top were views by kids watching him play video games. Google is leaving lots of money on the table by walking away from this. It is entirely possible that Google just does not want to deal with this kind of content anymore and wants to change. What does Google want?
The game is changing again. The content that made YouTube the most money might be going away with this change. That just makes me wonder what kind of content does YouTube want on it's channel. Will Google really isolate itself from a proven money maker? I know YouTube does not like controversy. YouTube does not like content that advertisers wouldn't enjoy. Think sports endorsements. Brands only want to get their product out there with a celebrity with no scandals. Bad press is fine for some but not for normal advertisers selling Proctor & Gamble products.
In the meantime, the algorithms work their magic and still serve up content that people watch. We can't fake that. If people don't watch, that content goes away. If it doesn't get shown as an "impression" it dies. New creators live on "impressions". Having your video thumbnail next to what you are watching now or appearing on someone's home page is the only way you get discovered. You can push your videos only so much on your social media depending on your following. If your video isn't even allowed "impressions", then unless you already have a strong following that is growing on some other social media platform, your YouTube career is going to be short.
Now I'm going to ask you to do a couple things. However you feel, go to this change.org petition and voice your opinion on keeping the kind of content you are used to going on YouTube. Nobody really knows how this is going to play out yet but big changes are coming. YouTube is also rolling out new terms of service that state Google can delete your channel if it is deemed not commercially viable. I would really like to know what kind of content Google wants to have going forward. This would assist creators going forward and would ease the minds of many.
Lastly, please click on one of our Amazon or Ebay affiliate links on this page. We would love if you went to our Kit.com page but even if you just browse our items and buy something else the same day that will help tremendously. Sorry to sound like Wikipedia or PBS, but they are the only thing that will keep us going with more blogs and videos.
Until next time.
-Jason
YouTube
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