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TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

bbc.co.uk

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Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#251

Post by fragmede »

m348e912 wrote: post #229
ng12 wrote: post #204

Can someone explain to me what happened to Vine? I feel like it beat TikTok to the punch by ~8 years before it was bought and then unceremoniously killed by Twitter. Was that the first example of US innovation being suffocated by the big tech oligopoly?

Vine's an example of the beginning of great idea that wasn't taken to its full potential. There are significant key differences between vine and tiktok. There are three that come to mind. Tiktok expanded allowed uploaded video duration up to 3 minutes. The For You Page algorithm (which drives the content you see in the feed) is scarily impressive in how it can match the viewer with content they would most want to see…

TikTok (or at least my experience with it) is largely focused on 15-second clips, so I'm not sure duration differences are the significant ones. It seems the algorithm's ability to surface engaging content on a per-user basis is more important than anything else.

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#252

Post by fragmede »

zz865 wrote: post #244
ng12 wrote: post #204

Can someone explain to me what happened to Vine? I feel like it beat TikTok to the punch by ~8 years before it was bought and then unceremoniously killed by Twitter. Was that the first example of US innovation being suffocated by the big tech oligopoly?

Does TikTok have any ads? I'm not sure how they can survive.

There's ads. Upon opening the app, I get one to apply to work at Chick-fil-A. After scrolling a number of videos, I got an for Givingli. No idea how much/little that pays the bandwidth bills, but the ads themselves are largely disguised as content - ads look just like any other content in the app. It does say sponsored while showing an ad, but it's subtle.

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#253

Post by sluggosaurus »

willcipriano wrote: post #234
franciscop wrote: post #222

Note that this is "average time on app", which draws two potential pitfalls: • Youtube is consumed A LOT on the website, including some people using the mobile website (not the app) to keep it playing in the background (duh). This only compares average time on app. • It could also be totally skewed, if let's say 100M people spend 2h/day on average on Youtube, and 1k (a tiny amount) spend 2.5h/day on average on Tiktok…

I imagine NewPipe users alone could account for a large chunk of time. I leave it on overnight frequently.

I'm under the vague impression that newpipe/youtube-dl users don't count towards view counts or watch times at all, since the anti-botting measures youtube has in place to prevent view-fraud would filter such users out of consideration for those metrics. Aren't youtube webpages filled with a bunch of JS telemetry to distinguish "real" viewers from bots?

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#254

Post by jimbob45 »

ng12 wrote: post #204

Can someone explain to me what happened to Vine? I feel like it beat TikTok to the punch by ~8 years before it was bought and then unceremoniously killed by Twitter. Was that the first example of US innovation being suffocated by the big tech oligopoly?

Twitter is allergic to making good business decisions. Even later on, they never attempted to resurrect Vine after TikTok showed the way and FB followed suit with Instagram Reels.

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#255

Post by RobLach »

tarkin2 wrote: post #28

This is a hit for US cultural dominance and influence. Americans and Brits, at least in average watch time, are now consuming media ultimately controlled by the Chinese government. And the previous election was influenced by a foreign government using American social media networks to influence, not to mention influencing the president-elect directly. Either America's own social networks are used against them or soci…

Even on TikTok American culture dominantly permeates worldwide. Chinese TikTok is a bit more moated.

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#256

Post by markdown »

tempest_ wrote: post #218
theshrike79 wrote: post #79

Yea, the Youtube algorithm is the "pick me girl" of algorithms. I watched one video by a creator I already follow about their solar panel installation and water-catcher garden irrigation. What do I get in my recommendations? Dozens and dozens of videos from completely random channels about solar panel installation and gardening. I very rarely find new creators on YouTube, who produce consistent high quality content.…

It is pretty obvious why it is better though. It is getting more input and it is getting faster input so it can course correct quicker and more aggressively. The youtube algorithm wants to optimize for time on the site, and the creators try and have 10 minute videos it seems. In that time you can consume 60 tiktok videos at 10s each and skipping the ones you dont want and watching the ones you do. Since 10s is such a…

> youtube algorithm wants to optimize for time on the site, and the creators try and have 10 minute videos it seems.

I can't stand that. Every video I watch these days is 50% filler just to make that 10mins. I'm forced to watch everything at 2x speed.

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#257

Post by RobLach »

csours wrote: post #182

TikTok feels so incredibly fake. I know that a lot of that same fake content is available on YouTube, but on YouTube, I can subscribe to creators that do real things or offer substantial and interesting critiques. TikTok and Facebook video feel like broadcast TV - highly over-dramatized and over-hyped. Again, I know the same is available on YT, but I can also use it my way.

I feel the exact opposite.

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#258

Post by randycupertino »

theshrike79 wrote: post #79

Yea, the Youtube algorithm is the "pick me girl" of algorithms. I watched one video by a creator I already follow about their solar panel installation and water-catcher garden irrigation. What do I get in my recommendations? Dozens and dozens of videos from completely random channels about solar panel installation and gardening. I very rarely find new creators on YouTube, who produce consistent high quality content.…

> I've ended up following, among others, an opthalmologist who does sketches about hospital stuff, to mechanics who show the most f'd up cars they get to service, to farrier and sheep shearing videos to a guy who does comedy about weird animal facts.

I bet some of the uptick in quality of content on tiktok vs youtube is based on the length of videos. If they only have three minutes, all the interesting things will be shoehorned into the available time. Whereas youtube creators are incentivized by the payment structure to lengthen their content to increase their adshare pay so they extend their content to 10 minutes + leading to a lot of filler and "heyyyyy guys let me tell you about my day blah blah blah before we jump into the meat and potatoes" etc.

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#259

Post by baby »

ng12 wrote: post #204

Can someone explain to me what happened to Vine? I feel like it beat TikTok to the punch by ~8 years before it was bought and then unceremoniously killed by Twitter. Was that the first example of US innovation being suffocated by the big tech oligopoly?

None of the explanations here are satisfying. I want to hear from someone who actually worked on Vine at the time.

Re: TikTok overtakes YouTube for average watch time in US and UK

#260

Post by Spivak »

zepto wrote: post #240
Spivak wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s something wild about being so liberal that people assume you’re conservative. I’m very much vaccinated and also upset that our government left the out most vulnerable people with $1400 and a thumbs up, fucked over out healthcare workers, pushed people back to work rather than give any meaningful assistance and put everyone at risk, did basically nothing to control housing costs all while the stock market post…

I didn’t assume you were conservative. I just think it’s weird to attribute the things you are complaining about to ‘capitalism’, and that if you are going to make such broad statements, then it’s weird to claim there are no benefits to those ‘without capital’ when there plainly are. I happen to also be critical of most of the things you are criticizing. Blaming ‘capitalism’ doesn’t seem to offer anything. The word h…

In a lot of ways I don’t think that’s a totally unfair assessment. But “fuck capitalism” has become somewhat of a rallying phrase for people who are upset at a number of economic problems and their non-solutions that are largely underpinned by the mostly individualistic but fundamentally capitalist way of thinking that is both wildly held in the US in general but specifically held among those in power who are personally unaffected by the systems they create.
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