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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

#301

Post by dredmorbius »

RobLach wrote: post #255
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.

Production and selection are distinct acts.

Selection is control.

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

#302

Post by dredmorbius »

justicezyx wrote: post #271
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…

> Americans and Brits, at least in average watch time, are now consuming media ultimately controlled by the Chinese government. That's a good thing, they will learn quickly why mass media monopoly is bad, when they now have the fear that drive them to actually look at the giant monsters...

The unfortunate thing is that monopoly often comes with control.

In the face of an overwhelming US monopoly of popular entertainment --- cinema, television, music, comics, and books --- the rest of the world ... had relatively little power. Yes, there are localised (and often government-supported / encouraged / incentivised) instances of each. But it was US pop culture that defined the direction and movement from the 1950s onward.

(For the pedants, 1) I love you, you're my third favourite people, except on the second Thursday of the month, and 2) "defined" != "there were no other influences.)

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

#303

Post by nyolfen »

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…

you're leaving out algorithmic discovery and promotion, widely considered tiktok's secret sauce

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

#304

Post by spacechild1 »

lambdaba wrote: post #62
game_the0ry wrote: post #24

A couple of years ago, I noticed the youtube recommendations that would get were a lot less interesting, though still relevant to me somehow. At some point I started seeing a lot more "mainstream" content, especially after media companies figured out that they needed to have a youtube presence in order to stay relevant. So I wonder if the algorithm the switched to had something to do with them potentially losing atte…

I wish someone at YouTube could explain, but the recommendation algo is nothing like what it used to be. Every refresh would bring a gem, now it's mostly the same videos, often from the same channel if I happened to watch a few in a row... Very odd.

yes, Youtube's recommendation algorithm got very bad. The front page always shows more or less the same videos - many of which I have already watched...

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

#305

Post by slacka »

simiones wrote: post #86
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…

> And the previous election was heavily influenced by a foreign government using American social media networks to influence. Heavily influenced is a massive overstatement. Russia spent less money on US election influence than most individual mega-churches.

> Russia spent less money [Citation needed]

You have no idea how much money they spent. What we do know from sworn testimony is that they reached 126 million users through Facebook alone [1] We also know they funneled millions into NRA to influence our elections with dark money.[2] They also had an army of social media influencers working at the IRA with a $1.25 million monthly budget. [3] And, what is the value of the influence from their state sponsored hackers that stole data and leaked through WikiLeaks? [4] No megachurch can do that.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/technology/facebook-googl...

[2] https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/06/the-nra-spent-dollar...

[3] https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-troll-farm-spent-mil...

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_20...

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

#306

Post by tayo42 »

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?

I don't get why people keep saying vine should have been popular. Myspace beat facebook and look which survived. Myspace was never going to be like facebook. Why should vine have been as big as tiktok just because it was first? Theres plenty of examples of being first not being the winner.

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

#307

Post by nl »

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?

> unceremoniously killed by Twitter

Twitter wouldn't know a good product idea or how to find one if it hit them in the face.

They got lucky with the original Twitter product, but the biggest change since it has launched is increasing tweet length from 140 to 280 characters.

Compare that to Facebook who - for all their faults - know how to iterate on product ideas and leverage their platform to build new markets.

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

#308

Post by nl »

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.

Yes TikTok has ads AND the ad rates are pretty high (I worked in marketing tech for a while and saw the rate card and the huge amount companies spend there)

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

#310

Post by jollybean »

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…

This is very good.

I would add: the world was not ready for Vine.

The amount of content, the type of it, and the number of people out there willing to make goofy content - I mean young and old alike ... is amazing.

The number of people with cellphones and decent cameras recording 'everything' means we now have all sorts of vidoes of 'guy fishing and whale breaches' or literal lighting strikes etc..

And the normalization of content creation, of likes, of views, the possibility of making money from it etc..

Basically the tools, cultural norms, media and social systems - all reached a critical mass some time after Vine.

If Vine were to have held on, evolved along the lines you indicated, they might have beak TikTok to it.

Oh - and one last point: TikTok started with cute dancing girls among teens. That content category is a great place to start, break through, and get a critical mass going before breaking into parrots swearing, cute babies, and funny challenges.

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